I dressed up as Ursula and ran 13.1 miles. Not at the same time.

WHAT AN INSANE WEEKEND!! It was full of ups and downs! This Friday was Halloween, my second favorite holiday! Christmas will always be número uno in my book! I love Halloween mostly because of the candy, Hocus Pocus, and, of course, costumes.  My sister and I are lucky enough to have parents who are not only creative, but very crafty! We never had to buy Halloween costumes because Helen and dad made them all! That is until we went through our "college girl slutty phase" and had to buy costumes because Helen refused to make them! Now I appreciate the girls who go for funny, clever, creative costumes instead of the "Mean Girls" version of Halloween.
Friday night was Beth's Halloween party! I think we've decided to make this an annual event. The theme this year was Disney Villains, and I think we covered most of the bases! I was SO impressed with the creativity of the costumes!  I was Ursula from The Little Mermaid. Luckily, I already had a black, poofy dress, so my costume ended up being super cheap.  After searching Pinterest and google for the perfect sea witch make-up, I wasn't loving any of the looks. I decided that I would go it alone by looking at a picture of her! An hour later, I came up with this!  I was pretty pleased with how it came out!
My hair wasn't so cooperative! The white spray wouldn't show up on my blonde, so I ended up using dry shampoo! It worked a little better, but not much! I was excited to see so many people dressed in theme...until Brittany arrived. I seriously couldn't look at her for like 20 minutes without laughing! Then she started dancing in those tighty-whiteys, and it was game over for me! (In case you don't know, she is Stewart from the MadTV skits).
 
Saturday morning came entirely too early after a late night at the Halloween party, but I was up and at 'em for Zumba Kids! After class we went to my parents house to watch the WVU game and celebrate my brother-in-law, Adam's, 30th birthday!  #old.  I think I speak for the entire state when I say we were all heartbroken/angry about the loss! It was verrrrry quiet in the Lewis household.  The car ride home with Matthew was just as icy.  I thought it was best to just let him go home and be mad!  Besides, I had to be up SUPER early for the race and had plenty of things to do to get ready!
Sunday. Oh, Sunday! The day that had been haunting my dreams for weeks had finally come! PTL! I will never know why I decided to put "Run a half marathon" on my #25before25 list, but after months of training it was finally time to conquer the 13.1 mile race. The race started at 7:00a.m. in Huntington, so we had a very early wake-up call! 4:45a.m. to be exact. IT WAS SO COLD. I think that actually made me run faster!  I was doing great until my phone died around mile 8, so I had to finish the last 5 miles with no music and no Runkeeper! That kind of took the wind out of my sails and caused me to lose focus, although I did thoroughly enjoy the hilarious signs and various musical acts throughout the race! I think my favorite was the trio of instruments playing the Lone Ranger theme song!
There were many "ralkers" throughout the race, but they slowly but surely fell behind.  I had the most obnoxious couple in front of me for several miles. They held hands as they ran. -_- WHO DOES THAT!? At least they distracted me for the miles when I didn't have my music!
I only really struggled with the last 3 miles, but I finished nonetheless! My family, Matt, and friends were waiting at the finish line! Congratulations to my training buddies, Sarah, Krista, and Krista L., on killing their times from last year! I know first hand just how hard they work to prepare for these races, and I am SO proud of them!
If you would've told me two years ago that I'd be running a half marathon, I would've said you were card-carrying-crazy. It's truly incredible what you can do when you put your mind to it!
I'd be lying if I said it was easy. I'd also be lying if I told you that I wasn't SO relieved it's over! After years of Zumba, and months of running, I am REALLY looking forward to taking a few days off from both! I desperately need a break! Thank you to everyone for the half marathon advice, encouragement, and congratulations! You all have made accomplishing everything on my #25before25 list so much fun for me! Now, onto my next adventure... ;)

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