I Rocked 13.1 Miles!

I did it. I ran 13.1 miles. I ran THIRTEEN POINT ONE FREAKING MILES. I'm officially a half marathoner. Holy Crap.

I only had an hour & 45 min drive from Jacksonville to Savannah, GA so I hit the road around 1p.
After arriving in Savannah, I went straight to the hotel to meet Rachel, Kelsie, and Lindsey. Once I got there we headed straight to the Expo.

I sucked at taking pictures btw. I was trying to take everything in and trying not to freak out about the upcoming half marathon.

(I'll do a review later this week about the actual Expo and Race.)

We picked up our race bibs and shirts, walked around a little bit, then headed to dinner at The Chart House with the rest of the Race & Relax ladies.

Why yes...that IS John Bingham talking to us at our pre-race dinner.

Probably the best part of the night was meeting him and listening to him.

After dinner we went on a mission to find Skinny Runner at a local Fro-Yo place but we failed to find her. I did find out this morning though that we finished close to each other in the half/full LOL sooo she was running near me some time! *exit stalker mode*

Not sure what time we finally fell asleep but it was a horrible nights sleep to say the least. Except for Rachel...she slept great ;). I think I was so nervous because I didn't know what to expect and with everything else going on it was just a giant cluster in my head so I probably slept for 3 hours before having to get up at 430 to catch the ferry to the start line.

We woke up to synchronized alarm clocks and got ready! Sidenote: I have to say that thinking back on that morning, I'm really impressed with how fast four woman got ready and got themselves together. I was on auto pilot that morning but looking back, that was impressive haha

Lindsey, me, Rachel (on the ferry)

Looking good for 5a!

We got to the Hyatt where we were part of the VIP group for Race & Relax. and ate breakfast, took pictures, stood in the longest but fastest bathroom line ever, then headed to our corrals.

I was in corral 22. The other ladies were in corral 18. (uhm, because they rock more than I do :)).

Trying to fix my Garmin. I charged it the night before and it only charged half way. Then wouldn't go to training mode on race day. It FINALLY started working while I was waiting for the 22 corral wave to cross.

Getting my stretches in!

I really thought that waiting for 22 corrals to get over the start was going to take forever, but once I got into my right corral (I accidentally went to 23 first) I was relieved and I honestly could not even tell you what I was thinking. I couldn't even think about the upcoming 13.1 miles or the fact that I hadn't trained at all for this day. I don't know what was running through my head at this moment but I knew that it was going to be a fun race and I couldn't wait to see how far I could push myself.

I wanted to try and PR in the 5k part so I booked it until 3 miles was done. Which by the way, I DID! My Garmin said 42 mins but the official time says 44 min. Not sure why or how it's different. Either way I still PR'd. My last 5k time was 45 min. Yes I know, that's bad. lol

But I was freaking stoked that I beat it anyway!

After the 5k mark I started to slow down so I wouldn't wear myself out. I drank water and cytomax at every station. Something that I never did in other races. I'd only drink water once. I definitely noticed a difference when I continued hydrating. What a shocker? 

I planned to not to eat a packet of GU chomps until mile 6 so somewhere right after, I downed the bag and kept on trucking. By this time I wasn't feeling anything. I wasn't tired. I wasn't in pain. I just felt freaking amazing. 

By mile 8, a friend met me with a GU gel and I downed that. (my chomps didn't have caffiene in them and I was starting to feel laggish) I didn't feel anything until mile 12. Then my whole body was screaming at me. and my Garmin died. sads.

Mile 13 came and all I could think of was thank you jeebus! I was so ready to be done!

 Why yes, I did have full makeup on. Sadly my pouf had died down by the end.

The entire race I was in a trance. I was completely floating. I don't even remember a lot of it. I had complete tunnel vision the whole time.

After the race, we headed to our celebration lunch with Race & Relax at The Pirate House.

 Meeting these ladies was so inspiring! I can't wait to see them again and to be part of another R&R race!

Rachel did an awesome job at being the mom of the group and organizing everything for us. I really don't know how I'm going to run in another big race without her there. We were definitely spoiled this weekend! Along with Lorraine who put everything together for Race & Relax. It was such an amazing time and surprise with everything that went on.

For no training whatsoever, I felt really dang amazing. I surprised the hell out of myself completing this half!I busted my ass during this race to finish and I earned that medal. and I earned my 13.1 sticker that I've waited for years to put on my car!

THIRTEEN POINT ONE freaking MILES.