One week until the big race!

In exactly one week I'll be running my first half marathon! It's hard to believe the time is finally here as I announced last summer that I would be running this. The past six months I've ran approximately 360 miles. I'm still amazed by that number. I would have never imagined that I could actually call myself a runner. But I'm pretty sure if you run that many miles you can give yourself that title. You've deserved it.

Now, it hasn't always been easy and some mornings it's a struggle to get out of bed to tie up my laces but after every run it's worth it. The feeling of accomplishment after running 3 miles, 6 miles or 9 miles is so great I can't imagine what it's going to be like next weekend after crossing the finish line.

We've had some cold weather lately in Houston but luckily the forecast is looking up for next Sunday. Partly cloudy with a high of 57 and low of 41. Sounds perfect to me. I ran this past Friday afternoon and the temp was 29 outside and it sure felt a lot colder with the wind.

I've taken some pics throughout my running journey (mostly on my phone so I apologize for the poor quality) but I wanted to post them anyways.

The photo on the left was taken some time back in September. This is what I typically wore for my longer runs on Saturday mornings. It's hard to tell but I'm wearing my OU running shorts. I always wore these on game days for good luck but as you know, our season didn't turn out as well as we would have liked. The picture on the right was taken this past Friday when the temps were in the 20's. I don't typically run in pants and a fleece vest but I've definitely been wearing more layers this past Winter for my runs. I'm hoping I'll be able to wear my cropped pants for the race as long as the temps don't dip too low!

These two pictures were taken a Saturday morning in December for our long run. Nicole came over to my house around 7 am and Ryan snapped this pic of us before we headed out the door. Yes, we totally matched and that wasn't completely planned. The picture on the right is what you look like after you run 13 miles. Hmm, I need to figure out someway to wear makeup without it sweating off while running next time... Anyways, we had a great run that morning and we were pretty pumped about our time and the fact that we actually ran 13 miles.

The picture on the left is the pair of shoes I bought back in July when I signed up. This is what they look like right now. I panicked about two weeks ago and decided I needed a new pair of shoes for the race. My original ones were starting to get holes in the toes and I was afraid the holes would be huge by the time the race rolled around. Ryan told my to put tape over it but I didn't want to have ghetto shoes for my first half marathon! The picture on the right is my new pair of running shoes. I love the fact that they are pink!


And this last picture is of Alison, Nicole and I taken last night. I love these girls and I'm so excited with what we're about to accomplish next weekend. Next Saturday night I'll definitely be sipping a glass of water though instead of a margarita :)