Sunday morning I woke up at 5:30am after not sleeping very well the night before. I brought my breakfast since I found out that for ONE person to eat the hotel breakfast buffet would cost $15. So for the hubs and I to both eat a mediocre breakfast would cost $30 I decided to bring my usual cheap running fuel. I forgot a bowl so I used the glasses that were in our room. I brought quick oats, natural PB, and natural raw honey. I was so nervous I could barely eat or drink anything.
I thought I was going to pass out or have an anxiety attack. I haven't been that nervous since I was in labor and anxious to meet my baby.
I had to go down stairs the latest by 6:45am to be shuttled to the starting line.
On the shuttle I spoke to a woman who was also running her first half marathon and you could tell she was just as nervous as I was. She told me that she just kept reminding herself why she was doing this and how much it meant to her. I started to tear up and I remembered all of the pain, all of the sacrifices, all of the early morning runs, late night workouts, my ankle injury, the few friendships lost due to my dedication to working out and running instead of going out, etc.
I got to meet up with a few awesome ladies.. And I'm so glad I got to experience this with them!
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| Julie, Darci, Amy, and I |
I just kept thinking about how I felt when I sprained my ankle in August you can read that here.
I remember the hubs saying to me that he didn't think that I would be able to run the half because I needed to heal and not push myself too soon. But that made me push myself harder and want it even more. If I hadn't of sprained my ankle I don't know if I would've wanted it as much as I did.
By the time the race started I couldn't feel my face, hands, or my feet.
The race started and it was incredible how many different types of people there were. How many different shirts, shapes, sizes, etc. There was a military man dressed in full battle gear with a big back pack and he passed me like I was standing still!
There was another man dressed like the infamous lamp off the move 'A Christmas Story'.
About 2.5 miles in I started ugly crying...bawling like a baby. I caught the runner's high that every runner strives to find. It's like a four leap clover it's hard to find but you find it every once in a while and when you do it's pretty sweet. I kept thinking about this time last year when I ran my first 5k and how far I had come. I cried for a good mile. I couldn't believe that I was accomplishing a goal I NEVER EVER thought I could.... It wasn't even a thought until just a few short months ago and here I was doing what soooo many people thought I couldn't do!
My feet started thawing out at about mile 5-ish. Honestly the running wasn't that hard. The length of the race wasn't that hard. The freezing cold weather and trying to breathe in it and feeling like your entire body has frost bite was extremely hard!! So many different apps and weather stations had different readings about what the temp was but the wind chill was somewhere between 12-15*.
TMI: My worst fear happened... I started my period a couple days before the race and ended up having to change my tampon about 2 miles in. The lines were so long that I stood there at leasttttt 10-15 minutes and I was furious!!
Before this race I hadn't ran more than 9 miles and I hardly ran the 2weeks before the race.
I was worried that I was going to get bored with my music but surprisingly I didn't. I enjoyed the route and neighborhoods we went through.
I tried not to look at my watch and I didn't, not once. I saw the time at each mile marker but I knew it was off quite a bit because it was going from the very first group who took off about 20 minutes before my group did. I was apart of the last group clearly because I'm a slow runner.
I cant really explain the feeling I felt but at mile 13 I tried so hard not to ugly cry I had only .10 miles left to run and I would be a half marathoner!!!! What an accomplishment! I then turned the last corner and saw all the people standing in the cold cheering for us. I felt so much joy and pride I can't even put it into words.
I worked hard for something and accomplished it. Amazing to say the least.
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