I Can Break Rocks!!

What an amazing day Sunday was!! I was sooo excited for my first half marathon!! I arrived at North Shore parking and happened to park right next to a very good friend of mine and his family. They were kind enough to let me hang with them until the start of the race. In talking with his sister from Harrisburg, we realized that my niece and her daughter graduated from high school together....small world!!!

 

So this is me all corralled into Corral E...needless to say I think it was the slowest corral....hee hee!!!

Apparently more than 27,000 people were registered between the half, full and relay marathon. What a rush...soo many friendly people!!! This is my view to the right...it is PPG towers in Pittsburgh.

And this is the view forward....it is the Highmark building near Liberty Avenue in Pittsburgh.

During mile 3 we ran right past my favorite restaurant in the Strip District - I swear they have the BEST chicken noodle soup!!! Amazing!!!!! I love to text (or try to) when I am running so I decided that I could slow to a jog and facebook during the race to keep things fun .....thats exactly what I did!!!

This is the sea of people in front of me as I passed the fourth mile. We were crossing our first bridge at this point. A girl next to me said I wish I could get a copy of that picture - she told me she was running for her blog - I wish I could have gotten her name or her blog name but I guess I will never find her now..... :-( She ran past pretty quickly. hee hee

After I started nearing the Duquesne Incline....I think around mile 7 or 8; I started thinking maybe I could not finish....everything was getting pretty tight...and i was feeling really beat. Then I came up on these two wonderful people!!! They made my race....never once did I think they would have a sig for me!! Seriously, how sweet!!! They were my awesome cheering committee ad they gave me the determination to finish. I stopped to get a photo of them with the signs and they were like "no, keep running!!" and I was like "no, I have to get a picture of you guys". I was overwhelmed with gratitude!!!! Sooooo sweet!!!! Love you two!

As I neared the South Side area - about mile 9 or so I saw a sweet friend from Zumba with her group of friends and they passing out peeled clementines...sooo sweet!!! Love my friends!! Seriously, amazing people. On that note, there was not a single stretch of the whole course that was not lined with people cheering - it was awesome!!!

This is my finishers medal!! My official time 2:46:42....which is around a 12.5 minute mile...I am soooo good with that. I was soooooo happy I thought I would explode!! Felt awesome the whole run and sooo happy I did it!! Can't wait for Julie to run hers....I know you will rock it girlfriend!!!!!

This is my self-photo on the way to the car.....lovely, hugh!?!?!?!?

And this is me today....little better - HA HA!!!

Sooooo proud!!!

Here is the official link to the story http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2013/05/05/runners-line-up-for-pittsburgh-marathon/

So glad I walked through the fear!! What an amazing experience!! Thanks to everyone that encouraged me and helped me along the way - you are all amazing and awesome people and I needed every one of you to finish!!!

 

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