Run, Princess, Run!!

Hey everyone!

I DID IT

Check out this gorgeous medal:

After a night of restless, anxious sleep, I woke up to a beautiful b-fast cookie to start my half marathon day with:

I love my Aunt’s sparkly heart plate—very appropriate for today

I loaded my Camelbak, got dressed, put the chip on my shoe, and grabbed some Cran-Razz Shot Blocks Megan got for me to munch during the race. I also grabbed my load iPod (iPizzle) for some running motivation.

Here’s the final half marathon playlist:

1. “Explosive” Bond

2. “Teenagers” My Chemical Romance
3. “Higher Ground” Red Hot Chili Peppers
4. “Jai Ho” Slumdog Millionaire Soundtrack
5. “Bring Em Out” T.I
6. “Spotlight” (Twilight Mix) Mute Math
7. “I Don’t Care” Fallout Boy
8. “Fighting” Yellowcard
9. “Tumba La Casa” Thalia
10. “Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have” Panic! At The Disco
11. “Right Round” Flo Rida
12. “Dead and Gone” T.I and Justin Timberlake
13. “Magalehna” Sergio Mendes
14. “Live Your Life” T.I (whoa, lots of TI on here!)
15. “That’s Not My Name” Ting Tings
16. “Poker Face” Lady GaGa
17. “Click Click Boom” Saliva
18. “Eye of the Tiger” Rocky Soundtrack
19. “Bleed it Out” Linkin Park
20. “Forever (Ronnie Maze Remix)” Junior Torrey
21. “Cry” Hans Zimmer
22. “Fuel” Metallica
23. “Hero of the Day” Metallica
24. “Calabria 2007 (Club Mix)” Enur
25. “Stop and Stare (workout mix)” Cory Ray
26. “Devour” Shinedown
27. “Viva La Vida” Coldplay
28. “Circus” Britney Spears
29. “Everything” Michael Buble

Whew! As you can see, I put a TON of songs in there to keep me going!

When we got to the race, it was seriously like a concert looking at the Start line. There was a huge sign with neon pink lights shining down and fog, which looked incredible because it was still dark outside. Also, the Fairy Godmother was the announcer and it was so cute. After the race officially started, it took 10 minutes for me to get from the corral to the start line—they said there were 8,000 people there!!!

The race was seriously fantastic. If you’re planning on doing your first long distance run in the near future, I HIGHLY suggest making it a Disney race. We ran through Epcot center, Magic Kingdom and the roads along the sides of the park and about every half mile there was a DJ (totally Disney-fied DJ) blaring music and cheering us on, and Disney characters at each mile marker so that you could take pictures with them during the run.  I didn’t stop for any character pics, but I did have to have my pic taken in front of the castle—we’ll see how it comes out.

During the race I pushed myself. HARD. My heart rate was in the 170s the entire time but I discovered if you throw me into a sea of running girls in cute outfits/costumes and let me run around my favorite theme parks, I feel the need to kick some serious race booty.

The entire time I was running, I kept telling myself that my husband would be waiting for me at the finish line (even though we all know that isn’t true). I also pictured your bloggy faces cheering me on, my family, my friends, my favorite spin teacher, and myself…

When we passed Shades of Green which is the military resort, I almost started bawling. There were so many military members out there cheering for us, and I felt so overwhelmingly grateful for all they do for us, yet also unbearably sad that my husband couldn’t be here for such a big day because he’s serving our country.

Around mile 8, I had 3 Shot Blocks and half a pack of vanilla flavored goo (which was more like “bile flavored goo”) and keep trucking along. I also stopped twice to rub Biofreeze all over my legs.

My goal was to finish in under two hours….

I finished 1:56:45 (according to my heart rate monitor)

EDITED TO SAY: Here are my official race results

GINA

VALDOSTA, GA Age: 24 Gender: F

Distance
HALF MAR

Clock Time
2:08:40

Chip Time
1:56:42

Overall Place
509 / 6150

Gender Place
477 / 5956

Division Place
58 / 553

Age Grade
56.4%

5K
27:03

10K
54:31

15K
1:22:22

If you would have told me a year ago that I would be running a half marathon, I would have fallen on the floor laughing. The fact that I did it, and actually made a good time is something that I’m seriously stoked about.

This is proof, to all of you new runners out there that you CAN do it. I don’t consider myself a “real” runner in any way –I run maybe once or twice a week- and if I can do it, you definitely can.

Well I’m off to get my toes done (because they officially look heinous), a massage, some foodie and make the depressing drive back to Vtown. The good news is that Jeni has chocolate cupcakes with peanut butter frosting and Megan is making dinner

The other good news: (hopefully) tomorrow I will have a little surprise announcement

Have a very happy Sunday,

Gina