Long Branch HALF MARATHON

Wooo hooo, I completed the LB half in 2:05:49! My Garmin watch read 2:05:52 when I turned it off, so I must've stopped it 3 seconds after crossing the finish. Funny because I was looking at some of the race pics that the Marathon FB page posted of the finish line, and all you see are runners stopping their watches as they cross the finish. Us runners can get pretty anal about our race time/pace!
So the day(or should I say early early morning) started off in a rush. I got up at 4:30 a.m.,giving myself a whole hour before Caroline was to pick me up. I ended up on FB and before I knew it, Caroline texted me that she was outside my house waiting! I wasn't even dressed! I scrambled around the dark house to get my belongings and get out there.
We saw some Mommy Movers in the parking lot(my old running group) and it was nice to see familiar faces. Soon enough we were running across the starting line. The adrenaline was pumping. I felt great(besides my grumbling tummy) and I took off a bit faster than my normal pace. Luckily I had Caroline with me until we lost each other at the water station at mile 5. It was a packed road at all times...I never felt like the crowd of runners ever dispersed or trickled down to the point where I wasn't running with people on all sides of me.
At mile 9 my stomach started turning again, and I feared having to take a porta potty break, which would totally ruin my fast pace and possible personal record for fastest half marathon. This is my 7th half, and I really wanted to at least shave off one minute from my Asbury Park time(which was my best time to date).
Luckily the tummy trouble subsided and I didn't have to stop. Once I hit the boardwalk, I knew I didn't have too much farther to go, so I ran as fast as I could to the finish line. It was awesome seeing Chris and Army at the finish. And how did I not mention how awesome it was to see Army, Chris, and my mom cheering me on at mile 7 in front of my mom's house.
I got my medal, banana, and adequate bagel(nothing compares to the Bagel Masters bagel I got at the Indian Hills finish line!) and we headed back to my mom's house. That's about a mile to a mile and 1/2 walk! I figured it was a good idea to keep my legs moving, so I didn't mind the walk. And I had my two favorite people with me, so all was good.
Overall the race was great. My stomach is still a bit of a mess, but that's what happens when you don't eat  your normal pre-race foods the night before. I was at a birthday party last night, eating oil-laden catered food and home-made chocolate chip cookies.
    Sidenote - I wore my new blue LB HALF MARATHON T-SHIRT that they give free to all the runners that entered the race two days after on one of my runs and it fits GREAT! I absolutely love it! Not something I can usually say about other race shirts I have gotten in other races in the past. This one was meant for a girl's body(they did them up this year specific to your gender I think) and it's awesome.
Here are some pics from Chris' camera!

Grandma and Army, then me below in the PINK SOCKS!

Me about 5 minutes after crossing finish line with my son!

Me passing my family at around mile 7