Finished!

June 2, 2018

Well most of you know I had a goal to do a half marathon…while 19 1/2 weeks pregnant. Its a race (with a huge hill) that I have done at least two other times, but under the current circumstances I wasn’t sure how I’d be feeling or if I could do it, so I waited til the last minute to sign up. Thankful that God gave me the strength I needed to finish!

I had mentioned before that my biggest challenge with running lately was the stress of feeling like I constantly had to go to the bathroom! I was stressed how I was going to wait the five miles between race day port-a-potties, when sometimes I feel like I have to pee every other mile! lol- don’t laugh, the struggle is real people!

Anyway, the strange things that I know my praying friends have prayed for me over the years…this one is probably up there on the list. But I could certainly tell they were praying because I did fine! Made it to the port-a-potties lol and wasn’t overly stressed about it. I could also tell prayers were answered when the sun started to shine despite the forecast which had called for cloudy skies all day. Yes, I always pray for a ‘cool & cloudy race day.’ I don’t do well in the heat. Once it hits 70, I feel like I’m done! The day was cloudy but started out at 67* and somewhat muggy. Then there was a two mile stretch where the sun came out and I started to feel drained. I had friends cheering me on along the way and I mentioned/they knew the sun was going to drain me and I still had 4 miles to go. I knew my faithful prayer warrior friend Rachel was praying because within another mile the clouds rolled back in and it was tolerable! I kind of smiled to myself and thanked God and said, ‘yup, Rachel prayed for clouds for me.’ ❤ That’s what friends are for, right?

I was so blessed to have my own little cheering section hopping all the way along the course for me! I felt so loved and blessed! Until you experience it, you don’t know how much fun a race can be, and having family and friends there to cheer you on along the way gives you the excitement and boost you need! So much fun and I so appreciate alllll the support!

(Photo credit: Rachel Darrah)

I didn’t really have any finish time goals in mind because it didn’t really matter to me. I just wanted to finish (and not have to pee anywhere other than a port-a-pottie, lol). My normal finish time for this half is two hours; so with my current pace, factoring in potty breaks, and the fact that my daughter had a soccer game at 11, my goal was 2.5 hrs (10:30 am). I was happy with my time of 2 hrs 21 minutes.

(Photo credit: Rachel Darrah)

The Lord is always my strength when I run (and when I don’t ha); I spend a lot of time in prayer and have faith He gets me through. Again, so very thankful for all the love and support from my family and friends! Even if they think I’m a little crazy! (All us runners are, aren’t we? 😜)

(Other cheerleaders that hopped along the way too but missing from the picture are my mom, step mom, and Hannah Darrah and family! Appreciate them all!) And appreciate all the love, support, and prayers from friends and family who weren’t here in person as well! ❤

Ps. Everyone got a kick out of my shirt I had made by someone local (*thanks Caroline)! 😀