The Post You've All Been Waiting For... Drum Roll Please!

For all three of my devout blog readers, here's the skinny! 3 hours, 3 minutes, and 34 seconds! I did it, baby! How exciting is that?!

Actually, I must admit, I went back and forth on the excitement. Walking to the starting line I felt like a kid who didn't want to go to her graduation ceremony. Odd, right? I've always been one for the Pomp and Circumstance of it all, but I felt rather hum drum about it - better than being anxious, I suppose. Maybe in my subconscious I was downplaying it in case I didn't finish or do well? I don't know, because I really had no doubts that we would finish. Who knows - anyway...

The morning was muggy, but not too hot, in the 80s? - I could cope with that. I was thankful it wasn't raining! Derek and I found a parking spot about 10 blocks away from the starting line, so we had a good warm up walk. I eventually meet up with group - in Corral 22. (See, they put people in groups based on their speed, elite runners at the front, slow pokes in the back. I was in Corral 22 out of 24. I'm OK with that, it just adds to the humor of it all.) We all moved along together like cattle until we reached the starting line. BLARE! With the blast of the air horn we were off! Oh oh. My shins were beginning to bother me, grrr! I pulled off to the side to stretch 'em and we lost half of our pace group - within the first 100 yards! Oh well! My running partner extraordinaire and I kept on!

Side note number one:
Derek was supposed to volunteer at one of the water stops, but he decided against that and purposed he would be the photographer superstar instead, meeting up with us all along the course. I'll try to post a few of these shots. Of course, the battery died midway, so he opted for the low-tech disposable camera for the post race pics. It was big fun meeting him along the way. At one point he ran with us, a mile or so. Seeing his smile, hearing his reports of other runners, letting us know we looked well, these things were of great comfort and a boost for me. It turned out his water stop was well manned (they didn't seem to miss him); he was definitely more of a benefit to us, I'd say. :)

Now, my musical two cents...
One of the things that makes the VA Beach Half Marathon so much fun are the bands that they sprinkle along the way to keep you groovin'. The first band was playing James Taylor, "I've seen fire, and I've seen rain. I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end..." You know, a really sad song, but for my first run and my first band, I thought it was great! Now, between mile 7 and 8, there was a one man Journey band singing "Faithfully". I wanted to BOOO him if I had the energy or creativity. It was hot then, the clouds had taken a break and the sun was greeting us rather warmly. I thought, how on earth is this song supposed to motivate us? I guess it was no less up-beat than the first song we heard, but dude, c'mon! I guess I just had to gripe about something. But the next band was playing an old favorite - "So go on now, Go! Walk out that door! Don't turn around now, you're not welcome anymore!... I Will Survive!" Every girls back up song! It was great! We got all pumped, we were practically dancing! Then, the very best song I heard ALL day was an old rap song from high school "Lottie Dottie, we like to party, we don't cause trouble we don't bother nobody..." When I heard that, honey, I was next to delirium! My best friend and I would sing that about a thousand times a day! Derek, who was running with us at the time, thought that I would be the only one who knew that song, and maybe so. Those guys who were singing were like the Beastie Boys in Jamaica, all reggae-like. Oh, it was so cool. One zillion times better than the off key sappy Steve Perry 3 miles back. Me-yow, claws in please!

Alright, back to the race...
We ran, and ran, and ran. Down big streets, over a bridge with a shallow incline, through part of the naval base and then back onto a big street. The return trip's bridge was steeper so we walked up and over it and ran to mile 11 ahead of us. We saw my friend's family, all was groovy there! Next, the last water stop and on to mile 12. After the water stop, where we did a hairpin turn, we could see the racers behind us on our previous street. One kind police officer said to us, "Well, you're kicking all their butts!" We just loved his comment and that helped us keep going. We had our last snack before we reached the boardwalk. When we stepped foot on the boardwalk it was just beautiful! The ocean, knowing that we were less than a mile away, just being able to walk a bit (well, walk a bit more, we had already taken some walking liberties), the excitement all around us, it was great... We ran again, then walked, then we saw the finish line. "OK, let's run." But something happened in me and I took off. Not really at full tilt, but my buddy was like "Hey! You're sprinting!" I didn't mean to run faster than normal, but I guess I just wanted to cross it. My chickie-chiquita friend booked it too. We got the EXACT same time - so awesome! 3:03:34 Our estimated time - target time - 3:03. How wacky is that. Kinda like Henry being born on his due date, even though I didn't know it (you know how you have at least two ETAs in your head for that - OK different story).

Happy, happy day. We finished, "on time", both feeling well, although we each had a hiccup or two during the race. The course was great, one spot reminded us so much of our training, shaded tree-lined residential streets, that mile went too quickly. The folks out to cheer all of us runners on was incredible, and no one was like, "you look like crap, siddown!", but "You're looking strong! Keep going! You can do this! Not much longer, keep it up!" Wow. Total strangers, really quite nice when you think about it. :)

The first thing they gave you after crossing the finish line was a bottle of cold water. We got our medals from random joes who had armloads full and just handed them to you - that was kind of odd, not even around the neck, you know? Others were handing out popsicles (red, white and blue rocket ones) and bananas, too. OH, and wet, cold face clothes - niiiiiiice! me likey :D We met up with our families and headed over to the Easton ROCKS tent to see our race family and see their smiles and hear their times and stories. It was all good. I even had a surprise visitor from Easton - Katie's Dora doll! She snuck in my bag to greet me at the beach! She's like my Travelocity Gnome; she heard about VA Beach and she had to come. She was sad to miss my NY adventure in July, but was pleased to score this trip. Her visit is documented on the low-tech camera, postings will be forthcoming.

After a bit, we had lunch with friends, a snooze back at our friend's house (almost three hours long!), a bite for dinner and then saw The B-52s in concert on the beach. That was great! We were maybe 40 feet from the stage, and to see those folks still up there singing "Private Idaho", "Roam", "Love Shack", and "Rock Lobster" was just a hoot! They sang more songs I didn't know than I did, but - wow, it was fun. One guy behind us must have been the biggest B-52s fan ever, he was manic about every song, acting like a robot for one of them, kicking up sand for the rest. The whole scene was just fun, a great way to end it all. :)

Got home at midnight, woke at six this morning, said farewell to my super wonderful host and her family (after their photo shoot with Dora!), picked up the kiddos, had a celebratory lunch at Chick-fil-A, drove home with next to zero traffic (thank you, Lord!), unpacked and here I am. And there you are. And the job is done. What a trip this has been! :)

Will I do this again? Maybe. We'll see what's in store for us in the Spring. You just never know what's around the corner! I have to say this has been wonderful and amazing and - like everyone always says - the friends and the memories and I learned what I can do, bla bla bla. While cliche, it's very true. My dad can't believe I willingly broke a sweat. I understand my husband better. My daughter wants to run with me - for a bit - down the street. My little part has caused at least one other gal to join a gym and become more active, and still another asked ME for my thoughts on running! Not to mention the kids we'll be helping and who will be having fun! I can't shut up right now because I've got so much happy inside!

So, if you feel like you ought to do something outside your little comfort zone, just do it (sorry for another cliche, but it's true). The worst thing that could happen rarely does, and the best thing that could happen is your heart soars! Just think of where that possibility can take you - you just have no idea! I say: Just do it, you will be so grateful! :)

Well, I guess that's it for now. Feel free to check in from time to time... there may be more at some point.

PS - If you are a time geek and really want to know about it all, you can check out the VA Beach Half Marathon Run website. The link is above.

Thanks for everything! :)