The Weekend: I did it!

"Exercise releases endorphins, endorphins make you happy, and happy people just don't kill people." -- Legally Blonde.

I made it through the race! Thanks for all your prayers and cheers. I had a lot of fun & definitely learned a lot from the experience -- thus, I can't wait to do it again! My final time was 2 hours 1 minute. Even though I wanted to run under 2, I had fun & felt great at the end. For all the nerves I had before, I have no aches or pains and am thankful for my good training. Next time though -- I'm going for speed & glory and I better ache as I pull myself across the finish.

I'm excited to keep running. I like the way my body actually thirsts for a good work out (even when my head is reluctant to leave the pillow in the morning). I signed up yesterday for a 5k towards the end of May and am setting a goal to run as close to my high school time as possible. It's gonna be a month of hard work, as lets face it, my high school self could kick my butt right now if we went for a 3 mile run.

Has anyone else experienced that when you exercise your self esteem and body image are just so much higher? Not that I look any different than pre-1/2marathon-training, but you just feel good -- you're more satisfied with your body for what it is and are surprised & humbled by what it's capable of accomplishing. It doesn't seem to matter so much if you're thinner or more muscular or tanner than so&so, because gosh darnit, you're in shape & you feel good!

The rest of the weekend was fantastic. Relaxed & danced like a crazy person at the East Nasty after party Saturday night. Sunday we had our Honduras benefit concert to raise money for the houses we will be building (we head out in 6 weeks). Justin Carlson, Rivers Rutherfod (you might not know the name, but you know these songs), and Matt Wertz were all rockstars & we raised almost $10,000!

{click for more pictures from this weekend}