Recently I competed in the half marathon in my town! For a couple years I stood by and watched and cheered on the runners (it runs right in front of my house). Often it brought up competitive notions that I had long felt in the world of sports. Along with competitive I felt myself emotionally overwhelmed seeing the folks struggle through "Hell Hill", I felt a deep sense of pride and compassion for those whom were gritting through it!
In high school I was very active. I participated in every sport I could. This year instead of just being a side liner, I decided I would challenge myself both physically and mentally and train for the half marathon(13.1 miles). I trained for six months as I had not ran in ummm...lets just say forever! LOL!!! I bought a treadmill and ran inside through the winter. Nebraska brings lots of snow and ice. I discovered that I was a fair weather runner...so I needed to remove any excuse of running! AKA...it's too cold kinda of a deal! I looked up some training plans on line and fit it the best I could to my schedule. I usually work three long days and then have three off. Sounds good however on the three days I work I was so exhausted that running never happened...so I relied heavily on my three off days and my will power. Needless to say I had a lot of family support and came out at a very honorable time for my first race! I completed in 2 hours and 16 minutes. Hopefully next year I can shave some of it!!!
That's me in the bright green! Thought I would make it easy for my family to spot me!
I believe the smile was because it was only mile 2!
Mile 9 and still smiling! This is a the top of "Hell Hill"....so lovingly dubbed isn't it!
My family was teasing me...saying I was running too fast for pics! Riiiiight...too fast will never happen!
Finished in Memorial Stadium! I had challenged some of the folks I worked with and a couple ran with me...my boss was one of them! I ate the best orange I have ever ate right after the race...I was so depleted! I have no idea how folks get through the full marathon(26.2 miles).
My loving hubby! I guess he did his part of running that day. They had to run from the parking garage to the finish line or they would not have seen me finish....we laughed the rest of the day because his legs were sore....as if!
I hoped to be a good role model for my kids! I just needed to hit the concrete! My kids are a lot more active and we spent good time together running and them riding bikes!
My aunt found a sitter for the day for her cattle and got to cheer me on! She has always been a hero in my life...it was nice to have her. Not often that she gets to leave the ranch work for a day! Disregard the dates on the pictures, they are off, I ran in May!
Recovery was about a week before I was walking normal. I learned a lot about what to do better next year and about myself! I guess my boss says next year it is a Triathlon....we will see about that!! I know that the sense of accomplishment was amazing!
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