My 1st Half Marathon Weekend Recap I ran my first half marathon this weekend in VEGAS with my Team Challenge family. The trip started off Friday with the most fun plane flight ever. Met an awesome couple (Heather and Steve) who set beside of me on the last row of the plane and we pretty much partied the whole way to Vegas (they may have been buying me beers the whole way there :) ). We had so much fun on the plane that we continued it with dinner later that night at the restaurant Fix in the Bellagio. Saturday morning started off with a shake out run around the hotel with other Team Challenge folks that was suppose to be a brisk 1.5 miles but ended up being over 3 miles. Met a fellow National Team member who is from Canada that I buddied up with during the run (I wish I could remember her name but I did get a picture snapped of us before the Pasta Party). Afterwards I grabbed a quick breakfast and went back to my room to rest a bit. Woke up from a nap and had a fun lunch with Cindie, Abbe and Marissa. Then it was off to the Expo. This place was lots of fun to walk around and see all this stuff for runners. I stayed so long that I had to grab a cab to get back to the hotel in time for our team meeting and the pasta party. Walking into the pasta party was something Ill never forget. There were people lined up on both sides of the hall cheering for us as we walked in. Mr. Belding from Saved by the Bell was our Speaker at the Pasta Party and did an awesome job. There was one point of the night where they asked for first time participants to stand (so I did) then they asked for alumni participants to stand (there were a bunch and I can understand why) then they asked for people who had Crohns or Colitis to stand (I did again and was shocked to notice so many people still sitting and it hit me that they were here running to support their family/friends and that was very inspiring). I was pretty pooped after that long day so after the pasta party I made my way back to the room and hit the sack. Sunday morning I woke up bright and early. I was excited and nervous about what was coming later that day. I had brunch with my Team Challenge National Team where I met and shared stories others at my table. Then I went back to my room and tried to rest some but my brain just wouldnt turn off so I got up and started getting all my race stuff together. 1:45 came and I was already to head down to meet for my team picture and grab a bus to the starting line. The All-American Rejects were performing while we waited to start. THE RACE: I finally made it to the starting line (I was pretty far back) and you could feel the energy in the crowd...we were ready to go. The first couple miles are always tough on me...for some reason this is where I always struggle with my breathing. By mile 3 the side stitches were gone and I was cruising along fine. I put my earbuds in and just ran. There were people everywhere cheering for me because I had the orange Team Challenge jersey on...that felt so good! The cellphone died about mile 8...that was a bummer but but there was plenty of music and cheering groups along the course to keep me going. By the time I got to mile 10 my legs and feet were done. My heels hurt so bad. I must heel strike and not realize it. I continued running though because walking hurt worse than running. I was mentally good for the race but my legs and feet were screaming at me (I was running very slow at this point though). I should have trained more for this race. I finally got to the finish line and it took everything in me not to bust out crying. I dont know what that was all about I was just really happy that I was done...that I had finished it on my own. I received my TWO metals... one for finishing the half marathon and the other for being a charity runner. I slowly made it back to my room where I took a nice hot bath in Epsom salt that felt so good. Got out and decided there was absolutely NO way I was making it to the after party and crawled into the bed and called room service. Monday I woke up sore as ever. Packed my stuff up and checked out then grabbed some breakfast before heading out to the airport. The hubby picked me up when I landed in Nashville and took me home. I had a blast in Vegas but I was glad to be home. Yesterday I didnt even want to think about running again but today thats all I can think about. Guess I have the running bug.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 20:41:39 +0000
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