I did it!!!!!

Ok so I did it!! and YES I RAN THE WHOLE WAY and it took me 2hr and 16min!

So the getting down there was ok. I took the train at 7:17am and I didn't buy my ticket the day before which I learned I should have cause when I went to buy my ticket the booths were closed!!EEEKKKK! Another person told me I could buy them from the machine but I only had cash on me....Oh man I was freaking trying to figure out what to do. Clearly I HAD to get on the train. So although the ride down was awesome and I got to see a beautiful sunrise I couldn't enjoy it....

I kept looking for the train guy to come check tickets and I was SO scared that I was going to get caught. At one point a girl with the GO train logo on her jacket came down the stairs and walked by and I almost threw-up. I kept thinking how people were going to ask how the race was and I would have to say, " I don't know I was in jail!!!'.........but I got down their ok and bought a proper two way ticket at Union, because that was the right thing to do :)

So I walk up the street to the start line and check my bag and find the purple coral that I was starting in. I realize after that for the first time I wasn't thinking, "OMG!! what are you doing!?"...."How did you get here!?"..." What are you doing!?"..."This is crazy!"....instead I felt right at home and was confident that I knew what I was doing :-D

There was 2200 runners!!! and it took me 11min to cross the start line. Good thing I started my own watch so I knew what my real time was (they start the clock as soon as they blow the horn)

It was pretty crowed to start with and I just keep at a steady pace passing people when there was a gap.In a way this was good because it made sure that I wasn't going too hard to start....the first 5k went really fast and I can't even believe that I am able to say, " The first 5k went great" It reminds me of my first 5k race, the Moon in June in 2010 where I was just dying at the end to finish that!!!

So with the music in my ear and all the other people to watch along the way and the crowed with signs, I was pretty distracted from the pain....and for me the pain starts at about the 7k mark. My hip flexors start to hurt and the quads start to get tired...but then at the 10k mark it kind of goes away....or I just get use to it.....

......however at the 15k mark the pain comes back...deeper....harder...and in more places...and it doesn't go away! :S Oh man my butt and mean ALL of my butt..from the bottom to the top was starting to hurt, my knees were starting to get sore and so where me feet.

So now I'm coming up to the 18k mark and I have to pee....in fact I'm starting to pee myself a lil bit already! (just being honest!)....so I decide at the next and last water station that is coming up I'm going to stop and pee cause it's really uncomfortable trying to hold it in and I want to be able to go full tilt at the end and not piss myself everywhere!

So seeing that there is no line up at the port-a-potty I run into one.....ok didn't really think this through well....my legs can hardly hold me up and there's piss ALL over the seat...so hover right! Well the legs say NO! and I start tipping over to the right and I put my hand down to catch myself then realize I have my hand on the edge of the mens urinal thingy!! GAG! GAG! GAG!!!....So instead I hold the door handle and lean back as best I could and pee. All the time I'm saying to myself, "OMG!! Gail just pee and go, just pee and get out of here!"...this all took probable about 30sec LOL!!!

So off I go once again to finish what I had started...now 3k is a run from my house down to the lake...that's what I kept saying to myself. Also what helped me to stay running is thinking about this week and how all my friends, family and clients will be asking me how I did and me responding with, "YES!!!!! I ran the whole way!" I must have envisioned that like a 1000 times on that last stretch, OH man!

Now running into the finish was good....if only if wasn't a steady UP HILL!!!! It would have been even better....but it is what it is. I thought that I would cry at the end, but instead I couldn't stop smiling and truly It hadn't set in what I just did.......when I got to my hubby and kids the first thing I said to my husband was, " I RAN THE WHOLE WAY!!!!!!"


It was SO great to have my Dad, hubby and kids there with me at the end. I even said to the kids on the way back on the train, " Thank you guys for coming to my race. It was the longest one I have ever done and it really ment a lot that you came".....my 5yrs response was, " You're welcome Mommy!" my 2yrs response, " Mommy race!?...go mommy go!" LOL!!!!....ok so now here comes the tears!

So yesterday my legs were SO sore even my toe nails were sore...and I'm not trying to be funny they really were sore from all the rubbing in my shoe. Today is not as bad....but I wear the pain with pride!


....and it's still sinking in, what I did......wholly shit I ran a HALF MARATHON!!!!!...2yrs ago if anyone had told me I would have done that there's NO way I ever would have believed them!




'Live in YOUR Awesome!'




*ive
*ove
*augh
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