I did it!!

I finally did it! Me, Beth, who has never done an organized event like this in my whole life just ran a relay marathon with my friends! I've been training for months and felt great about my progress - I was running 5 miles every other day and I felt GREAT - up until 2 weeks ago when I injured my hip and my knee. I got really nervous about the race because I took the last 2 weeks off of ANY exercise but I was so determined to do the thing and not disappoint my teammates.

Driving to the race I was super nervous I wouldn't be able to run because of my hip:
But then I got there and started getting really excited:
For the Rock and Roll Marathon relay, the baton is a drumstick - hysterical! Leigh had tricked ours all out with flames because our team name was Chariots De Fuego...but this was an extra souvenir one.
I waited for about an hour at my relay station and got so excited watching all the runners go past - and then came my friend Marley! I took off at a great pace and bolted through 2 miles...then I started feeling my hip so I figured I should go back to my regular pace for the rest of it. But, I'm proud to say, I ran the whole thing and I actually beat my regular pre-injury training time! My pace was a 9:56 mile, I'm really proud of that.

I didn't see anybody on the racetrack that I knew (despite my sweet friends hauling ALL The way there with a baby and setting up 2 hours in advance - somehow I blazed right by them without seeing them! Sorry, Karen and Alex!) until the last mile when I saw Rob and our friend Kevin. It was heaven to see them - it gave me the added boost I needed to come in strong. Rob took a video of me during my last mile:

Once I saw the finish line, I sprinted to the end and burst into tears - what an amazing feeling! We did it in 4 hours and 20 minutes!
Meeting up with Dave afterwards - he was #2 in the relay:
And the Chariots de Fuego teammates reunited - we rocked it!


Stretching it out afterwards:

And rehydrating:
And finally, a whole lotta rest while listening to the finish band English Beat:


Good times. I'm pretty sore today after not exercising the last 2 weeks, but I had a massage and am heading to the movies with the hubbs. Now I see why people get so addicted, it was so much fun. Next up: the half marathon in November!