I did it.

So after months of dreading,
months of training,
despite weeks of being sick...
I did it.

I ran my very FIRST race.

Excuse my lack of make-up

And it was the most amazing feeling in the world!!  I woke up at 4:00 AM the day of (since I really didn't get much sleep the night before) and nervously got my running clothes on and drove over to meet my friend Jamie to begin our morning of the race.  We had about a 20 minute bus ride into the city where the race would begin and all I could think of were the thousands of runners signed up that were more relaxed, more athletic and a hell of a lot more prepared than I was!

 Not only was I nervous that I hadn't ran more than 5 miles ever in my life (this was a 10 mile race folks) but it was rainy and about 45 degrees out!  I honestly wasn't sure if my body could physically do this, but I knew I just wanted to cross that finish line.

We waited in the cold rain for what seemed like hours for the race to begin and then were called to line up at the starting line. There were almost 5,000 people in this race and all I could think of was "Kelly do NOT be the last person to finish!"  The booming sound of the gun went off and my stomach about jumped straight into my throat.

We had officially started.

The first two miles were a breeze and even the third mile was okay.  Fourth mile I started wondering, what the hell am I doing?!  We eventually pushed our way through and at around mile 9, I was in so much pain that I didn't know how my wet blistered feet were going to make it to the finish line.

Oh and did I mention the last mile was through Old Town Alexandria where people were all watching in the streets cheering us on?  Yeah I definitely didn't want people to see me walking!!  As soon as I saw the finish line and heard the music blaring from the speakers, I found this incredible adrenaline rush that helped me sprint (or possibly hobble) straight to the finish line.

This was the best feeling in the world!

This experience was unlike anything I've ever been through and the fact that I finished was probably one of the proudest moments of my life.  No I definitely wasn't the fastest and I'm certainly not the most athletic, but I had a lot of firsts that day and I wouldn't change one thing!

Except maybe the whole rainy part.

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Also!  The winner of the Shine Project Giveaway is Miss Kristina from one of my favorite baking blogs Whipped!  Congratulations darlin, I'll shoot you over an email right now!!  Thanks again to everyone who entered!!