13.1 Miles, the Farthest My Feet Have Ever Carried Me

So, here it is, my experience of my first half marathon!  These will be longer posts (especially Chapter 3...) so be prepared.  I've broken them into chapters and will post one a day for the next four posts.

Chapter 1: My Last Night as a Middle Distance Runner

Nate (hubby) and I arrived into Mackinac City at about 8:30 Friday night.  We were supposed to get in at about 7:30 but we got a late start.  We met up with Nate’s mom, sister and brother and went out to a nice Italian place for dinner.  Nate’s mom thought it would be good for Gina and I to "carbo load" the night before (Gina was running the 5.7 mile race the next day), and I didn’t have any reason to argue with her.  I took some pictures of the restaurant because it was really neat- it had a log cabin type feel to it and had handmade tables and chairs. 

Walking into the restaurant 

Cool Fireplace, and in the bottom of the pic you can see one the tables a little bit

                                          Ahh!  They're going to jump on my head!! (Deer in the rafters of the ceiling....pretty cool, hey?)

Another one of the neat fireplace

The fam! From left: Nate, Tyler, Me, and Gina.  This would make a great Christmas card!

Got back to the hotel and laid out my clothes for the next day.  I not only laid out the clothes I knew I was going to wear, but I also laid out the rest of my “back up” running apparel just in case the next morning I panicked and wanted something else.  I had brought every piece of running gear I owned, so this was quite a feat.  Also, I forgot to mention that when I was packing to go to Mackinac City, I ALMOST FORGOT MY RUNNING SHOES.  Seriously, I had to go back into the house for them.  How dumb.  Oh well, at least I remembered them! 

If I would have had my number/bib I would have pinned it on, but alas, I couldn’t pick up my stuff the night before since I was staying on the mainland (since hotels on the island are ridiculously expensive).  I never got to meet up with my friend Stacey the night before, and I knew she was taking the later ferry since her mom was driving up to walk the race the morning of, so I knew I wouldn’t see her until we were at the start line.  Went to bed at around 11pm or so, planning to get up at 6:45am to eat breakfast at 7am (with no shower since I was going to be stinky after the race anyway) so I could catch the 8am ferry.