FINISHED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

WE ARE DONE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The half marathon is complete! YAY! I drove up to Monterey on Saturday, got there at about 12 and met the girls around 1, we went and had a quick lunch and got all checked in and settled into our rooms. And then we went to drive our course, which was a very good thing on some counts, but on others not so good, it was good on race day to know where everything was... but it totally freaked us all out, by the time we were done and got back to the hotel, we were all feeling sick and nervous, it was not so great. We went to an italian restaurant for dinner so we could CARBO load! Our waiter was great and helped us know exactly what we should get to do our best in the race the next morning. So we all had pasta and lots of bread and lots of water to get ready for race day. We then went to bed as early as possible so we could get enough rest.

RACE DAY! We woke up at 4:30am  so that we could be finished eating and drinking by 5am, 2 hours before the race. We ate and got ready for the race, got our numbers put on, our gu/gel and chomps into our pockets... oh and bandaged my feet, as I got a blister doing my last run on wednesday so I had to bandage my foot up to try to avoid making it worse. Then we met the girls downstairs and walked to the race where we got into our corral, H, to await our time to start. We all matched in our cute matching jackets and we started getting excited, even though nerves were running high. The gun went at 7:05 and they started releasing the corrals, A, B, C ect until they got to H, funny thing, we were taking a picture when they release our corral and we nearly got trampled. But we started off, Katie took off like a bullet, Renee followed her and we didnt see them again until we saw them coming back the other way!

I was doing great, the first several miles were fantastic, I kept really good pace. At around mile 3 my ankles started to hurt, but it wasnt too bad. Amy and PJ caught up with me at about mile 5. At about mile 6 my knees started to hurt but I was still on good pace, I was only a minute or two over my 10K pace. We ran right along the ocean which was beautiful! I wish I had been able to enjoy it more, it was hard with all the pain going on in my body, haha. I ran with Amy and PJ up to and through the turn around, which was at about mile 8. At that point I started to really feel the pain of every step in my knees and ankles... oh and did I mention that the bandage on my foot was rubbing terribly. At mile 9 my hips started to hurt, I felt like I was going to just fall apart all over the road, but I knew I could make it, I had run continuous (other than at aid stations)  up to that point, which was about 3 miles more that I had ever run in my life.

I just kept going and going, between miles 10 and 11 was the worst, I was hurting everywhere I had realized there was no way I was going to come in under 2 hours and 30 minutes, which was my initial goal, I knew I would be very close, but I wouldnt make it, so I was a bit discouraged and in pain, so the majority of my walking happened in this mile. Once I got to mile 12 I had regrouped and decided I would run the last mile without stopping no matter how much it hurt, and off I went. I "weee" down the hill to the aquarium (it was an inside joke between us girls, we were all going to wee like the little pig in that commercial on the down hill to the aquarium.) and was thrilled to the 12 mile mark, 1 mile to go. Thank GOD! I was so glad it was almost over. I got to the last .1 mile and sprinted as hard as possible to the end, and finished! YAY! It felt unbelievable, terrible, exciting... I got my medal and was herded toward the tent with the food, I got my food, water, juice, met with the girls and we tried to relax and not focus too much on the pain in all my body parts!

We all finished, each and everyone of us, all with different aches and pains, but we finished, we toasted with our personalized race glasses, thanks to Renee for those, and enjoyed our champagne and orange juice by the water, it was beautiful and perfect! It was a wonderful, although painful day! We all went back, went to the hot tub and tried to make our achey muscles hurt less. We met other runners there and got to exchange stories. We then took naps/cleaned up and went to a delicious dinner, the perfect end to the day, we had great wine, food and laughed so much it was fantastic! I cant believe its over, but its not the end for me, I plan to keep running, and Ill keep posting as I move along. It was a great experience, and I feel so accomplished (and like I got hit by truck, but that will pass, haha). Well, below are the results of the race!

My Results
Overall Place: 4137/5784
Women: 2420/3776
F 20-24: 132/179
8 Mile Split: 1:26:27
Finish Time: 2:36:35

Leslie
Overall Place: 5525/5784
Women: 3556/3776
F 50-54: 295/328
8 Mile Split: 1:58:33
Finish Time: 3:27:27

Amy
Overall Place: 3998/5784
Women: 2318/3776 
F 55-59: 66/202
8 Mile Split: 1:26:15
Finish Time: 2:33:39

PJ
Overall Place: 3659/5784
Women: 2065/3776 
F 55-59: 54/202
8 Mile Split: 1:26:16
Finish Time: 2:27:10

Renee
Overall Place: 3654/5784
Women: 2060/3776 
F 50-54: 130/328
8 Mile Split: 1:23:08
Finish Time: 2:27:09

Katie
Overall Place:  2119/5784
Women: 990/3776 
F 20-24: 57/180
8 Mile Split: 1:14:05
Finish Time: 2:07:45