Done done dunney dun dun!

I gotta tell ya, yesterday's half marathon was NOT the easiest run of my life. It was definitely one of the prettiest, but there were hills, hills, and more hills. And well, let's just say Mo and I live in one of the flattest neighborhoods in San Francisco so "hill training" was not exactly incorporated in our runs for the last 3 months.

Anyway, I can't tell you how happy I am for this chapter of my life to be over. I started training for this back in January and for those of you that have run these things know, you have to be very dedicated and committed to a running schedule if you want to be able to run these events all the way through successfully. So it's nice to know now that every Sunday will not be dedicated to a long run anymore!

Here's a quick overview of yesterday's experience with a mix of crappy iPhone pictures and "real camera" pictures taken by The Dizzle at the end of the race.

And go!

We had to wake up at 4:30 in the effing morning because the race was starting at 6:30 way across town by the west coast beach. It was still dark by the time we got to the start line. Dark and cold. Very cold.

(insert crappy iPhone picture #1)

But, as we were continuing to wait for our start time (because we were a solid 100 yards from the starting point, behind a good 10,000 people who got to go first), the sun started to come out and it was actually quite beautiful!

We were getting excited....complete with the nervous poo jitters. (Don't act like you don't  know what I mean.)

Then! The race began! Off we were, like a herd of cattle, slowly tromping our way across the starting line.

We were immediately hit with a hill.

And then another.
And another.
And another.

I told you. Hills, LOOTTSSS of hills that were untrained for.

Then!

We got to the Golden Gate Bridge, and it was like, okay great, we got this! We've trained on this bridge for the last 3 months! No. Big. Deal!

By this point, we were at mile 5 or 6 and I was excited to be almost halfway done. So excited that I ran with my arms up the entire way. Kidding. But, I will say that as a runner (and know that I use that word loosely), you get used to breaking up your runs in halves, quarters, whatever it takes to make it feel like it's doable and not so long. Each mile that passed, I would mentally take note for how much longer until I could be DONE.

At around mile 6 I ran out of water from my little water bottle majig. So I had to hit up the little water stands every mile or so and awkwardly try to drink from a paper cup while simultaneously run and get maybe half of the cup in my mouth and the other half on my chest. So that was fun.

Around mile 10, with just THREE more to go, my legs were tightening and screaming for me to stop and I remember thinking how the HELL did I ever run 26.2 miles before because there was no WAY I would be able to right then. I was wondering if I'd even be able to run the last three for crying out loud.

Then hills, hills, and more hills.

I was sending V Dizzle quick little update texts for each mile, 10! ...11!... 12!!!!... so that he and Mo's husband could be ready for us!

Final hill.

We could see the finish line! 

All I could keep thinking was thank zeus this thing was going to be over in a few minutes.

That's when something came over Mo. Something fierce.

Before I knew it, she was GONE WITH THE WIND!!!! She sprinted those last 50 yards like no other!

hahaha... I literally laugh out loud every time I look at this fierceness of a picture.

Then there was me, trailing behind, like wait, what? Waaaaiiitttt! I can't. run. that. fast!!!!

(Just kidding, I was really just waving hi to The Dizz who was cheering me on at the finish line. Well, and also trailing behind. ;)

Apparently I ran a lot with my arms up. Maybe that was my problem?

BUT THEN WE WERE DONE!!!!

And then my knees said, "I WILL FAIL YOU NOW!"

Then we hobbled over to the beer garden for our free beer.

All before 10 am because someone decided this race should start at an ungodly hour.

I will say two things now:

1) I am SO very proud of Maureen Mo because the longest she had ever run before was 6 miles and now she did her very first half marathon! That's quite an accomplishment and I'm so proud! It was a lot of fun running and training with her, because running solo is NOT fun for me. We had some good runs and I'll always remember this experience with her. :)

AND

2) I know I've said this before, but now that I've ran 2 half marathons and 1 full marathon, I realllly don't think I'll be doing this again. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE the feeling of finishing. I LOVE running with thousands of people and knowing that my body can take me for miles and miles, but I do NOT love the months and months of training and I do NOT love the aching and hobbling around that long distance running does to me. (I know, I know, "never say never." But how about probably never? :)

Starting today is a new chapter for me! I'm very excited to start focusing on getting stronger at the gym. The Dizzle and I are going to start training together hopefully twice a week so I can learn more about how to strengthen my body with weights and replace a little fat with some muscle definition! The way I see it, I only have 2 years and 3 months left of my 20's, so why not see what else this body-that's-not-getting-any-younger can do!

My new motto: WWJBD (What Would Jessica Beal Do?). 

Stay tuned.

Thank you for all of your support yesterday!!! It meant a lot seeing your cheers :)

Peace and love man. Peace and love.

xoxo