A million years ago, I decided to embark on a training regimen to carry me through my very first half marathon. I figured, if I added a mile to my weekly miles each month, I’d be able to run 13 miles by the time January 2014 rolled around. I actually got a little ahead of myself and ran 14 miles in December 2013. But regardless, here I am. And I’ve now run my first half marathon.

Chad finished in a phenomenal 1:55:something and my Nike+ app said that I finished in 2:01:47 … it lied. My actual “net time” was 2:03:35.

The app time and the actual race times were not off by a lot (I think the discrepancy comes from my not knowing at what point I actually crossed the starting line since it was hard to tell in the dark, with thousands of people, and it was 5 AM)… and still not under 2 hours, which was my goal, but also kick ass because OMG you guys, I ran a half marathon. I was running for two hours. That’s just crazy!

Also, I wore a tutu, which I believe slowed me down about 5 minutes.

I got to wear this pretty medal for all three days we visited the park. I felt like I was some kind of awesome person… the kind of awesome person that runs and wins medals. Except when I was walking down stairs. That did not feel awesome.

Look at that group of seasoned runners and a German kid! My parents are hosting a foreign exchange student this year. OF COURSE I had to take him to Disneyland while he was here because it’s not like my parents were going to take him. I can’t tell if he was humoring me or if he really was having a blast – but he did smile in all the photos (ALLLLLLLL OF THEM, there were a lot!) without ever having to be reminded.

I think we will be back at this race again next year…