Hilly Half

Recently I talked Courtney into running another 1/2 Marathon with me, after all 2 1/2 marathon's equal a whole right?  She went along with my silly plan and we found ourselves 3 weeks after the last one, in Manchester, NH running another.  This time we talked two more fabulous friends into running with us!  

Elizabeth and Leslie joined us for their first 1/2 Marathon EVER!  Elizabeth did almost all the training by herself and did AMAZING, she finished first in our group!  Leslie, yea, she just had a baby 4 months ago, started training 7 weeks ago and was AWESOME during the race.  I am in awe of these wonderful women I get to run with!

Elizabeth and Sporty Courty

Leslie and I both spotted our husbands on opposite sides of the road; clearly we were pleasantly surprised and happy to see our families!

This 1/2 Marathon was the HARDEST I have ever run.  They said on the website it was hilly and challenging and it did not lie!  There were something like 10 steep hills and many gradual inclines; it was so hard!  I felt pretty good, but have been battling a pretty awful blister on the inside of my big toe since my last long run.  It started being pretty painful around mile 2, but I somehow pushed through the pain to finish this beast!

We all finished!  I did not get a PR with this bad boy, but I was happy to finish the whole thing and only stopped for a potty break.  We didn't let those hills stop us!

I am so proud of these girls; I love them all so much!

What would I do without the most amazing fans ever?  So thankful for the support of these oh so adorable boys.  It was a really really cold day with some serious wind, and these boys stayed outside and cheered me on from two different spots.  

I cannot believe I have run 5 Half Marathons!  That pretty much puts me in Rock Star Status ya know.

Each one is so emotional, because each one is so hard in different ways.  It is such a mental game and I always have to push myself.  Elizabeth found me at the finish line and we both just started sobbing; it is such an amazing accomplishment!