OKC Memorial Marathon- 13.1

*Sorry this is so long- I like to document and sorry there are no pics- my computer was not cooperating this morning :) 

Well we're back and we did it!! It has been one of my goals to run a half marathon and I can finally say I did it! I trained for one in college and went to sign up and it was sold out. So I have technically trained for two, but only ran one actual half. I wish I could say I trained for this one as well as I did in college. It is crazy to think how much I ran in college, on top of playing tennis. My friend and I were talking about how much extra time we "didn't know" we had in college and how much we ran bc of that. On average we would run 6-7 miles a day on top of tennis practice, intermurals, etc. So I was definitely in better shape than I am now. Ha. 

I started training in December and although I didn't keep to my schedule to a tee, I worked very hard to be able to complete it. I only did four of my long runs, but honestly there weren't that many more than that. And instead of doing 4 short runs a week... I did about 2. So I knew I wasn't fully prepared, but I trained enough to make it through. When I do it again, I would like to actually train and really stick to my schedule and see how I do. My goal this time, never running one before, was to just finish without ever walking and I was very happy I did that. I was completely fine on my cardio, I never had an issue with that, but it was my legs that were hurting. I mean if I would of fully trained, I think they would have been better. Now I do think they would still hurt- I don't think anyone can run 13 miles and not feel it in the legs. Ha and speaking of that- I have NEVER felt pain like this in my legs!!!! It is incredible how sore we both are. I took off work Monday bc I literally could not walk and well because I was exhausted. I am doing better today, but still hurting bad! 

So more about our race. We left for okc Saturday morning, went to pick up our packet, which was really neat to go through the expo, but SO packed!!! 
After that we went to the okc festival of the arts and walked around for a few hours. Then we went to eat at zios and checked into our hotel for the night. We had to get up at 3:40 in order to catch out shuttle at 4:15. 

We got to the memorial at 4:45 and I think our shuttle was the first there. It was so empty. Ha but I was a really really neat experience to see the memorial at that time. It was pitch black so it was all lit up and just so quiet and peaceful. We also went to the little church service at the survivor tree at 5:30 and we lined up at 5:55! That was awesome and very motivating. I was so nervous going into it and after that every bone in my body wanted to go run for those people. And I honestly think that's what got me through the end of the race. We could have slept a little later and got there right before the race, but since it was our first time we wanted to experience it all and I wouldn't have changed it for anything!
It was so motivational, with it being a memorial run but then on top of that with Boston it was so moving! We wore our red socks for Boston and our green laces for okc!

We took off at 6:30, or should I say, the race started at 6:30. We were prob in the middle of the pack (over 25,000 people) and it took us 15 minutes to cross the start line. It was so packed! Even through the first mile, I couldn't run at all. I am not the most competitive person and I wasn't at all running to get a time, but if I was, that first mile would have really messed me up. I think it took us about 15 min to be able to run what pace I wanted. So my time was really messed up. 

I can honestly say I had a blast running. I was feeling great until about mile 8.5. Then my legs started to hurt. I really enjoyed it through 8 and had a great time. Mile 8-11 were tough!!! I can say, I ran it fully and never stopped but those few miles were a struggle. Once I saw the mile 11 sign I got my second wind and took off! It was the best feeling to finally complete a half marathon. It has been one of my goals for a long time and I have always wanted to say I have completed a half. I honestly thought I would never do one, but Mitch really helped me and pushed me through my training. Along the race, there were spectators everywhere and they all had very motivating and very funny signs, but there was one that said, "TODAY you will complete a half marathon". And even thought that is not the most "motivating" sign... It was to me. Since I have been wanting to be able to say that for a long time, when I saw that it was like it finally clicked into my mind that I WAS going to finish a half today. I don't think I had time to think about it much these past weeks with my nerves being so high, but when I saw that I was able to push through. Up until I was actually racing, there was always a thought of "I could back out", so it wasn't really real to me until I saw that sign. 

Mitch finished at 1:54 and I finished at 2:54 and we were exhausted!!! We hung out for a while at the race... Stretched, ate and just enjoyed the beautiful weather. We could not have asked for better weather! It was high 50's when we started and was in the 70's by the afternoon! After that, we went through the memorial museum and them headed back to the hotel. 

We we're planning on staying in OKC to have lunch. We always go to Mama Rojas when were in okc, but when Mitch got done he said, "can we drive to Shawnee and eat at Vans" ha! Most of you know his love for Vans. I mean yes I love it too... But not like him. So we drove to Shawnee and enjoyed a big lunch after our race! It was the perfect post-race meal!! 

