Wow.
I mean, seriously wow.
I’ve really fallen off the wagon for blogging these past months.
To be fair,
this summer was absolutely crazy
(and awesome)
and immediately following our crazy summer
C started Kindergarten
(sob)
and then I started up school again full-time
(boo)
and that has kept me crazy busy these past four-ish weeks.
But enough of my silly
(if not also totally valid)
excuses.
Just over a week ago I ran my first half marathon!
It has always been something that I have kind of wanted to do.
I say “kind of” because in the past,
if I’m being totally honest with myself,
I wanted to do it just to say that I did it.
Which is probably why I never did it.
It wasn’t until I decided that I wanted to do it for me
that I actually got the motivation.
In June, Brandon’s sister asked us
if we wanted to do the Fit One Half Marathon with her
(and my father-in-law).
We both said yes and she signed us up.
That was all fine and dandy,
but the problem was that since we signed up,
that meant we actually had to start training.
I had been running for a month or so by that point,
but I hadn’t made it past about 4 miles yet.
I was definitely a little apprehensive
about making it 13.1 miles!
But I was pretty determined
and decided to celebrate all of the little victories.
Those of you who follow me on Instagram
probably got sick of seeing my selfies
and seeing me brag that I’d made it a mile farther than the week before.
But I digress…
When I reached seven miles,
it was the most incredible feeling.
I had never EVER been able to make it that far
in my whole life.
For some reason I hit a wall at about six miles.
From there it was all somewhat easy,
but definitely a mental game I had to play with myself.
I reached ten miles a few weeks before the race
and I tried to do one ten-mile-run each week leading up to the race
(as well as 1-2 shorter runs each week).
The week before the race I ran
8 miles on Tuesday,
10 miles on Thursday,
and then took a break on Saturday to recuperate.
The week of the half I ran
6 miles on Tuesday,
8 miles on Thursday,
and then the race was Saturday morning.
I worried after that Thursday run
that maybe I have pushed too hard
the week of the race.
But I felt fine,
and in the end I was so glad I had pushed myself!
My overall goal for the race was to run the whole thing.
I didn’t want to walk
(with the exception of water stations)
and I didn’t want to stop at all!
Race day came.
To say I was nervous
would be a major understatement.
I hadn’t slept well the night before
and we woke up to a very chilly morning.
(I think when we started the race
it was only about 41 degrees or so).
I was apprehensive to start,
but the waiting was killing me
so when they finally shot the gun
I was more than relieved.Me and my sister-in-law
(the one waving)
about 2 miles in.
(the one waving)
about 2 miles in.
For the first four miles or so,
I kept up with Brandon, his sister, and his dad.
We were goofing off and weaving between people
and it was overall really fun.
Eventually, my pace slowed a bit and they pulled ahead.
I was fine with this
because I was thinking I would finish
about 30 minutes after them.
Plus I am a pretty quiet runner.
I don’t normally like to talk too much
and I just like to focus on my running.
Even after they pulled ahead,
I could still see them until about mile 7 or so.
It was pretty foggy around then
and my sister-in-law took off her bright pink jacket
so it was harder to see them.
Plus I think they just got far enough ahead
that I wouldn’t have seen them even without the fog.
Surprisingly, I felt really good pretty much the whole race.
My feet didn’t hurt
(not even my second toe –
which pretty much hurt all through training)
and even the pain in my leg that I’d had for a few weeks
didn’t bother me in the slightest.
The ONLY complaint I had
was that my hands were pretty much numb by mile 7.
I hadn’t thought to bring gloves
and even if I had,
I’m sure they would have bugged me anyway.
Honestly, I spent the whole race
switching between singing
Bon Jovi songs in my head
and praying.
I wasn’t really praying for strength.
I had trained my butt off and I felt I had the strength.
I was literally just saying prayers of gratitude
for the amazing opportunity
and for my amazing body
that was capable of more than I ever thought possible!
It was a very cool experience!
“Not only can you do this…
you are doing this!”
became my mantra.
Which is awesome,
because it’s the same mantra
that I used when I was in labor
with my third baby. 🙂
I’m finding that labor
and running have a lot of similarities.
And they are both totally awesome!
I reached mile 10 and I felt so accomplished!
Every step past that was one step farther than I’d ever gone before!
Up until this point I hadn’t stopped at all
and I had only sort of walked for about five feet
while I chugged a cup of Gatorade.
I was so ecstatic!For the record, yes,
I was smiling almost the entire time.
I even heard a few people as I was running
saying “Look! She’s still smiling!”
I was smiling almost the entire time.
I even heard a few people as I was running
saying “Look! She’s still smiling!”
Then came the hill up to the Train Depot.
I know it was no coincidence that they stationed
a group of cheerleaders about halfway up the hill.
Because that hill is brutal,
especially when you’ve already made it 10.5 miles!
I can honestly say that the hill was the ONLY part
of the entire race that I didn’t completely LOVE!
I think that’s pretty darn good. 🙂
Once I got past the hill it was pretty smooth sailing from there.
The rest was either level ground or downhill
(downhill actually hurts more
but it requires less work – for me at least)
so it wasn’t too bad.
Before I knew it, I could see the finish line.
I felt like I had given it my all,
but I somehow managed to push myself to sprint at the end!
Pure determination…
Followed by confusion?
Seriously these pictures were so funny to see!
I almost started crying as I passed that finish line
because it had been such an incredible experience!
I had made it 13.1 miles
(actually… the course was 13.4 miles… not sure why)
which was the farthest I had ever run before
and I felt like I could take on the world!
I got my medal and met up with my husband and in-laws
where I discovered that I had finished only
TEN MINUTES
behind them!
behind them!
Whaaaaa?
I was so excited I could have screamed it from the rooftops!
I still didn’t know what my actual time was
since I hadn’t thought to look at the timer
as I passed the finish line,
so I was anxious for the few days that followed
to learn what my actual time was.
Here are some very low-quality pictures
from my kinda crappy phone
of all of us after the race. 🙂
On Tuesday the results were FINALLY posted online.
My finishing time was 2:15:10.1
(2 hours, 15 minutes, 10.1 seconds).
I was so happy because when I had been training
I was seriously running at a 12 minute per mile pace!
I was so happy that I was just over 10 minutes a mile!
(That might not be great for other people
but for me it was awesome!)
I was 39th out of 89 for my age group
and 611th out of 1135 overall.
I was most excited about the fact that I ran the ENTIRE thing
except for those aforementioned five feet
where I walk/ran so I could drink some Gatorade
without spilling it all over myself! Here are some pictures of
Brandon
Kim (Brandon’s sister)
and Mike (Brandon’s dad)
during the race.
Sure seems like they were having fun too.
Brandon
Kim (Brandon’s sister)
and Mike (Brandon’s dad)
during the race.
Sure seems like they were having fun too.
And I shared these last two pictures of Facebook
but they are too funny not to have on here.
See that guy looking crazy to the left?
Yes.
That is the man I have chosen to love.
He thought it would be hilarious
to bend over and put his arms behind him
while he sprinted to the finish line.
I just wish I had finished before him
so I could have seen it in person.
And I can only imagine the look on this lady’s face
when she finds her pictures
and sees some guy totally creeping up on her.
Seriously too funny.
I am seriously so ready to do another half marathon!
I wish I could do another one this weekend! 🙂
I’m sure this is just the first half marathon of many that I’ll do.
And I even KIND of want to do a full marathon now…
which I NEVER had any desire to do!
We shall see!
Hopefully soon I’ll get some updates
of our crazy summer posted!
’til then…
Ash
