On Friday of last week Danton took the first part of the 2 part National Registry Exam. Can you say stressful. It is an all day long pass/fail exam. After this long long year I can tell you I felt nauseous all day and he thought he had an ulcer. Around 430 that day he found of he passed. This test is set up that after every station you complete they don't tell you if you passed it, you wait until the end of the day to find out...stressful. That night I think we both breathed a sigh of relief that step was over.
On Saturday I was set to run my first half marathon. Because of my nerves for Danton I didn't eat very much on Friday which didn't help me preparing for my race on Saturday. So once I found out he passed I finally got more food down. On Friday night the kids stayed at my parents so that I would for sure get a great night sleep and be ready to go on Saturday. Even after getting to bed a good time on Friday I was up at 500 with a bit of nerves going on. If you followed any of the blog you know that this summer my training suffered do to thyroid issues that affected energy and several other things. So, that also had me a bit nervous. This most I had ran pre race was 10.5 miles. I figured if I could do that what would another 2.5 miles be????
This is me on Thursday before checking out the trail I would be running on Saturday.
This is my friend Kassie, we have known each other since 4th grade. Her entire family, mom dad brothers sisters kids... have run this race for the past several years.
Pre race
I started the race feeling really good. It was great to have Danton Averie and my parents friends Ann there to cheer me on. My parents were watching Lincoln who has been under the weather this week.
Averie did a few laps with me and she did a great job, even though we walked some of it. I was also grateful for her because she was counting my laps, which ended up being very beneficial. She knew which laps I let her run and which ones I told her to sit out. Long story short. At the beginning of the race they give you a chip to wear around your ankle. So every time you finish a loop and step on the mat it calculates your time and what mile you are on. For some reason I lost track of the miles, so because of Averie I knew where I was. When I got to 3 laps left the race officials told me I actually had 5. Knowing where my training was and what I calculated I would run the race in I knew that just wasn't right. But I ran the 5. Come to find out to many people were on the mat during a certain period of time and it malfunctioned. So there were a handful of us that had 2 miles added to our time needed to finish. So, my first half marathon turned into a 15.2 mile run. Pretty good for a girl who had some huge hiccups in her training. Averie ended up leaving half way through the race for a dance practice and I am so glad Lincoln wasn't there because if it wasn't for Danton I would have considered quitting on many of occasions, especially around mile 13. He ran with me walked with me and told me stories to get me through. I would like to do another half but hopefully it will just be a half.
Now we are set to get through this week. Danton's graduation is on the 15th and he is have a party on the 16th to celebrate. So excited to be celebrating the final chapter of this part of our journey.
