I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!

I did it! I finished the PF Chang's Half Marathon!!!! It wasn't the easiest thing I've ever done, but in the end, it was incredibly rewarding and so much fun!

A week before the race, I ran and averaged a 10 minute mile. I'd been having a bout of plantar fasciitis, but I got new shoes after Christmas which fixed the problem. In my last long run, I felt great so I was pumped for the race.

Alesia and I met up with an old friend, Melissa, and started the race together. I was keeping up with these seasoned runners (both have run full marathons) until somewhere around mile 4 when my toes started to go numb. It was so aggravating! I stopped and loosened my shoes in hopes it would help my feet. Unfortunately, it only got worse. It felt like my feet were stumps and there was a rock under the balls of my feet. Needless to say, my time slowed substantially and I finished in 2:32. Not exactly the 2:10 I was estimating, but I'll take it! Alesia was so sweet and and stayed with me the entire race.

Here Alesia and I are on the shuttle bus from the finish line to the start line. It was VERY early.

Alesia getting ready for the race.

Here I am!
Here we are after the race. We got a nice cop who was volunteering from Santa Barbara to take our picture.
The crowds were INSANE. There were 30,000 people who ran the full and half races. Of that, 22,000 ran the half marathon.

This was right when we got back home. Had to take a pic with the bambinos!

I am so glad I ran the race. Melissa told me I was going to get addicted to them and I think I might be. The feeling around mile 9 that I was really going to finish was so great. I still can't believe that after everything that has happened this year-- having twins, almost dying a few times, learning how to raise the boys--I finished 13.1 miles!