hanging up my shoes.

what a weekend.

i know myself pretty well. my last post was almost pitch perfect.

i strayed in the time i would crap out and the drinking one too many beers.

i was home by about 430, and i had stopped drinking a good bit before that.

but let's backup to saturday morning.

andrew and i went and ran a really fun 5k. everyone was dressed up. i wasn't going to push it this race, and if i would have known, i would have taken praiagirl with me. it was a dog friendly race. anyways, it was probably the shortest feeling 5k i have run in a while, or ever for that fact.

not my best time by a stretch, but that's totally okay because i knew i had a long day ahead of me and this little thing called a marathon to run the next day.

rocked some neon green ProCompression socks and my new lavender Mizunos. mmm it was a cute combo. some guy right at the 400m to the end told me he liked my socks. yea, well like them while they pass you...BURN. no i didn't say that, i grumbled some sort of snortty thank you.

then i rocked my ProCompression sleeves under white pants. breaking all sorts of fashion rules right there. totally okay with it.

bar hopped for a little while and then i bounced home to eat some cold pizza, drink a lot of water, and take a nap.

sunday morning came a lot earlier than i was really ready for. i was awake, but i was slow moving. my hips didn't hurt, which is always a good start. i donned a different pair of neon green ProCompression socks, my lavender Mizunos, some awesome shorts from target, and a tank top.

it was awkwardly cold at the start, but i shed my throw away shirt and set out.

i felt strong for the first 12 miles or so. about mile 13 i started to not feel so hot. mile 16 my stomach decided it wasn't in the race anymore. i had to stop and pee, and then not vomit. BRUTAL. i eeked it out until mile 18 and then i was done.

so i did what any normal person would do, and i ate EVERYTHING that was handed to me. girl scout cookies, m&m's, freeze-pops, oreos. all of it. why not?

i met this amazing lady stephanie, that walked with me from about mile 23 on and then ran the last 100m across the finish line. she was super nice and was fighting an upper respiratory infection.

the problem with this race, is that the split for the 1/2 and the full are at mile 7. and as most runners can attest, at mile 7 you are a little tired, but are by no means out of juice. you also can't really gauge how the next 19.2 miles are going to go. you feel good, but 3 miles later you may start to hate life and you don't have any option but to power through. 

i felt fine at mile 7 so i kept going. i was going slower than my normal pace for anything, but i expected that and was totally okay with it.

so with number 2 in the books, i am going to hang up my shoes for a little while and focus on 5ks (because those are mainly what i can get my friends to run) and 1/2s. i like the 1/2 distance. a lot actually. you leave knowing you left it all out there, but wanting to run more.

i will get more in depth with the race and everything later, but i figured i should at least get something on paper.

race photos courtesy of a little borrowing from marathonphoto...