I’m still in shock after completing this half-marathon. The entire day seems a lot like a dream.

The morning of the half-marathon with my awesome best friend, Laura.

I was really worried that this day would be one of the hardest days of my life. I was honestly dreading this race. I was certain I had gotten myself in over my head. One of my best friends, Laura, flew in from Wisconsin to run with me. I was terrified of disappointing her & my dad, who was our chauffeur for the race.

You wouldn’t tell that from that smile, would you? The night before the race, I had so much “other” stuff on my mind that I knew I couldn’t worry about the race. I needed to just go out there and do it – one foot in front of the other, one mile after another, stopping when I needed and not worrying about anything other than crossing the finish line. My dad asked me what time I thought I’d be done and I told him probably somewhere around 3 hours, 3 hours 30 minutes at the latest.

I don’t look worried at all, do I?

The race actually started about 10 seconds before that photo above was taken. There wasn’t much time for me to stress out about the race. I gave Laura a quick hug & off we went.

I ran …. and ran … and ran … and before I knew it, it was mile 9. I couldn’t believe it. I usually have a hard time with the first few miles, but today, I was totally on my game. I decided to go with it and just keep going. I texted my dad around mile 11 (after a water break) to let him know I was going to be at the finish line a bit earlier than I anticipated.

Laura met me at mile 12.5 and helped me get through that last half-mile. By that point, I was just too amazed at myself for getting that far (and so much sooner than I thought!) that I couldn’t do much else than laugh and smile. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be crossing the finish line of a half-marathon with the biggest smile on my face.

Never did I imagine I would have finished at that time, let alone with such a big smile.

A giant thank you to my friend Laura for flying down for the weekend. And my dad for being our chauffeur and the most awesome photographer ever. Thank you to all my family & friends – especially Jenny and my honey for all their encouragement and praise through my training period.

And thank YOU, dear readers, because without you, I would have quit long ago. Blogging kept me accountable. I hope those of you who followed along are inspired to try something new. If I can do it, so can you!