We are the Champions - my friends

So what did you do over Memorial Day weekend?

Relax? Watch NBA playoffs? Go out and grill? Enjoy time with loved ones?

Well, we did that too, but before we got to all that, we had a mission we needed to accomplish.

Behold our trek into Traverse City Central High School.

No, I'm not from Traverse City (although if you are going to live in Michigan, that's the place to do it at) so why were we there? Because that is where one goes the night before they run the Bayshore Half Marathon.

It goes a little something like this. You stand in the appropriate line, find your name on a list, and a cute little kid hands you your number and 4 safety pins and wishes you luck.

Then you walk to the other side of the gym and pickup your T-shirt.

Unfortunately, I ordered mine pre-pregnancy so it will probably take another half marathon before I fit it. ;)

It was crazy busy in there! There were 2,300 people registered just for the half marathon, not to mention all the runners for the marathon and 10K. Yup, it was one of those conventions that obsessive people go to so they can meet other people that share in that obsession.

And let me give a little shout out to my husband. This man had never owned a pair of running shoes before we met. He had never "gone for a run" until we started dating and had never ran a race in his life. So, I'm pretty darn impressed that he was willing to make his first race a half marathon with his in-laws. Kyle, you are simply amazing!!!

Alright, back to our story. We then had a dinner at Culvers (fish counts as carbo loading right?) and headed back to our condo to rest up before the big day.

4:45 AM rolled around and running clothes, shoes, bandaids, anti-chaff cream, and numbers were donned.

From left to right it goes my oldest sister Jesica, the twins Kelsey and Benjamin, Kyle, me, my Dad, and my Mom.

One of my mom's friends Melissa (with her brother) ran the half too and carpooled with us up to the buses. I think they look like Ken and Barbie.

Once we parked at the high school we waited in a line for a half hour to get to the buses that shuttled us up to the start. Once there we waited in another half hour line to use the porta pottys (wish I had a picture of all 50 of those johns side by side.) We passed our time by chatting, giggling, drinking water, and waiting for 7:30 to come. That's when we lined up behind different signs that said "5:30 minute pace" to "10 minute pace" to "walkers."

Kyle, Dad, Ben went one way,

my Mom and I went another,

and Jesica and Kelsey went another.

And then we began running! It was such a beautiful course! We ran along the shore of the peninsula and had a beautiful view of the water. The weather was absolutely perfect with tons of shade and temperatures in the 60's. We had lots of people cheering all along the way that would blow horns, blare music, clap, and basically make you feel like a complete beast! It was a blast and I had my mom by my side to chat with the whole way!

And before we knew it, it was time to kick it in for that last half mile and cross the finish line. It was incredible to reach this goal I had set back in November! And what made it even better is that all of us finished!

And not only did we all finish, but whatever goal each person had set for themselves individually, it was met!!!

And that is no easy feat! :)

(And apparently I made our random photographer uncomfortable, so she tried to edge me out. Fortunately, my belly still got me in the shot.)

This race went WAY better than my previous half. Maybe it's because I'm 23 weeks along instead of the 7 weeks I was last time (the last 5 miles of my first race were spent emptying my morning sick gut.) Maybe it's because I didn't do the training on my own and it was a family affair (Avery ran all but 3 of our training runs with us in her stroller.)

Or maybe it's because I wasn't running in Utah where the air is paper thin and you have to scale a mountain each mile you run. All I know is this race felt amazing and was faster than my last. And one day, ONE DAY, I will actually run the 13.1 miles without being pregnant.