First Half Marathon

In April this year I did something I never thought I would do, I finished a half marathon.  That's 13.1 miles.  Friends of mine had done it before, and when I took up running, I told them, "that's just not for me", but that was before I'd really caught the bug.  I still can't say that I love running while I'm running, but I love the feeling when I'm done! 

I had hoped to run the whole thing.  I had trained for 14 straight weeks, 4x a week to run the whole thing. 

I did not run the whole thing. 

First thing, I went out faster than my normal pace, second thing, the weather after training those 14 weeks in winter months was 92 degrees that day, third thing, I started to feel a pain in my chest at mile five, started to walk to get my heart rate down and promptly threw up.  The next two miles were a blur and I was sure I wasn't going to finish, but then I got better and did in fact finish. 

My time was not stellar, my pace overall just over a 12 minute mile, but I was thankful that I listened to my body for the second half of the race as I heard they cancelled the full marathon due to the heat, the fact that so many people were collapsing, and they were running out of first, second and third responders. 

Three other friends ran that day as well, we kept each other on target for training, drove together on race day, and celebrated afterwards, extremely thrilled to finish!

Erin - Rachel - Stan - Me

Rachel ran with precious cargo aboard - I'm still in awe!

Me before the mile five fun

Nathan is actually holding me up here, I'm sure of it!

So what did this first half marathon teach me?

That I can do things I never thought I would.

That training is very, very important.

That having friends and family to support you both in the race and on the sidelines is just as important as all the training.

That walking is not an option for the next one.

That I would like for another ribbon around my neck to someday be simply: Marathon.

So, next step?  Next half this October!

Currently in week five of fourteen for training, and going very well.