500 Festival Mini Mary Race Report...

...I survived my second half marathon!!! I slept like crap the night before (and didn't sleep at all the night before that) but I rocked the race. In the midst of hospitals, sleeping and packing, the course map got left at home and there wasn't one in the packet so, unfortunately, I only got to see Mattie at the start and finish but it was nice knowing he was there. My friend from 7th grade, Beth, also ran the race but she was like Speedy Gonzalez and finished just over 2 hours. MB, my friend from DailyMile, ran the whole thing with me even though she's WAY faster. So thankful to have her by myside! I'm going to try my best to give you the shortened version of my race report:

Starting line: Corral Z-took us 30 minutes to get to the starting line and literally only 3 rows of people were behind us. We made up a lot of ground because when we finished, there was WAY more than 3 rows of people behind us.

Mile 1: Saw Mattie at the .5 mile mark, I was pissed because we could barely run there were so many people and clothes shed it was like an obstacle course. After we left him, we saw the elephant at the zoo watching us-not something you normally see along a race course.

Mile 2: Entered the ghetto and was sure to thank all race course personnel.

Miles 3-5: Fairly uneventful, was feeling good and was on pace for 12 minute miles.

Mile 6 (or maybe 5, I can't remember!): Entered the Brickyard (where the Indy 500 race is), as we entered Beth was leaving-amazing we actually saw each other!

Mile 7: Took a pit stop but it didn't effect our pace. Saw a sign that said "SMILE" and though it said "5 mile" meaning we were at 8-let down!

Mile 8: Got off the track, started to drizzle and hips started bothering me.

Mile 10: Hit my wall and started slowing down.

Mile 11: Was raining a little more steady and had sweat all in my left eye, burned bad! Didn't know how I was going to finish then I told myself, "Self, you ran a freakin' marathon! Suck it up for 2.1 more miles!!!"

Mile 12: Walked the last quarter mile of 11 and tried to pick it up for the finish. Saw Beth and Matt, so relieved to see my Mattie! Told MB we'd turn it on at 13, then said no I don't have it in me, got to 13 and changed my mind.

Mile 13.1: Finally finished my second half under my goal time of 2:40 beating my old PR by 9 minutes!!!

Me, Beth and MB with our medals after the race!

My wonderful hubby who definitely gets Hubby of the Year and Biggest Fan! I love you Pretty and I'm SO glad you were there for me.

Despite sleep deprevation, stress and a little bit of rain, I still did pretty awesome in my eyes! I was hurting bad miles 10-13 and wondering why I did it, then I remembered as I enjoyed my runner's high the rest of the afternooon!