13.1

I ran a half marathon! I am so proud of myself. I have never been a runner, and when I started about a year ago, I could hardly run for 5 minutes at a time. I only ran to get in shape and lose baby weight, but I consistently ran 3 days a week, and slowly increased the distance I could run. I remember being so happy when I ran 2 miles straight for the first time. Then 4. And when I first ran 6, I signed up for our 10k, and that was as far as I was going to go. Rob could do his half marathon, but I was content with having done my race and keeping my Monday long runs at 6 miles. Until one day I felt great and did 8. Then a few weeks later, 10. After running 12 miles a few weeks ago, I decided I was ready for the challenge and I signed up for the Tri-Cities Half Marathon.

The race went really well! We arrived in Tri-Cities the day before and checked out the course and it was extremely windy and freezing and I was so nervous! We had a carb-filled dinner with Amber and Steve at Olive Garden, and spent the night at Cory and Minnie's house. The morning of the race was still freezing, but the wind had fortunately died down. 

Trying to stay warm

Ready to go

We all lined up and when the race started, it was a little bit slow since I was behind so many people and we didn't have time chips. I warmed up very quickly and felt comfortable running at a faster pace than normal, probably because of the excitement. Usually the first 3 or 4 miles are hard for me to push through, but I really felt great from the start. Near the turn-around point between miles 6 and 7, Rob and Collin were there with Amber and Eli to cheer me on!

It started to get hard around mile 10, when I started thinking about the finish line. It seemed so close, but I still had 3 miles to go and those were hard to push through! Miles 10 to 12 were the hardest, but the last mile went by pretty quickly.

It was the best feeling to finally cross the finish line! I had seriously been looking forward to that moment ever since I decided to do a half marathon. Although, as soon as I stopped running, every part of my body hurt like crazy, which I hadn't considered in all my daydreams about how great it would feel. But still, I'd just run the farthest of my life, and I finished faster than my goal!

Last stretch!

Finished

My overall pace was 10:37 and my time was just under 2 hours and 20 minutes. I know it's not a competitive pace in the racing world, but still faster than I usually run my long runs, and I've never run for speed. Distance was the goal, and I did it! Completing the half marathon was a huge accomplishment for me, one that I never would have thought I could do. But I'm so happy I did!