Half-Marathon!

I am happy to announce that I both ran and survived a half-marathon on Saturday. Scott ran this same race a year ago, less than a week before Caleb was born and then insisted that I run it with him this year. So we've been training for it for a few months and Saturday was the big day. My time wasn't fabulous, it definitely wasn't one of my best runs, and I thought I might die the last 1.5 miles (note to self: in the 24 hours before running a half-marathon, eat more than one meal, drink more than 20 ounces of water, and sleep more than 4.5 hours), but I finished it, and that was my only goal.

The half-marathon was in Hartford and it was an absolutely gorgeous fall day. Mid-60s, sunny, crisp air, and stunning fall colors. Part of the course was along the river, and it was so peaceful and beautiful. The first few miles were easy, the next few were harder, but then I got a second wind and was pretty good from about mile six to mile nine. It got progressively harder from there. But I just kept telling myself, "You went through a 17-hour labor with no drugs, you can suck it up and run for a few short hours." The last couple of miles were in what might be termed the Latin district, and there were a bunch of people from those neighborhoods along the course cheering us on. By that point my right hip was killing me and sending shooting pains down my leg, and I must have looked pretty pathetic because several people shouted to me something along the lines of "Come on mamita, you can do it! You're almost there!!" It was surprisingly encouraging. We finally finished and it was such a great feeling. But then we had to walk way, way too far to the car. I didn't feel so well for the next 45-minutes or so (note to self: see note above, you moron), but once I was able to get a few bites of food (banana) down, I started to feel better. Scott and I spent the rest of the day limping around, but we're mostly better now. I'm still somewhat sore, but not as bad as I thought I would be. (And I just have to say, that I am even more impressed than I was before with those of you who run marathons!)

All in all, it was a difficult but wonderful experience. I'm so grateful to Scott for making me do it. It was a great motivator to exercise (still got lots of baby weight to lose) and also a great feeling of accomplishment when we were done. I'd highly recommend it. And believe me, if I can run a half-marathon, anyone can. (GO KARA!!!!!)

Much more interesting posts of cute children to follow soon, I promise!!