rambling race report

I think you should all know how much I adore you. I think about you all the time. Especially during long runs when I have lots of time. I plan out my posts to you and think of all the important things I want to tell you. Often several miles go by that I don't even notice because I am so wrapped up in thinking about you. I had no idea how much I value you until yesterday. Yesterday I ran my first half-marathon race. I was really nervous. So nervous that I couldn't distract myself-even by thinking of you. The night before I should have gone to sleep early so that I would be fresh and well-rested. Instead I spent the evening lying in bed with butterflies playing rugby in my stomach. In the morning I barely made it to the start in time because I was almost there when I realized that I had forgotten my number and had to run home and get it. I had initially signed up for the half in hopes that is would feel relatively easy compared to my longer training runs and would give me confidence for the marathon. Wrong. It was harder to run long distance under race conditions. It's really intimidating to have my time count, it's harder to maintain my own pace when I am surrounded by other runners when I'm not used even to a partner and my hip is still giving me fits. It took me 2:25. I am not thrilled with this time which is hilarious because it's not like I've ever done this before. It's just that I was hoping to run the marathon in about 4 1/2 hours and at that pace I am going to be a bit longer than that. I did notice later in the day that I was running a fever, maybe that slowed me down? Ty tried to bring the kids down to meet me at the finish line. Unfortunately he somehow mixed up the address and instead spent an hour and a half driving around looking for it, thus no photos. It was a lovely run regardless, we ran along the Arkansas (here pronounced are-Kansas instead of like the state, no one knows why) and the weather was perfect. I was feeling drained at the end but recovered quickly after the finish so obviously wasn't as close to dying as I thought. It's finished and the marathon is feeling really soon, in response I am feeling really panicky-it'll be fine, right?