The Big Race

Back in November I ran a half marathon. The crazy idea to run 13.1 miles came to me one late night in August as Addie was screaming and I lay there awake. I needed something to jump start me out of the hard baby phase. I needed to focus on me for a bit, to get my fitness on track again, to work towards a goal outside of sleeping through the night. :) Running a half marathon seemed like the perfect solution. When I got up the next day and started searching for training plans, I realized that I was exactly 10 weeks away from the City of Oaks race which is the perfect amount of time to train. I knew this project was meant to be!

So over the next 10 weeks I tackled my running program. I'd do two short runs during the weeks (usually before Brian went to work- he was awesome to help watch the girls so I could train) and then one long run on the weekend. Pretty quickly, I got into the routine and started to actually ENJOY the running. I'd pump up my country music, set off down Ridge Road and then hit the greenway. It became a really fulfilling way to spend an hour or two by myself.

Race day came, and it was the first really cold day of the year. It threw me a bit- trying to decide how to dress. I chose wrong and had some wardrobe issues during the race (along with stomach issues- ate too much in advance), but despite these setbacks I actually finished in record time! I crossed the finish line in 1 hour and 57 minutes. I had been running a 10-minute mile, but came in under that when it mattered . My goal had been to finish the race without walking, and I accomplished that. Overall, the whole experience was exactly what I wanted it to be. I dropped a little weight training, got back into the routine of working out regularly, and accomplished a goal. Does this half marathon inspire me to aim for a full now? Not a chance!