My First Half-Marathon!

The Women's Half Marathon!

So I would never consider myself a runner. It took a lot of work for me to build up my mileage. I had started running last summer to get ready for the wedding and the most I got up to was 4 miles. Then after the wedding the running stopped, I was able to work out at the YMCA, we attempted P90x (lasted 5 weeks), & I got kinda lazy with exercising. The main benifactor for the Women's Half Marathon is Restore Ministries (part of the YMCA, it's a group counseling program) so I was hearing all about the race from work. Along with some girls I work with we decided to do the race, A MONTH BEFORE! hahaha. So I had to train fast! When I first started training I could barely run for 15 minutes without needing to stop & walk. I ran usually in the afternoons on weekdays & early on saturdays. The miles added on pretty fast. Before I knew it I was running 6 then 8 then 10 miles! I was really excited & ready for the 1/2.

The half marathon was held in downtown Nashville on September 25th. From what I hear the course is similar to the Music City Marathon with a few different turns. At 7 am over 6,000 women (& prob 5 men) took off for the first annual Women's Half Marathon in Nashville. My sweet husband brought his bike & met me at every mile marker to take a picture & see if I needed a drink.

(Mile 1)

There were definitely some tough hills, well the whole thing seemed like a hill! There were water & gatorade stops about every 2 miles, & around mile 6 they had fruit they were passing out.

(Mile 2)

The girl next to me is Robyn, she is a friend from the Y that ran with me the whole time. We had a good time trying to get through the race together!

(Mile 3)

Look at who all was at mile 3 & mile 11 cheering me on! Brannie, Sarah, Charles, & Jordan came to the race! Thank you so much guys it meant a lot to me to have ya'll there!

(Mile 3)

(Mile 4)

Throughout the race there were bands set up on the side of the road playing music to motivate us. There also was a dance team & different groups of people cheering us on the whole time :)

(Mile 5)

(Mile 6)

(Mile 7)

(Mile 8)

(Mile 9)

I'm not going to lie this race was pretty difficult for me but I really enjoyed doing it. It felt good to accomplish something that I have talked about doing for years!

(Mile 10)

(Mile 11)

I am also extremely thankful for the beautiful weather & scenery!

(Mile 12)

The last leg of the journey a.k.a. trying really hard not to pass out!

Homestretch!!!

At the end of the race there were soldiers to put the medal around our necks! Then it was time to lay in the grass! haha. I finished in 2.39 . My original goal was 2.45 so I was excited to beat that! I can now cross off completing a half marathon on the cubo lista! woohooo!

Me and my hot husband!!

My loyal supporters!!

On a side note, a lady named Lynn passed out 20 feet from the finish line. They tried to revive her and rushed her to Vanderbilt but she passed away the next morning. She had been training for a while for the half marathon so this was a real shock to her family, but the doctors found out that she had 90% blockage in her heart. She was only like 52. From what I understand she was a believer so pray for peace for her family as they deal with this loss!

Love you all! Goodnight