Marathon Weekend!!!

Me with my Medal!!! I did it!!!

Me, Christina and Chesare...Half Marathon Finishers!!!

Me and Chesare!!!

A group shot at the Aquarium!

Christina, Bobby, and me partying it up in the Highlands!

Chris, Chesare, and Ben...you work it Chesare!

Girly shot!!!

Wow!!! What a weekend!!!!

It definitely was one I will remember forever!!!

Friday night my great friends Chesare, Christina and Bobby came to Atlanta for the ING Half Marathon!!!

Christina flew down from DC and Chesare and Bobby drove in from Raleigh!

They both arrived right at the same time (around 7pm) and met us at the hotel I had booked Downtown for our "Big Night Out in ATL"!

We headed to the Steamhouse Lounge to meet a bunch of our friends for happy hour! We had a great time! Chesare, Bobby and Christina got to meet Pat, Steph, Melissa, Chris and Aaron!

From there, we headed to Taco Mac in the Highlands to watch UNC crush Gonzaga!

After the game we bar hopped all over the Highlands until the wee hours of the morning!

It was a great night!

Saturday we got up and dressed and headed to Murphy's in the Highlands for Brunch with my friend Anastasia! It was great catching up with her.

After brunch we headed to the Georgia Dome to pick up our race packets! This is when I really started getting excited about the race! You could feel the excitement in the air...it was contagious!

From the Georgia Dome we ventured to the Georgia Aquarium for some "tourist time". Neither Christina, Chesare or Bobby had been to the Aquarium before and they loved it!

By the time we got back to our house in Roswell it was already 7pm and we were exhausted.

So, we ordered in and watched some TV! I even introduced Bobby to the Snuggie!

We hit the sack early Saturday night and were up at 5am on Sunday for the race.

It was VERY cold that morning so we tried to bundle up as much as possible.

By 6:30am we were downtown, warmed up, and headed for the START line.

We began the race a little after 7am! I felt great the whole time! The only time I hit a wall was around mile 10. Definitely Miles 10-12 were tough! But by the time you got to mile marker 12 and you realized you only had 1 mile left...you got a huge rush of adrenaline! There were tons of people cheering you on the finish line! And it was good to see Ben and Bobby waving at us and cheering us on to the end!

Chesare and I finished the race in 2 hours and 38 minutes. Christina finished in 2 hours and 9 minutes! And we ran the whole way!! No stopping for us!

I was so proud of myself!!! It was definitely a feeling of accomplishment that washes over you!

Would I do another half marathon???...absolutely!

After the race, we came home and crashed!!!

Chesare and Bobby hit the road back to Raleigh a little after noon and we dropped Christina off at the airport at 3:30pm.

Last night Ben and I ordered Chinese and were asleep by 10:30...it was an exhausting but exhilarating weekend!!!

Thanks to Christina, Chesare and Bobby for paying me a visit!

You guys are the best and such wonderful friends!!!

A BIG thanks to Chesare and Christina for running the race with me!

I knew we could do it!!!

A HUGE thanks to my wonderful husband for helping me play hostess for the weekend and for supporting me during my training!

You are the best Ben and I love you!!!

And another thanks to Melissa, Amanda and Chris for coming out to cheer for me on Sunday!

I really needed you guys!

Thanks for being such great friends!!!