Road to 13 miles

It felt great. It was a little strange. I was doing work at my desk, ran three miles, showered, changed and was back to doing work at my desk in an hour. I felt almost like i dreamed it? 

Being naked at my place of work felt strange. But running at lunch was worth it, it was an energy booster and a mind clearer. I can’t wait to start training for my next half. Lunch time runs will be a regular!

It is 5 miles. I have done it before, but just hugely out of shape. One year, out of almost 1000 people I came in second to last. Here is to coming in before that!!

One family gives out beer and bloody mary’s in little dixie cups. I will be looking for them!!

you decide you are going for a run on your lunch break, strip down and realize you have no sports bra.

#fail

now i can write whatever i want!

I ran my race, the race that has been occupying my mind every day for the past 5 months. 

And um…now what?

*I usually hate really long race recaps but umm…mine is really long. Apologies in advance.

I can’t believe I have come this far. It seems like yesterday I was hiding behind trees on my run because I was embarrassed, or crying my eyes out when I was pushed to three miles because my legs hurt so badly. This was the whole reason for the blog, all 13.1 miles. I never thought it would get here. It seemed so far away. I seemed so far away from being able to achieve it and I doubted myself until the second the gun went off and then… then I knew I would be ok.

The first mile was spent just trying to get out of the pack. I am super slow so everyone was running around me and running in to me. All of a sudden the first mile was over. It didn’t even feel like I was running. “Awesome,” I thought, “this is a wash, only 12 more to go.” The second mile felt the same. Mile three was when I realized I was actually running, I can’t even explain the first two miles, it just felt like they didn’t exist.

At mile 4ish I had to use the bathroom. There was one porta-potty and I waited in line for 10 minutes! I was frustrated that I had to stop running for so long but I knew if I held it I would have been worse off.

At 4.5 I started getting lapped by the really fast half marathoners (the course was 2 loops).

At mile 5 I saw my mom and my boyfriend cheering for me, it gave me a super boost and I was able to complete the first loop really quickly after that. I saw my friends from work holding signs for me at the start of the second loop and I got so excited they had to tell me to keep running because…I almost stopped to hug them all.

I saw my mom and boyfriend at mile seven and they told me I was flying. I loved seeing them at random places, I never knew when it was going to be but when I did see them it made me so happy and helped me keep going.

At mile 8.5 I almost cried with joy. I had run 8.5 miles and honestly felt fine. I couldn’t believe how far I had gone and how a few months ago I couldn’t even run a mile.

It felt like it took forever to get to mile 10 and at mile 11 my knees started aching. I saw my mom and boyfriend at mile 11.5 and at that point my right knee was absolutely killing me. I just kept thinking “my heart and my mind will carry me when my limbs get too weak.” At mile 12 the woman in front of me kissed her hand and touched the 12 miles sign. I laughed and did the same.

As I turned the corner with a little less than a mile left I saw my sister and 3 of her kids holding signs for me. I was so close to the finish and this just brought me to tears. She yelled to see if I wanted Nathaniel, my 12 year old nephew to run the last mile with me. I couldn’t have thought of anything I wanted more at this moment. He joined me and we laughed and I cried a little and I passed my friends again and everyone was cheering us on. Someone yelled to Nathaniel to keep me going. I passed my mom and my boyfriend and his mom and brother and it was all a blur.

We hit the finish line and I couldn’t even believe it. It was an amazing experience and all of the training and hard work paid off! I can’t wait until the next one!