It may not be official, but it happened anyway...

Last Saturday, this happened:

I have no idea why the number 12 appears twice.
Clearly, the second 12 was supposed to say 13.

I've wanted to run another half for awhile now, but they keep getting canceled.  First, the Dallas Marathon fell victim to the ice storm in December, and then the Mother's Day half I was going to run...well, I have no idea what happened to it.  I picked up a flyer about it at either the Jog'r Egg Nog'r or the Too Cold To Hold.  But when it came time to register, I could not find a single mention of it in 2014. 

The thing is:  I HAD TO RUN.  But probably not for the reason you think.  See, Trevor is running in a Spartan Dash this coming weekend, and I am way too competitive to simply sit back and allow him to compete without accomplishing something as well.

(Note:  This is why we normally run together, because he is the same way.)

Anyway, I was only cleared for physical activity on April 11th, so I've gone from zero to half in four weeks.  To be fair, though, I've been running pretty consistently for the last year.  But my last run over 5 or 10k was way back in February. 

Which is probably the main reason why my self-imposed half wasn't the prettiest thing in the world.  It took nearly two and a half hours, and I saved all the sun, heat, humidity and hills for the bitter end.  But still.  I finished (with an extra two tenths of a mile to boot!).  Without walking (except oh-so briefly during the final quarter of a mile).  And I can finally check that whole "run another half" off my mental to-do list.

Plus, I burned a heck of a lot of calories.
Totally earned those Mother's Day MARGARITAS!

Of course, I've never been one of those people that can run distance without training for it.  And, obviously, I'm not very speedy even when I do.  So it should come as no surprise that running this much this quickly has resulted in a nasty case of bacterial Pharyngitis.  I was fine Wednesday.  Went to the gym after work, ran a 5k and lifted.  Came home and started feeling off during dinner.  Woke up Thursday, and *wham* could barely swallow.  By late afternoon, I started feeling achy with "the chills", and Trevor insisted we spend the first half of our date night at the local PrimaCare.  Rapid strep test was negative, but doc said I definitely had some sort of nasty infection going on at the back of my throat. 

So, $50 and a couple of prescriptions later (yay, drugs!), I'm supposedly on the mend.  Trevor is excited that I've been told to rest.  I'm just looking forward to being able to swallow again without agony.  This is definitely one of the worst sore throats I've ever had.

Still?  That half last weekend?  Totally worth it.  ;P