Happy run-iversary to me!

I spent the night before my half marathon with my drunken friends... I was drinking water and was so hydrated by the end! The night before we went to a gay male strip club and Shawna paid a stripper to kiss my cheek--yeah, he pulled my hair, licked my neck, and moaned in my ear. It's the most action I've gotten in awhile. I probably got herpes.

So the morning of my race my hungover friends decided to just meet up with me later, thus leaving me to find my way to the race on my own. I got lost. Very lost. I almost cried a little cause I hate being lost so much. This was the same race I ran last year, for my very first 5k, so I should have been able to find it (I had directions) but I am awesome and it took me awhile. Basically I got there with enough time to pin on my race number and hit the end of the starting line to get my little self running.

I remember thinking at the 3 mile mark how weird it was that only a year ago I ran that distance and thought it was super hard and I would die. There's something to be said for that. There was a very sweaty man in front of me, and he and I kept passing each other. He seemed very competitive, which made me want to beat him. I did until the very end, when he blew by me and killed my hopes and dreams a tiny bit.

The race went along the water for awhile, and through downtown Portland, and was super pretty until around mile 6 or 7 when we came upon a little industrial area or something... it was the most boring few miles ever. We ran down a road, turned around, and ran back up it through the boring industrial area with the sun beating down on us. LAME. And very discouraging. But I decided that the faster I ran, the faster I would be finished.

The funniest part of the race came at mile 11. There I was, running along with sweat pouring off of me, wondering why my ipod was acting up (I think my sweat fried it, which is why it says I only ran 12.9 miles or whatever), and I thought to myself, "All I want in the world is a chocolate milkshake."

I couldn't get the chocolate milkshake out of my brain. Which is why when I finished, I said to everyone, "Let's go get milkshakes!" Shortly afterward I found myself eating a burger and shake for breakfast at 9 a.m. I'm so cool.

All in all, it was a super experience. The course sucked a tiny bit, but I'm really proud of myself for finishing and for coming so far in a year. Now I just have the Portland marathon next October... Every time I think about how hard it is to run 13.1 miles I wonder how the heck I'm going to run 26.2 miles! One way to find out, I guess.