I still really can't believe I did it....but I did. I ran a half marathon! I may not have been the fastest runner out there, but I definitely was not the slowest either. And I did not stop or walk the entire time. I finished in about 2 hours and 40 minutes...averaging about a 12 min/mile. And all nearly 3 hours, was pure awesomeness!!
I was totally freaked out the night before. Even though I ran 11 miles the Sunday before, I was panicking. What if I got a shin split, or side ache, or foot whatever? What if I hit "the wall" and couldn't continue? Add in the fact that the forecast was low 40s and RAIN! What to wear?? My mom spent the night to keep the boys and I think I finally fell to sleep some time after midnight.
We woke up early around 4:30am. And it was COLD and RAINING just as projected. I had bought these sheddable/disposable jackets for Matt and I at the race expo so my plan was capri pants, long sleeve top, gloves, visor and this sheddable jacket. We arrived downtown about 5:45am and yay, no rain! Went inside to meet up with the gang and get our numbers pinned on, etc. Like cattle we then followed the herd outside to line up....its drizzling. The race starts. We are probably several thousand people deep so it takes about 15 minutes before we even are near the official start line. And by the time we reach it, it is full.on.POURING. I waved goodbye to Matt so he could carry on and just focused on me. I didn't care how slow I was, I just wanted to finish.
It rained for probably the first hour of the race. Like hard. I was SO glad to have the visor to keep my face clear and the jacket on. It was keeping me warm and fairly dry. And happy to have capris on too and not dealing with wet ankles/pants! The bad part was the gloves and the shoes. SOAKED. But even with running around the puddles, etc it was still pretty cool. People were cheering us on!
Thank goodness for the music. There were some great songs on my ipod that really got me through. I felt so powerful and strong!! Passing by Matt and Jenny along the 8-9 mile stretch was pretty cool too. They were about a mile ahead of me and I saw them as they were coming back on the u-turn. That really gave me some motivation to keep going! When I reached mile 10 and was headed back towards downtown...I knew I could do it. The home stretch. I soaked it in. And then seeing MARATHONERS passing me...I definitely couldn't quit then.
When I finally reached mile 12 entering downtown...knowing I had just a mile to go....the emotions got me. I truly couldn't believe I was doing this. I passed some people, others passed me. But I was SMILING the whole time with tear filled eyes. I wanted to reach out and touch everybody around me and give them a high five and say"c'mon...we can do this! We got this thing!!" That mile was my fastest of all 13. I loved racing through the final stretch. I raised my arms up and gave it my all as I crossed the finish line! It.was.AWESOME.
A little less than 2 years ago I started the couch to 5k program. I could barely jog 30 seconds. Last year at this time, I ran the 5k while Matt ran the 1/2 and decided after seeing him finish, that I too wanted to run next year!! Fast forward 9 months, and sweet Lukey was born. It was beginning to seem a bit ambitious that I would be able to complete the race. There was no way I could get back in shape enough to run in just 3 months! But thanks to the persistence especially of my #1 supporter Matt, and forever optimist friend, Jenny...they didn't let me give up. I kept on training. And on Sunday...I became a 1/2 Marathon FINISHER!!
If it is ever something you think maybe you would want to do...if you set your mind to it, do your miles, and stick with it, you can do it too.
What an awesome day. Thank you again to my hubby, my parents, and all my friends for the encouragement and support. Can't wait to do it again next year!!!
