The Laugh and a Half Marathon!!!!!!!!!!

Three girls, a GPS device nicknamed Nancy, and some MapQuest printouts headed a couple hours north to Norfolk, NE, for the Laugh and a Half Marathon*. 13.1 miles of a mixture of local businesses, churches, and beautiful countryside. It began just outside of Norfolk High School and was a loop that we had to run around twice. I think miles 2-4 (8-10) had the incline. The rest was either down hill or flat.
We drove up on Friday night and checked in to an inn. We were supposed to drive through a town called West Point to get there, but somehow changed highways outside of Fremont, and headed for Columbus. It only set us back about 10 minutes. It has been a good 10-15 years since any of us had a downright girlie sleepover, so, irresponsibly, we stayed up chatting until two in the morning and yes, there were M&M's involved. We had our alarm set for 5:45. Staying true to when our alarm went off, we were up and ready for a light, energizing breakfast and then to go pick up our race day packets.
Here we are before the the race and before putting on our race numbers:

Miles one and twelve are supposed to be the hardest. I had hurt my ankle some weeks before, and didn't finish ALL the runs in the training leading up to the race because of it. Needless to say, I was nervous about how it would effect things. Mile three was when my whole body, feet included, was warmed up enough to just run and not to care about aches and pains. From that point on it was fun.

Grateful for all the people who sat on the sidelines to cheer, one lady laughed at us for chatting while we ran. When we got to mile five, the top five finishers began to lap us. So, being good sports we cheered them on. The fifth place finisher was a 16 year old boy from Iowa. I think that is cool. I realized later that no women had lapped us. The official times say that a woman came in sixth about five minutes after we merely finished our first loop.
Me being pregnant, I took too many opportunities to use the ol' port-o-potty. It seriously slowed us down. My running companions were WAY more fit to run the race so frankly I still feel awful for slowing them down so. But they could not have been more supportive.
Many might have dreaded running the inclines a second time, but I knew there was only going to be a couple miles worth and then it'd be over. Phew! Luckily the terrain didn't change, and I was right. :)

At mile nine I drank too much at a water station and almost vomited. That was distracting.
At mile ten or so, the rains came down and the floods came up♫ We could hear the puddles in our shoes by the end. I was sure we'd blister but I didn't!
I'll admit that at mile twelve I began to weep. It. Was. So. Hard. There again were my supportive sisters who tried very hard not to give a voice to any aches and pains.
When the finish line was in sight, my friends found the energy they'd held back from pacing me, and it took me a minute to find mine, but I kicked it up a small notch and ran across the finish line with 20 seconds to spare before the three hour mark. I again started to weep. Wow. What a morning. When a supporter heard I was "running for two" he laughed at the thought the baby was having, "What the heck is going on out there?"
Here we are, soaked to the bone, sore as anything, and exhilarated that we met our goals:

 

The obnoxious rain got on the flippin' camera lens. Goes to show just part of what we've been through.
We got turned around (twice) on the drive home as well. Luckily we caught the error after only ten miles in the wrong direction. :)

Thank you, ladies. You've given me such amazing memories!!!

~The Hoveys
*Laugh and a Half Marathon essentially means they had jokes on signs on the side of the road. For example: Why did the vegetarian stop running cross country? Because he didn't like the meets. :)