Firsts.

Today was a day of firsts for me:

• First run over 16 miles.
• First official half-marathon finish, which means personal record!
• First time hitting mileage in the twenties, 20.15 to be exact!
  

Today was the Wichita Half-Marathon. I signed up to run it with the TNT group knowing that just running the half-marathon was not going to satisfy the mileage our training schedule called for (which was 20 miles). Soo.. Hannah, Yvette, Jen, and I decided to meet before the race to run 7 miles. We had a lot of people ask why not just run the 7 miles after the race... we were hosting a fundraiser at a local sports bar following the race, the 2nd Annual Half-Marathon Victory Celebration.

Back to the running...All in all, wasn't so bad! I'm not gonna lie though, it was definitely tough...probably the toughest run for me so far. The 7 miles before wasn't so bad, but as soon as we hit the race and we saw the mile markers that only said 2, 3, 4.... we were like holy moly only 2 miles?! So we quickly decided that we were going to say 9, 10, 11... heck we had already ran 7, why not add it to the mile markers! This helped regain my mental focus tremendously. I'm just amazed how time seems to fly when running such long distances. Thinking back to the race.. I don't really remember a whole lot. I do, but I don't. I guess I was kind of just in a fog, focused on finishing. My official race time was 2:18:40 (10:35 pace). Personal record, woot! Definitely satisfied with my time, especially considering the 7 miles we ran before.

To promote our fundraiser, Hannah made signs for our backs...

(Come to Heroes, 12:30-4:00, 1/2 Price Burgers)
Madison also wore "With a $5 Donation to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society"
but this was after she took off... great job Madi!

Maybe I was a little too excited? Nah.

Almost done!!

All smiles after the race! Good thing my face doesn't show the pain my legs were feeling.

All in all, a great Sunday. Thank you to everyone who cheered us on during the race, to my mom and dad for taking such great race pictures, to my team for keeping me going even when my legs were sure to fall off, and to everyone who came out to Heroes for half-priced burgers. You all are awesome!