I did it!

Hello friends!

I'm writing this post from my home - which means that I passed all of my exams and earned a 10-day break from classes!!! WooHoo! I've never felt this good about a scholastic achievement. :) Thanks to everyone who prayed and crossed their finger (and toes) for my success - I think it may have helped. :)

I got home on Friday afternoon and immediately went on a date with hubby. We had Red Lobster for dinner, watched "The Other Guys", and then had Baskin Robbins (two scoops - don't judge me!) before coming home. Do yourself a favor and go watch "The Other Guys". Mark Whalberg kills me.

Yesterday I slept in and then got lost on Facebook. I forgot how you can literally lose HOURS on there. Jeeze. I caught up on reading some blogs and relaxed. Then I spent the evening at the Effingham County Fair with my roomie, Arielle, and her family. Have I told you how funny she and her family are?! HILARIOUS. We ate yummy fair food and watched the demo derby. I didn't realize how exciting it would be to watch cars smash each other to bits. Totally gratifying to hear the crunching sounds. And one truck had his tires full of water instead of air. We figured it was to give the vehicle some weight - it scared the crap out of me when his first tire popped and crap was spraying everywhere. Oh, and I also got to see some fuel burned off of the track. All-in-all a very good night.

It's so good to be home. I can't even explain it. I plan to read and relax all week - and then sprinkle in some fun time at Six Flags with some friends from school. It'll be a good time, I'm sure.

On another note: I'm seriously considering signing up for the Indianapolis Health Network Half Marathon on October 16th. I need some motivation to get my ass moving and it'll actually be during our post Unit 2 break. I know I didn't have much time to run during this first unit, but now that I have a better grasp on how things work, I should be able to squeeze some running time in - plus I need the stress relief. Really need it. I'm gonna have to MAKE it happen, plain and simple. I know that signing up for an event will push me to get started and be consistent. Plus, I ran this even last year and loved it. It goes through Ft. Harrison State Park in Lawrenceville, IN and it's absolutely gorgeous with all of the colors of fall. Another perk- I can also squeeze in a visit with Jonathan & Chris while I'm in Indy! :)

Anywho... I hope everyone is well. Have a wonderful week!!!

Race Recap

Today was a long day. My alarm clock went off at 4am this morning - after 6.5 hours of waking each hour to look at the clock. Needless to say, I was exhausted. We met up for our carpool at 5am and were parking at the Assembly Hall parking lot by 6:15am. A few of Justin's friends were running in various events, so we chatted it up until the 5K started at 7am. When Justin, Jill, Amie, and James lined up for their race, I found JG, MM, and RH. This was a nice surprise. After my second stop at the porta potties, it was time to line up. At this point my race jitters were in full swing.

After some contemplation, I decided to head out with the 4:45 pace team (2:27 half ). I figured this would be my best bet. When I looked at my watch at mile 1 I realized that the pacer was under pace - 9:53 for the first mile. I'm not sure if she was just trying to break apart from the crowds, but I was hoping she wouldn't keep going at 9:53. By mile 5 I had been running for 53 minutes and was beat (we had rain last night and it was ridiculously humid). A little after mile 7 I still had the pacer in my sights. After that I was feeling it. I was definitely excited when I reached the water stop near mile 7. Soon after this I found one of the TNT coaches on the course (DG) and she ran with me for a little bit - this is always really nice. :) As we ran through Meadowbrook Park the path was pretty narrow and we were dodging around people.

Right before mile 10 I saw another familiar face (JH) at the water stop! At mile 11.5 the marathon and half marathon split. I could see the marker for mile 12 ahead in the distance and was saying to myself, "wouldn't it be the best if that was mile 13?". Alas, I still had 1.1 miles to go. And of course, it felt like it was never-ending, mostly because I could see Memorial Stadium at this point! Just past mile 12 we turned toward the stadium and I got really excited. ( I also saw some friends waving at me from the corner!) Then I realized that the course was taking around the stadium to the north entrance! Ugh. It took all my mental strength not to walk to the finish.

When I finally entered the stadium I was just glad to be near the finish line. I used my last bit of energy to sprint (it was a really sad sprint) across the finish. My official chip time was 2:30:03. Just 3 stinking seconds from my goal of 2:30. But that's okay, I'll take it! It's an 11 minute improvement on my previous PR. :)

Congrats to all of my amazing runner friends who ran strong today, and THANK YOU for helping me be a better runner. ::hug::

These are some of my fantastic runner friends at the race expo:

JH, JG, MB, me, DG & MM

The 5Kers - all of them were first timers :)

Kerrick, Justin, Jill & Amie

The family :)

I was excited pre-race, can you tell?!

On the eve of the IL half marathon...

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far. It doesn't matter if today is your first day or if you've been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run. - John Bingham

Tomorrow is the big day - the Illinois Marathon & Half Marathon. I've been training for this since my last race in January. I've been running around like a crazy all day to pick up race packets and then to cook a yummy spaghetti dinner for the fam. This year Justin and Jill will also be participating in the races. Justin will be running the 5K and Jill will be walking the 5K. I'm really excited that they are involved! :)

For those of you who run, you know that the week before a race is called the taper. It sucks. It's the worst part of training for a long distance event. For a whole week (sometimes two) you cut back on mileage. For this week you may only run 2 or 3 times, for short distances (3 miles). The ONLY purpose for these runs is to keep your muscles loose. This becomes a week of doubt and stress. A week of asking yourself if you trained long enough, if you trained hard enough. A week of worrying about EVERY possible thing that could go wrong on race day.

I will be leaving Mattoon at 5am (it's about an hour drive to Champaign) for a 7:30 start time. I'm currently doing a load of laundry. Why, you ask. Because I'm not sure what I'll feeling like wearing when I wake up. I'm planning on wearing my black running skirt. But what if I suddenly have the urge to wear my green running skirt? Are my favorite socks clean? What about my favorite shirt? I have to be up by 4am - hopefully I'll have to poo before I leave the house. What if I can't? What if I have to go once I start running?! Ugh. These are the things that runners freak out about during the taper! On top of these things, I'm anxious because last year I rolled my ankle at mile 1.5 of this race and wasn't able to finish. I've been overly careful with my ankle during training. I know that I need to stay positive, but I can't help worrying.

Then there's the question of pacing. I said a few weeks back that my goal is to break 2:30 for this half. Since the full & half start out together, my plan is to run with the 5 hour pace team. I think I can do it. I know I can do it. Still, I'm anxious.

Anyway, I met with my runner girls for lunch and packet pick-up today. They always make me laugh. I could tell I was anxious though, cause I dropped the F-bomb a lot. I can't help it. It's now 9pm and 4am will come very early, so I guess I should hit the sack. Good luck to all of you running tomorrow!! Wish me luck and check back for a race recap. :)