We debated on staying in the city that night or coming home and we both wanted to be in our own bed, so we drove home. We took showers and slept all afternoon! We needed it after getting up at 3:30. We went and had sushi for dinner then back to the house to sleep. 

I took off work Monday and it was the best decision! After getting up at 3:30 and then running 13.1 miles we couldn't move!! So we got up Monday and went to our favorite breakfast place, went to a new local store, Sprouts, and then back home to rest! 

I didn't know how I would feel about running it again, but I am 100% doing it next year!!!! It was one of the coolest things I have ever experienced and I can't wait until next year! I highly encourage anyone who loves to run to complete a half. If you don't enjoy running long distance, it's not for you. It takes so much time to train and then you have to really want to run in order to complete it. Even Mitch is burnt out... he said he will not run anymore for a long time. But if so, it is so rewarding. I could of never finished if I didn't love to run and truly have the desire to complete one. 

Hope y'all are having a great week! 

Our Weekend

This past weekend was pretty chill. I had such a busy week I was really looking forward to relaxing. Friday when I got off we just hung out at home until Mitch had to leave for work. I hung out and caught up on my shows and just did nothing. It was so nice! Saturday I got up early and I had several errands to run. I also had to run my last long run before our race this weekend. I ran 10 miles and I felt great except the last mile was a struggle. My cardio is great, it's just my legs were starting to hurt that last mile... but i mean i guess they should be hurting after 10 miles ha. I am very nervous and excited about this weekend.

That evening I hung out with my good friend Katie. I had to get two baby shower gifts and since I know nothing about that area, I had her tag along. Ha we had fun picking stuff out. There is so many cute things out there!! After our shopping trip we went to Texas Roadhouse for dinner, which is always good! 

Sunday I had church and then we had a double baby shower for two girls in my lifegroup. We had it at a girls house and she had it decorated so cute. The shower was for two boys and we did a "little man" theme with lots of burlap, red and navy. We also had everything mustache! It was adorable and I am so ready for a friend to have a baby boy so I can do this theme shower again :)
When I got home, Mitch took me to dinner and then he headed off to work. 

This week has been busy. We are doing the "abc" countdown to the end of school, so it has been super crazy at school. Lots of end of the year activities and we are in the process of planning our field trip. 

This weekend, Mitch's parents are coming over to tulsa to see out house since we finally have it all fixed up. Saturday we are going to head to okc to get checked into our hotel and pick up our race packets. I am so excited about this race!!

I will do an update when we get back from our run! Also, thanks to everyone who has sent me encouraging messages this week. I have been nervous about running, and I really needed it! :)

TN trip and random updates

Well we are back from Tennessee! It was and interesting trip, to say the least. We had a great first half to our trip, but the last half wasn't so good. 

We got there Thursday night and went to bed because we had to be up early to make the drive to Jackson. Mitch and I got up at 6, got ready and made the hour and a half drive to Jackson. It is located in he middle of Memphis and Nashville. We got there and Mitch had to go to his part of preview day. He was there until noon and he learned so much. It was neat to see him when he got out and how excited he was. It just reaffirmed what he wants to do. He talked on and on about their program and how he really liked it. While he was in that, I drove around and explored the town. 

headed out to explore jackson

It is actually a very neat place. I was expecting it to be smaller and not much there. I was wrong. It is big and has a lot going for it. We both fell in love with the town. We went on a tour of the campus and it was very different than we thought, but once agin we really liked it. It is very very similar to OBU, where we went to school, but the campus setup isn't. It's bigger and is a lot more spread out. But the core values are the same and they line up to what Mitch wants in a school. He loves that it is a Christian based school and they incorporate that into their education. He always talks about how in the field he is going into, not everyone/school has the right motives. And this being a Christian school and him being taught about it in a Christian perspective makes a big difference. He will apply this week and they do not hold interviews until December. So it will be a waiting game. We know God has a plan and place for us and we don't know if this is it, but we are just excited to start this new journey. 

Union University

After that we went to eat at this place call the Old Country Store and it was your typical southern meal. I was in heaven! 

