Today was our half marathon. And it. was. awesome. Well, most of it was.

I got nervous again this morning. Worried about food and pee and the usual. I should have worried about traffic. The race was like 6 miles from our house. We gave ourselves 45 minutes to get there before the roads would close. We got a little concerned. But we made it!

We took a few pictures before the start of the race. It was so cool to have Fat Bridesmaid there with us!

The weather could have been better. Before the race, everyone was crammed under the pavillion, wearing their garbage bags raincoats. It was like all the men had little dresses on. It cracked me up. I felt like we were actually well prepared since we trained in all weather all winter.

And we were off! Thanks FB for being our photographer for the day!

We were finding our groove when Nathan asked if I was planning on stopping at the porta-potties at 4.5. Of course! He said he’d run with me until then and then we’d separate. I was cool with that.

About a mile out, the rain started to pour. POUR. We were soaked by mile 2. Soaked. The rain prevented me from doing all the tweeting-on-the-run I wanted to do.

Mile 2 was where my music started to entertain me. Obediah Parker’s cover of Hey Ya. I shook it like a polariod picture for my blog ladies. And I told Nathan what I was doing so he wouldn’t think I was having a seizure.

I took a picture right after I shook like a polaroid picture.

My music continued to be awesome. I made a long playlist of my favorites, set it on shuffle, and just rocked it out. I had so many songs that you all had suggested last summer (Save Your Scissors was from you, right Mousearoo?). This was my final list that I had time for. Music was awesome.

So the potties at 4.5? Not there. Ended up seeing some at 6.5. (In fact, they were the ONLY ones I saw.) We stopped. It is very hard to get wet tech gear back where it needs to be. It was then that Nathan let me know that he was going to stay with me. Because he loves me. And it’s what he wanted to do. So he did.

The middle portion of our race was really exciting for me because it was the same course as the first 5K I ever ran last November. It was a beautiful course through the Horse Park.

The rain continued off and on – mostly on – through the whole race. I hit a wall a little after Mile 10. The course was hilly. It was raining. The wind was blowing in our faces. I may have uttered the phrase “this is stupid” several times. Not the fact that we were running, but the conditions. U.G.L.Y. I was pretty miserable. The good news is that the race didn’t drag. From 10 to the end felt like it was at a similar pace as the middle section of the race. I had to stop and walk twice because I was so miserable – about 30 seconds each time. I also walked through all the water stations to get some energy back.

We hit a level spot and turned back into the farm where the finish line was. I heard the “400 meters” chime from my Nike+ and I was stoked. I was going to finish this thing! We turned a corner and I could see Fat Bridesmiad up ahead. And it hit me. We were going to finish.

Crossed the finish line. Had the chip cut off my shoe. Went in search of food.

Did I mention that we got soaked?

Oh, yes, and got this:

So what do I think? I am SO glad we did it. It feels like such a huge accomplishment for me. In August, I struggled to run for 30 straight seconds. And I just ran 13.1 miles. And that is insane to me.

And I am so incredibly thankful that Nathan stuck with me. That wasn’t ever the plan. I struggled for a while at the end, and it was so nice to have him there with me. I wish I could put a disclaimer on his time. Something like *his time may stink, but he ran with his wife.* I love you, honey!

Will I do another? Without question. I want to be more prepared, though, because right now? My knees are killing me.

But did I mention that I now have a medal?