Half marathon dreams

I am officially registered for my very first half-marathon this weekend! In the quest towards crossing off one of the items on my life-goals list, I'm slightly nervous/excited (such a fine line between those two) to take part in the Long Beach marathon. I'm from LA so the idea of jumping into my car to visit a friend a block away isn't unheard of. And walking? Is that what that raised bit of concrete along the street is for?

The longest distance I have ever run is 9 miles and I won't lie, there was some pain involved during and after... But the common wisdom seems to be if you can run 7 or 8 miles, you can run 13.2 miles. I'm not sure how that works but I will put my faith in that logic. I come from a line of marathon runners, well, I come from a mom who started running marathons in her 50s so my genes can't be all bad. I did inherit bad eyesight and a strong stubborn streak from her, so it's totally possible that I inherited long-distance running abilities too. Two friends are also embarking on this adventure as half-marathon virgins, so we will lose our innocence together. I'm aiming for two and a half hours, so wish me luck!