Mission Accomplished!

I am a bit late getting in here to update how Saturday went.
I did not sleep so well, but that was to be expected. The morning started with me watching the news to hear what the ever changing forecast was to be. Low 50's, possible thunderstorms and crazy wind!!
I was not too concerned with the rain and temps as I was with the wind. Unless it was to be at my back the whole race!
There was approximately 4573 participants in the 25k this year-1984 of them being women! It was a very crowded start. The rain started to fall about 3 minutes before the pistol blasted. I was just happy that the wind was pretty tame.
My group of friends and I started together and pretty much stayed together until mile 9 0r 10. I fell behind. I think I normally hit the wall at mile 8, but I stayed strong until mile 11 or so. I know that my pace slowed down just a tad, but I did not want to try to push myself too soon either.
The new course was quite challenging to say the least. The added rolling hills really started to take it's toll on me--more so mentally then physically I think. I am not sure how many extra hills were on this route, but I would say 5 would be a fair guess, possibly closer to 9! It was all good though, this is what I trained for.
By mile 12 I knew I would be close to finishing the 15.5 miles in under 2 hours, but I also knew I had to pick up the pace already.
I started picking up my pace, finding people to pass and felt amazingly strong. During the last .5 miles I was flying. I even passed my group of friends that pulled away from me a few miles back! When I crossed the finish line my stop watch read 2:00:32. I was so happy!! My best time was 2:04. I also knew that my stop watch might not be accurate and that there was still hope that I had done better. I didn't. My official chip time was 2:00:37. I missed it by 38 seconds! I could have sat there and thought about all the could have, should have and would haves to make myself feel better, but I didn't. I was slightly annoyed- only for about a minute. I had to think about all the positive things. I was 15th in my age group of 370 women! I was 912 out of 4573 people! How cool is that?!?! I am a part of an awesome running club that pushed me beyond my limits in preparation for this race. I ran a 6:15 mile. I have made new friends. I was so happy that I really did do my best and gave it all I had. I was able to see a lot of team members and friends cross the finish line and offer lots of hugs and high fives.
My husband and 2 sister in laws participated in the 5k this year with my encouragement. I am so proud of them! After the race friends and I went to the beer tent to toast our race and I was pleasantly surprised that a chilled and frothy beer in the cold and pouring rain was actually refreshing!
Later that night my family and friends got together to celebrate the race and my birthday ( a week early). Even though I did not make my goal, I can truly say that this mission of mine was accomplished.
I need a new mission.