HALF-MARATHON!!

Today we ran the half-marathon. HURRAH!!! I almost can't believe that we have already run it. We had so much fun. Yesterday, at about one 1:00 Daddy, Mama, Julie and I left the house. We picked up Forrest Tate, who was going to run the race too. When we got to Memphis, we went into the Expo to get our race numbers, shirts, and bags. Their were a lot of booths selling running clothes and things. I got a shirt that says, "I know I run like a girl. Try to keep up" Julie's shirt says, "13.1 miles. Been there, run that" After that, we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse restaurant to eat some pasta as our pre-race meal. The spaghetti was great!! We went to a Starbucks, got some coffee/hot chocolate/cider/strawberry something, and then went to a professional basket ball game. While we were going from place to place it was FREEZING outside. We thought we were going to absolutely freeze in the morning. At the hotel, Julie and I slept on a blowup bed. I wasn't really sure how fast I was going to run in the morning because I had trained pretty slow with Mama, about a 2:15 or slower, but Julie wanted to break two hours. Daddy thought we could. I didn't really have a goal. Anyway, I slept well. I woke up at about 4:30 in the morning. I knew that we would have to get up at 5:45, and I hoped I wouldn't feel so tired! However, when we did get up I soon was wide awake. I pulled out my huge stack of clothes I had brought to wear in the freezing weather. I wore: running tights, running pants, a tight undershirt, a looser running shirt, a short sleeved running shirt, and a pink fleece coat. Oh yeah, and gloves and a head/ear band. Daddy got some cath gowns from the hospital for us to wear before the race, so we wouldn't be too cold. Mama was the only one who ended up putting on the long, blue gown. At the starting line, Forrest was in wave 2, Daddy was in wave 4, Julie and I were in wave 6, and I think Mama was in wave 9. When our wave finally started, it was so different from our usual race start. Usually, I start pretty fast, but this time I had to start slow and hold back. The beginning of the race was wonderful. I wasn't too cold at all, and eventually I really felt warm. It was a great temperature after all! Julie and I ran together for the first three miles although we didn't plan to necessarily stay together. I knew Julie was probably going to be ahead of me since she was determined to break two hours. Originally, I planned to walk at mile 3, 5, 7, and 11. When we got to mile 3, I really didn't want to walk, because no one else was!! But I did for a little bit, knowing that I didn't want to be too tired at the end of the race. Julie went on, and I lost her. Surprisingly, I caught up with her. I started thinking, maybe I can break two hours! I decided to try and walk at just mile 3, 6, and 9. So at mile 6 I walked again, losing Julie. I didn't catch up this time. At around mile 7 and a half and 8 I started to get tired. I was running a lot faster than I had trained, and I was walking less. At mile 9 there was gu, which is energy gel in a little packet. I had never eaten it before, but I ate it then! I walked the longest while eating the gu and drinking some water. I got water at several stops. The gu helped. I didn't feel so tired! At mile 11 I wanted to walk, but I think I decided not to. Nearing the end I was so tired!!! I didn't really think I was going to break two hours, but with less that a half mile to go, I looked at my watch and thought, hey, maybe I can! I really sped up, and finished in 1:58!!!!! I was so happy to be through!! Daddy ( who finished in 1:45, five minutes under his goal), Julie (who finished in 1:57) and I waited for Mama to finish and froze. When Mama finished we didn't see her for a while, but we ate some soup and pizza, and found Forrest (who finished in 1:33, he was very pleased). We found Mama, and went to the car!! What a race!!!! Forrest said it was the most painful and most fun race he had ever run. I'm not too surprised that it was his most painful, since he was running around my 5k pace!! After eating at Huey's we came home. Now I am very tired. Now we can all say that we have run a half-marathon!!!!!! Hurrah!