I got passed by a banana...

Hubby by my side, 13.1 mile challenge, one half pound of consumed ham, a couple margarita's, and $19.75 is what Easter weekend meant for me.

Yay, I got to see Ben this weekend! He flew home for Easter and to cheer me and Heather on for our first half marathon of the year. I was really excited to see him and spend the whole weekend doing nothing but family activities.

Saturday came early for Heather and me as we queued up at the start line at 7:30am. We spent the first 45 minutes prior to the start circulating through the ladies bathroom line trying to work out all our "nerves" so we could alleviate any pit-stops along the route. I'm proud to say I was successful.

The weather was colder than I had anticipated, which I think benefited me in the end. For the first five miles I couldn't feel my hands or legs and, coincidentally, those were my fastest mile times. Who knew what numbness could do for you?!?

I felt pretty strong during the race and actually really felt like I was kicking some major ass. It was then that a yellow banana went running past me and brought me down a few notches. "I was passed by a banana," was all I could think about. Then I started to wonder; they (the professionals) suggest only running in gear that you have practiced in and not break out any firsts on race day... so, did she practice running in her banana suit? on a treadmill? on main street? To make matters worse, I passed a lady cheering in a grape costume yelling, "Grape Job!" I was speechless. This race brought out Champaign's finest.

The race ended at the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium. Running on astroturf is not my idea of a good time, especially after you have just drained your legs for almost two hours prior. To give you an idea, it's like trying to run on the soft white beaches of the Gulf after running up 500,000,000 flights of stairs. I've already composed my email to the race committee with my thoughts about that.

I did impress myself, I finished 11 minutes faster than last year's half marathon in Indy. Time: 1:55:34, which comes out to 8:50 miles. Stats: top 15% of 25-29 year olds, top 16% of women, and top 27% overall. Not a bad showing. I like to think there's a little Kenyan in my blood.

I recovered fairly quickly and actually enjoyed the race experience. I'm already looking forward to my next half in three weeks. Yes, three weeks and no, I don't smoke crack. But apparently, I have a sister-in-law that does. She's the reason I'm signed up for these races. But who am I kidding, I LOVE the challenge!

After the race, we headed back to Brian & Heather's for Easter with my family. It was so much fun, we had a ton of food, an Easter egg hunt for Brady and Charlie, and lots of food.. did I already say a ton of food? I guess I was focused on recouping those calories I lost out on earlier in the day.

Saturday night we headed to Ben's house to celebrate his mom's birthday. A few margarita's and some awesome Mexican food wrapped up a very long, super fun, eventful day.

Sunday we had Easter with Ben's family as well as their traditional Easter egg hunt. Their eggs have money in them! Yes, money... not pennies, silver and green backs. I walked away with $19.75... turns out the recession didn't have an effect the 2009 Easter egg hunt! Before you judge me for participating in a kids Easter egg hunt you should know that the egg hunt consists of the 'kids'; one baby, a 14 year old, and then a range of 25-30 year olds. All us 'kids' decided that next year it would be entertaining to have the adults hunt for eggs, and instead of money we could put their medication in them. Lipitor, fiber bars, calcium chews, Tums, etc.... I think we would have a fight on our hands for a few of those eggs! Not sure when we will out grow the egg hunt, I guess when the ratio of 'kids' to 'kids' that are responsible for the other 'kids' out numbers the other 'kids'.

Unfortunately we had to rush off after we collected our eggs to get Ben to the airport. We had such a fun weekend and it came upon us so quickly and left us just as fast. I have Lauren's wedding in Atlanta this weekend. My flight back I'll connect through DC to have dinner with Ben on Sunday. So just a few days before I get to see him again... even if it is only briefly, it's something to look forward to!