It's Finally Done!

After miles and miles and hours and hours of dedicated running, the half marathon is finally behind me! Ok. . . we will be honest here. I did not exactly put hours upon hours of dedication into this thing and certainly did not run for miles and miles, but I definitely put in my fair share of stress for the LACK of preparation I was doing. Bonnie was at home being so good and keeping up with our schedule and I was a major slack off. In my defense, it was just hard to find the time to do as much running as I should have. It gets dark SO early these days, I would have had to leave straight after work to get home and changed and in a decent run before it got dark, and frankly, I rarely, if ever am capable of leaving work right after school ends. I feel like I live in a safe part of town but there can be some wackos on the streets and its scary at times!
Anywho, the half-marathon was last Sunday. Mom and Bonnie drove up here on Saturday with the kids. They got here in the early afternoon but right away I could see it was going to be a long weekend. Cayden was bouncing off the walls as soon as he got here. . . and have I mentioned my lack of internet and cable at this here home of mine?? It is something I have learned to deal with but it was another story keeping a houseful of guests entertained who are not used to lacking in such luxuries.
So we went and signed ourselves in that afternoon and wandered around the little running convention they had going on there. Got some cool free stuff and bought my new memorabilia sweatshirt. . . they had booths and fliers all over the place for other marathons around the country and there were several I thought would be awesome to do. But realistically, I know I don’t have the time to put into training for something cool like the Nashville country music marathon. . . though it would be so much fun.
That night we went and ate our spaghetti dinner, had a “fun” bowling adventure, took a trip to Baskin Robbins, then hit the bed somewhat early.

We woke up on Sunday at 4:40 am! After loading sleeping kids into the car, mom dropped us off on a street corner and wished us luck. It was very nerve racking, but exciting as well. The race began on Las Vegas Blvd (The strip), and since it was still dark out, all the casino lights were still on and lighting our way. Fireworks began the race which was neat as well. Bonnie was a good running companion to have. Right away she was weaving left and right through people telling me that we had to immediately get into our 9 minute mile groove. . . something I was hoping she wasn’t going to actually hold us to! But I followed along and got into a pretty good pace. There were lots of silly people running, Elvises, Santas, a man carrying a huge American flag (on the stick and all!), girls in tutus, and other bizzaro costumes. Bon and I went shopping over Thanksgiving to get cute matching outfits and Bonnie expressed concern that it may cause us to look foolish. . . haha obviously that is something that needn’t any worry!

The people and scenery and running companion made for a quick first half of the run. We were busy watching for mom and the kids, our only spectators so we didn’t want to miss them! Every once in a while Bonnie would just start shouting “Mom? Mom?” through the crowds as if she would happen to be there. . . it was quite entertaining. We did eventually find them and it was fun to stop and catch a few Kodak moments with them.

Then somehow, we had made it and it was almost over. My legs hurt SO badly by the last few miles but I made it! 2 hours, 1 minute and some odd seconds later. . . yahoo! I got 1641st place. . . not bad for a race of over 11,000 people though! The family was right there on the finish line along with our smashing new medals! The snacks at the end were kind of a disappointment but all in all it was an excellent experience that I wouldn’t mind repeating in the future.

While we were running, Molly was flying into Las Vegas so we immediately left at the end to go pick her up from the airport. Then we went back to my house and kind of passed out for a while. Neither Bon or I could move our legs at this point, but luckily Molly and Mom were there to entertain the kids sort of. We had all had really early mornings so most of us were not in the mood for anything. That night we did go out and eat and FINALLY hit the movie Twilight because long ago Molly, Mom, and I agreed we wouldn’t see it without each other and this was finally our first time to all be in the same city together after it’s debut of course.

Then the next morning the family headed out while I headed out to the beginning of a long week at work! Luckily, I was able to somewhat walk by then!
Overall, it was a fantastic weekend. It was fun to see my family and show them where I live and the race was not as horrid as I thought it would be. So. . . trip to Nashville anyone??