FINISH

Well the half marathon has come and gone, and I'm still standing! It was a crazy experience, it was fun, and it was the hardest thing I have ever done.

The whole thing was a very emotional experience for me. Even before we started, I wanted to cry. I was nervous, anxious, ready, and unsure. But in the end, I knew that not finishing was not an option.

We got there bright and early, and my mom was there to cheer us on from the start. The first half went pretty well, but about at mile five I started to feel some tightness in my right leg. This is when Andrew and I separated. I could tell he wanted to give it his all, and I wouldn't have been able to keep his pace.

Things got really tough for me after the turnaround. I was by myself and everything started to hurt. At this point, I was doing a lot of walking and running intervals. With about two miles left to go, I started to get emotional again. I was excited to be done with this, but more than that I was proud of how far I had already come. At about the one mile mark, I committed to running the rest of the way. I was so excited to see Andrew and my mom, and then Sarah and Ryan were there too!

I was so glad to finally get that medal. All of the nervousness and anxiety was gone. It was done! I had done it! My time wasn't nearly what I had hoped, but it's now a good starting point for the next one.

And there will be a next one!