#louie

In case you have been living under a rock, I went to St Louis this past weekend to torture myself with 13 miles.

To sum up the weekend in one word: AMAZING.
To sum up the race in one word: TORTURE.

Friday night, I met up with Holly, Ashley, Mel, and Laura-who-doesn't-have-a-blog-YET.
I'm not gonna lie, I was nervous.
I felt like I was going on an online date.
Which I kind of was.
These girls were amazing.
I have no words.
Never did I think I could make such awesome friends via the interwebs, but it's true. I did.
We laughed and drank and talked and danced and took pictures.
Like bloggers do.

excuse my evil eyes.

Saturday morning, FH woke up sick.

Which was no fun.

I felt really bad for him so I let him sleep while I went to the mall.

Did I mention that Laura picked a hotel that was within walking distance of the mall? Well played, Laura.

It felt so amazing outside that I even busted out a pair of shorts.

Then around lunchtime, Laura and Meredith got there.

I already knew both of these girls but I was excited to get to spend some more time with them.

We headed to meet everybody for lunch.
And then to pick up our race packets at the Expo.

At this point, I was still in denial that I was running 13 miles the next day.

We all went to Mel's house to hang out that night.

Can I just tell you that after going to Mel's house, I felt like I should go home and head straight to the nearest home interior person and have them come decorate my house for me?
Her house is amazing and her closet is the size of my bedroom.

It was so much fun to hang out with everybody, even though poor FH was still stuck in the hotel.

And now.....the race.

WARNING: This race recap might make me look like a wimp, there were emotions all over the place.

We had to be up super early for the race.

I was a wreck.

I quickly realized that I didn't have breakfast and the hotel breakfast wasn't open yet.

All of my race shirts made me look like a chubster, and notice the pic above, I was running with a bunch of hotties.

And I didn't know where to tell FH to go for the race or what time to be there.

I cried. Stupid girl tears.

I was just so stressed and scared and retarded.

FH-bless him.

He just hugged me when he probably should have laughed at me.

I kind of got it together and went to meet Laura and Meredith.

And we were off.

We all started the race together.

Holly and I planned on staying together since we figured we were around the same pace runners.

Wrong.

Don't listen to Holly when she talks about not being a runner, she left me in her dust.

I got shin splints on mile one. Mile freaking one, y'all.

I could feel tears building up because my legs hurt so badly and I had 12 more miles to go. Not to mention I did NOT want to slow Holly down.

Towards the end of mile 2, I finally realized that I needed to just let Holly go. {that sounds so dramatic}

But I knew what pace she wanted and I knew with those shin splints, I couldn't keep up.

I walked some, I ran some, and I walked some more.

Somewhere along mile 4 or so, my shinsplints went away.

There was a Taco Bell on mile 5 and you better believe I would have stopped if it would have been open.

It wasn't fun for me.

I felt horrible because I didn't train.

I know I am a better runner than that.

And the whole time I was thinking about how much better I could have ran if I was more prepared.

But I just kept going.

I got a drink at almost every single water station.

Miles 6-8 are famously known as the Holy Hill.

I'm gonna be honest, I was terrified of that hill.

But then, I quickly realized that the entire race was hills and nothing but hills. I'm not even playing. I have no idea how we never went downhill. The finish line must have been on top of a mountain.

I knew FH was going to be somewhere along the race, I just didn't know where. I did NOT want to miss him.

He was following me the entire time with the Find Friends App so I knew he would know exaclty where I was. I stayed right in the center the whole time because I wanted to be able to see both sides of the street so I didn't miss him.

I saw him on mile 7.

I cried again.
I told y'all this was a ridiculously emotional race for me. #loser

This made my entire day.
Seeing him with this sign put the biggest, stupidest grin on my face for about the next 3 miles.

Next time I run, I'm going to make sure he shows up at each mile marker with a different sign. It will help me A LOT.

I also saw these two cool kids.

Thank goodness I ran so fast by them that they couldn't get a picture of me......

And that sign, well in case you are wondering, #louie was the hashtag of the weekend.
Most of you know, I was hoping to make an out of town baby.
Mel told me if I did then I had to name him Louie.
And Holly told us that had to be the hashtag of the weekend, so now you know. #louie We laughed tons over this.

Mile 11, something popped in my foot.
I almost died.
I couldn't run at all after that.
I know the people behind me would have been laughing if they weren't dying themselves.
But I would try to run, get like 3 steps and stop.
I cried it hurt so badly.
I seriously considered stopping to talk to a medic when I saw one.
But I was scared that something was seriously wrong and I didn't want to not finish.

So I basically walked the last two miles.
Which was so dissappointing.
But I'm proud that I finished.
I saw FH again right before the finish line.
He's such a good husband, his phone went dead because he followed me the entire time.

The good news is, no matter how slow you are, you still get a medal.
And a 13.1 sticker will still go on my car.
I finished in 2 hours and 58 minutes, which I think is horrible.
But I'm proud that I made it in under 3 hours.
I had a tough time mentally and physically, so just finishing was an accomplishment.

After I had a tiny rest, we went to meet the gang for lunch.

Can I just tell y'all that after walking before the race and after the race, I swear I deserve a 26.2 sticker. We walked TONS.

I'm still recovering from the race.
My foot is not great, but I don't think it is bad enough to go the doctor but I can't be sure.

All-in-all, that was a super fun trip!
But I must tell the StL girls that next time, I'll be the one holding the sign and not running. :)

I couldn't have asked for a better weekend!

But I was glad to get home to these little (big) girls finally.

If you made it to the end of this post, thanks for the dedication. I know it was a long one. And if you no longer want to follow me because I was an emotional wreck because of a few miles, no hard feelings.

Happy Tuesday Everybody!!!

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