We did it!

Faithful blog readers, we did it! I began writing this blog at the same time Adrienne and I started our training. I'm not sure if either of us believed that we would make it this far, but we did. Hal Higdon provided our very useful 1/2 Marathon Training Program, which lasted 12 weeks and took us from running three miles to running ten. The program wasn't too hard (scheduling time for the runs was sometimes harder!), and yesterday during the run, Adrienne and I felt immensely prepared. I was a little worried that having run 10 miles wouldn't translate into being able to run 13.1 miles... turns out I was quite wrong!

The Martian Half Marathon course was relatively flat with very slight rolling hills. Completing the race took us 2 hours, 44 minutes and 19 seconds (translating to a 12:33 min/mile pace). We certainly weren't the fastest competitors in the field, but really? The fact that we finished was just terrific.

After we finished yesterday, we went to breakfast at a local diner with fellow runners Meredith, Alex, Carlos, McHale, Meredith, Adrienne and cheerers Boyfriend Matt, Jeremy and Mary. We had grand plans to go up to Somerset Mall and shop... they were cut short by my limping and my inability to walk more than 1 mile/hour. Boyfriend Matt and I opted for a trip to Costco instead, where we got new tires installed on the car and bought a bunch of necessities (food, shaving cream) and non-necessities (two giant body pillows). Walking around the store, albeit slowly, was a very good move - this morning, my legs barely remember how far they ran yesterday. I almost thought about going running again today, but that seems unlikely.

Last but not least, I'm counting the hours until 3:45 p.m. tomorrow, when I am finally using the Bellanina Spa gift certificate that Matt got me for my birthday. I'm redeeming it for an hour long deep tissue massage. Woohoo!