we did it

It's almost been a week, but we survived our first half marathon.  Yes, my thighs were screaming at me Monday morning and I have been totally exhausted this week, but the experience was so incredibly worth it.  I can hardly wait to do it again!!!  (Yes, I did say before we ran that I would probably never do this again because the training was so time intensive. I was wrong!!)

We woke up Sunday morning to cold temperatures and drizzling rain.  My "I don't want to run in this" attitude kicked in immediately.  I couldn't imagine being wet and cold for 13.1 miles.  Anyone that knows me knows that I am cold all the time and I hate it!!!  I won't lie...I was praying for some lightening so they would call this race off.

But, they didn't!!!

I sat in the car for awhile having a pity party before finally deciding we would walk to the starting line and see what the plan was.  As we approached the coral for the runners, the announcer gave the signal for the wheelchair marathoners to start.  I suddenly realized that if they could do this marathon in a wheelchair, surely I could do half in the rain!!!  Into the coral we go heading for the start line.

I really was pretty excited by this time.  Part of me couldn't believe we were really doing this, but we had worked so hard to get here, I wanted to see how we finished.

Not more than a mile into the race, the OKC firemen, dressed in their full fire gear, were running.  And then a young lady ran past us with a picture of her mom and dad attached to the back of her shirt.  Oh my, this is when it really hit me what this race was all about.  Yes, I knew we were running to remember the OKC bombing, but I just didn't get the impact of it all until I saw all of these reminders.  They truly were running to remember the ones they loved and lost.

The rain was relentless, but we ran on, wet clothes and soaked shoes.  I can honestly say that God spared us from being cold and miserable for the 13 miles.  Thank you Lord!!!

Robby and I crossed the finish line in 2:50:23.  No, we didn't break any half-marathon records, but we did it.  We set out to run this race together, and that is exactly what we did.  We started training hand in hand, and that is exactly how we crossed the finish line.

What an experience.  Definitely one I will choose to do again.

Be blessed,