I Finished the Half Marathon 1:59:24

Ok, and just for the record a guy handing out water at one of the water stops dumped a whole cup of water on me (this should explain the awkward "sweat" mark)!
I finished the Salt Lake Half Marathon--13.1 miles!! My friend Joni and I ran together most of the way. The race started up at the University of Utah and I couldn't believe how many people were there! The half marathon and marathon started at the same time and I heard there were over 10,000 people in the race. There was a gospel choir (swaying in robes and all) singing at the starting line, and all along the race course there were people cheering, singing, playing instruments, and one guy was even cooking a bacon breakfast in his front yard (not a good thought or smell when you're running)! My dad ran the race too, but somehow in the huge crowd we lost him from the very beginning! He did really well, though and he finished right at 2 hours and 33 seconds. My friend Joni finished in an hour and 56 min. I had a goal to finish under 2 hours and I did it!!! My final time was 1:59:24. Barely made it--but I made it, right?! My overall pace time was a 9:06 mile. I must've been running faster at the beginning because at about mile 11 when we turned onto State Street downtown it was a steady incline and I was running SO SLOW! I kept telling myself to keep going though because I had to finish under 2 hours! (The lady that told me I couldn't do it in under 2 hours TOTALLY motivated me!) The last quarter mile the course runs through the gateway and there were TONS of people lining the street. Steve brought the kids and my mom was also there to cheer me on at the finish line. It was definitely the funnest race I've ever run (except that uphill part--I could do without that). Now I'm dealing with being more sore than I can ever remember and two of my toenails are going to fall off in the near future (gross, I know).