I DID IT!!!! :) 13.1 Miles...
...And I have never been so sore in my entire life! :) But well worth it!
Yesterday I completed the half-marathon I've been training for since November. My time was 2:26, which is about 10 minutes longer than I wanted, but seriously I'm just so pleased with myself for finishing. I wish I could say it was a breeze, but it was actually the most physically challenging endeavor I've ever completed. My first 10 miles I actually felt really well, but went downhill kind of fast after that. I started to get pain in my foot, which radiated up my left leg, so that for the last three miles every time my foot hit the pavement I had a shooting pain up the entire left side of my body. I thought maybe I had a stress fracture in my foot, but it feels much better today, so I think it was just the fact that I had been running for 2 hours. :) I didn't stop running though, and it was absolutely awesome to cross that finish line. I'm also happy because I found that my limitations are more related to muscular endurance vs cardio-vascular endurance. I wasn't at all winded nor was my heart thumping wildly when the race was over...it was just that the muscles and bones in my legs aren't necessarily prepared for two and half hours of running...which I think is a positive sign of my overall physicall fitness. Although, I'm hobbling about like a senior citizen today! And to all my friends who run marathons - wow. Completing a half gives me so much perspective about the endurance required for a marathon. The mere thought of turning around after my first 13 miles and doing another 13 makes my whole body hurt.
At my house before the race
My running buddies
Approaching the finish line..
We did it!!!!!!!!!!
On another note, my mother is a total April Fool. She gets me EVERY year. This morning she called from her girls' weekend at Nemacolin Woodlands (a very nice wooded resort 2 hours from my house) to say that her friend who drove them is violently ill with a stomach bug and they have no one to drive her manual transmission car and can Andy and I please come up and get them so that Andy can drive her car home. As I saw my Sunday flash before my eyes and I told her I would go wake Andy up to see, they all burst out laughing. Hilarious, Mom. Last year she sent me a note with the official letterhead from my community that she had actually downloaded from their website that said I owed $2000 in back taxes. The last page read "APRIL FOOLS!!" The year before, I received a phone call from "Sears" confirming the delivery of a riding lawn mower purchased by Andrew Super. Before I had a chance to strangle my husband, my mom got on the phone all giggling and proud of herself. You would think I would be prepared, but every year I fall for it.
Well, I am off to check in with all of your journals. I apologize for being AWOL for the past week. I was in Atlanta all week this week for work, and then Nashville the weekend before, and am finally catching up from being away. I miss my girls. :)
Yesterday I completed the half-marathon I've been training for since November. My time was 2:26, which is about 10 minutes longer than I wanted, but seriously I'm just so pleased with myself for finishing. I wish I could say it was a breeze, but it was actually the most physically challenging endeavor I've ever completed. My first 10 miles I actually felt really well, but went downhill kind of fast after that. I started to get pain in my foot, which radiated up my left leg, so that for the last three miles every time my foot hit the pavement I had a shooting pain up the entire left side of my body. I thought maybe I had a stress fracture in my foot, but it feels much better today, so I think it was just the fact that I had been running for 2 hours. :) I didn't stop running though, and it was absolutely awesome to cross that finish line. I'm also happy because I found that my limitations are more related to muscular endurance vs cardio-vascular endurance. I wasn't at all winded nor was my heart thumping wildly when the race was over...it was just that the muscles and bones in my legs aren't necessarily prepared for two and half hours of running...which I think is a positive sign of my overall physicall fitness. Although, I'm hobbling about like a senior citizen today! And to all my friends who run marathons - wow. Completing a half gives me so much perspective about the endurance required for a marathon. The mere thought of turning around after my first 13 miles and doing another 13 makes my whole body hurt.
At my house before the race
My running buddies
Approaching the finish line..
We did it!!!!!!!!!!
On another note, my mother is a total April Fool. She gets me EVERY year. This morning she called from her girls' weekend at Nemacolin Woodlands (a very nice wooded resort 2 hours from my house) to say that her friend who drove them is violently ill with a stomach bug and they have no one to drive her manual transmission car and can Andy and I please come up and get them so that Andy can drive her car home. As I saw my Sunday flash before my eyes and I told her I would go wake Andy up to see, they all burst out laughing. Hilarious, Mom. Last year she sent me a note with the official letterhead from my community that she had actually downloaded from their website that said I owed $2000 in back taxes. The last page read "APRIL FOOLS!!" The year before, I received a phone call from "Sears" confirming the delivery of a riding lawn mower purchased by Andrew Super. Before I had a chance to strangle my husband, my mom got on the phone all giggling and proud of herself. You would think I would be prepared, but every year I fall for it.
Well, I am off to check in with all of your journals. I apologize for being AWOL for the past week. I was in Atlanta all week this week for work, and then Nashville the weekend before, and am finally catching up from being away. I miss my girls. :)