congrats!! Yay!!
About the hands, don't know if this helps at all or not, but when I first started riding, on a mountain bike on paved trails, I would get pain in my elbows and numb hands within about 15 miles.
As soon as I got my road bike, all hand and arm problems disappeared overnight. I'll never know exactly what the issue was, but almost certainly due to fit, too wide bars, and angle of hand grips, for me.
Just wanted to say that sometimes these things can simply disappear with the right change of equipment, fit, etc.
"The best rides are the ones where you bite off much more than you can chew, and live through it." ~ Doug Bradbury