We wanted to leave Saturday so we could get back and we had a tee time at 1 on Sunday. We have bought SO many groupons for golf and we have to get them all in before they expire. So we were planning in leaving around 2 or 3 on Saturday. Well we ended up leaving at 11 just because we were all ready to be back home... And good thing we did! About 45 miles east of little rock, about 1pm we had a blow out. It was awful. So we pulled over and thought okay we will get his changed and be on our way. We were on I-40 and if you have ever been on this stretch it is crammed packed with semis and we were pulled of right around a curve so to say we were in a bad spot would be an understatement. But right where we pulled off we noticed a cop and a road side assistance truck about 50 feet ahead of us. We were so relived and they drove right over to see if they could help. The road side assistance man said he monitored that stretch of the highway so of this does happen, he is there to help get people on their way as quick as possible, since it is such a bad spot. We were all relived he was there and also that the police was there to park behind us so the semis would move over. the police also told us to not stay in the car, but to stay back off to the side of the road. 

So about an hour has gone by and they still hadnt got the tire changed. I was off on the side of the road with Bella and Mitch's mom and with all the semis going by we could not hear anything the guys trying to change the tire were saying.  SO finally i walked up there and to make a long story short- i guess some cars have "locked" lug-nuts, and you have to have a special key to get them off. Well they had turned the car upside down trying to find this "key". They could not find it and they could not get the lug-nugs off, therefore they were not able to change the tire. So we called Acura roadside assistance (we were in Lisa's car) and they said they would not bring us a key since we were 45 miles away from the closest Acura dealership but they would call us a tow truck. We did not want to do this, but we had no other option. So by this time it was about 2:15pm and they said the to truck would arrive to get us at 3:15. None of us were happy that we had already been out on the side of the road for an hour and now we had to wait another hour. Well we made the best of it and about 2:50 we decided we would call the tow truck company that was on their way to get us and see how far they were. Well after talking to them for about a minute, we noticed they were not anywhere near us. SO to make another long story short- the Acura dealership gave the tow truck company the wrong address. Needless to say- we were furious. We had been on the side of a dangerous interstate with three people and a dog! So they sent us another tow truck and he finally got there around 4pm. Then we had a 30 min drive crammed in a tow truck with no air. It was awful and Bella was not having it ha! 

So we finally made it to a tire shop in Little Rock and they had the "special key" to get our lug-nuts off. But they didn't have the tire we needed and they told us not to drive all the way home to Bentonville on the spare. So in the mean time- Mitch's dad has been calling every tire shop from where we were all the way to Conway. And there was one tire shop in Conway that had the tire we needed, but said we had to get there by 5:15 at the latest in order for them to put them on. Well wen we left the tire shop in Little Rock we knew we were not going to make it but we wanted to try. I mean we had no other option. So we pulled in to the tire shop in Conway and it was 5:55 and they were literally walking out and locking the doors to go home. We were devastated. But we got out and told them what we had been through and begged and begged  ha! Well it worked and we got new tires!!! And since all 4 men were there to work on one car it only took them 15 min and we were on our way home. So we left Memphis at 11, thinking we wold be home by 4:30 or 5:00 and we ended up getting home around 10pm. It was the longest day ever!! 

We ended up not going back to Tulsa that night and we stayed in Bentonville. We were so tired and even though it is only a 2 hour drive home- we couldn't do it. We got up and early the next morning and drove home. We had a tee time at 1 and so we spent the afternoon on the golf course. We got done around 5:30 and went to eat mexican! 

we were happy to be golfing, but it was crazy windy!

So that was our crazy weekend. We loved getting to see the school and are so excited to see if this is where God takes us. 

This week has been crazy at school and I can say I am so thankful it is Friday! We had our state testing all week and it was exhausting. We are also on the countdown to the last day of school! We only have 25 days left... can you believe it!?! I was telling Mitch today, I am so looking forward to summer and having this break will be awesome, but I am truly sad for the last day of school. I can honestly say I love going to work everyday and I know I will miss it. I can not wait for all the fun trips and things we have planned for the summer, but I wish when I got back I was going back to these kids. They have captured my heart and I love each one of them like my own. I saw this on FB the other day and thought to myself that is me and it it so true.

Mitch is working all weekend and I have nothing planned but a baby shower on Sunday afternoon. I am really looking forward to doing nothing. 
We are 9 days from our half marathon and my nerves are kicking in. I have been training since december, but I haven't followed it to a tee. I think I am ready, but mentally I don't know if I will ever be ready to run 13.1 miles. Ha. I have lots more motivation since Boston, but still I hope my body holds up. I have been having back issues this past month, nothing serious, and this week my ankle has been bothering me and I was limping all day at work on Wednesday. Well when I got home I took off my sock and it it was swollen and bruised. It is still like that and tomorrow I have a 10 mile run-so we will see how it goes.  But we got our green laces and red socks and are ready to run next Sunday morning! We have so much more to run for now. 

Hope y'all have a good weekend!!!