The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly of Our 13.1

Big news from the Sinkovic household this week...we ran our first half marathon yesterday! It was the longest run James or I had ever done - like 4 or 5 miles longer than the longest run we have ever done, actually. Crazy. Our goal was to keep running the entire time, and we did it! For 2 hours and 33 flipping minutes, we ran our hearts out...and probably some other vital organs too, come to think of it. It was actually really fun, and I would totally be up for doing it again, but not for a couple months probably. (Not until my memory of the bad and the ugly parts have faded a bit).

The Good:

*Being completely pampered by cheering people with cowbells that handed us little Dixie cups of water or PowerAid every two miles or so

*Adorable running-friendly Halloween costumes that everyone except us seemed to be wearing

*Accomplishing one of our major goals for the year

*Hot chocolate after the race. I probably scared the waitress at lunch when my cousin Brady asked politely for some hot chocolate and I shouted involuntarily, "ME TOO!!!" The waitress was probably thinking, "Ok girl, don't get your panties in a bundle. There is plently of hot chocolate to go around." It just sounded so good.

*Knowing that I could do it again

*The warm shower after the race. I have never EVER appreciated warm, clean water more that I appreciated that glorious $1 public rinse with industrial hand soap at the local community pool locker room...I could say more about this, but it probably wouldn't be blog-appropriate. Let me just say that it was a somewhat scarring and very humorous experience.

*Getting home and snuggling up in bed to watch Pride and Prejudice. Even James enjoyed it.

*My AWESOME new shirt! Maybe I am just too easily pleased, but I think just the shirt and all the free stuff in the goodie bag was worth the $55 and 13.1 miles.

The Bad:

*The ravenous hunger that hit me hard at about mile 10. It almost did me in. James and I had to break out a granola bar from his backpack and eat it "on the run," literally. Then they had some really strange wasabi cheese at the end of the race that I think was probably not good on my stomach right after a long run (See "The Ugly" for more details)

*The nasty blood blister on my foot

*Sore hips and knees - I feel old. 

*Finishing one audiobook and having to start another one at about mile 3. It took a solid three miles before I could get into the new audiobook enough to really take my mind off the run.

*The cold
*The feeling that the toenail on my second toe is going to fall off in the next few weeks
*Looking down at my hands somewhere near the last third of the race and totally not recognizing those giant sausage-fingers! Good thing I didn't wear my rings.
*Soggy pants that kept threatening to fall off from so much rain. I must have looked so goofy hiking my pants up every hundred steps or so. 

The Ugly:

*Something dreadful happened to my insides while I was running - I'm sure of it. Either that or I ran with a bout of food poisoning. My stomach (and digestive track - need I say more?!) have not really been the same since about mid-race. And this is a solid 32 hours later! Anyway...

*The violent shivers that started about 10 minutes after I stopped running and lasted for about 2 hours. Ugh...Don't ever want to experience that again.

All in all, it was a phenomenal experience, and I'm really grateful I had my sweet hubby to be my running buddy and stay with me the whole time to cheer me on. He was great. Enjoy the pics!

The pre-race pic. Uncle Jeff, James, me, and cousin Brady. See any difference in our choice of clothing? Yeah, I look like I'm ready to go snow skiing or something...it was pretty chilly.

I like this picture a lot :) Three guys I love. It was good to have all of them there.

The three of us were first-timers and pretty excited to be there. Can you see some of the costumes in the background? 

My view of the race. Not a bad one :)

Yeah baby! Longest run ever!

Ok, I had to put this up because I thought it was so funny. I found probably five of these pictures of the view from inside my pocket...not sure what went wrong there...

Still the longest run ever...

I was finisher #500! Kinda cool...kinda pathetic. Whatever.

Post-race pic. We are still all intact. We should have gotten some pictures of us trying to get up on the trailer...our knees/hips/calves were all pretty stiff.

The reward. Oh yeah. Except I couldn't really eat it until later. Tummy not so happy with me. 

James, on the other hand, had no problems finishing this monster burger.

Food. So exciting! I love this face.

So who's up for the next one in DISNEYLAND?!!!