A GREAT Day, Times 13.1!

The big day finally came today!  My first half marathon!  This process was so much more than a physical journey for me.  As far back as I can remember, I have told myself I could NEVER run 13.1 miles.  NEVER!  And I don't even know when or why that started.  But I thoroughly and completely believed it.  I've run for a looong time, but always inside on my treadmill.  A year and a half ago I entered my first "public" 5K, and I was over-the-moon excited to have accomplished that.  A few more 5Ks that year, then this past December a 10K with Brad.  Slowly, the bug bit to do something I've always said I couldn't do.  I realize now that I've done that with so many things in my life, living under a glass ceiling without even realizing the ceiling is there.

So I started training for this half marathon, deciding to just do one to take a chunk out of that glass ceiling and feel the breeze of reality.  I've watched with a helpless sadness as people around me have endured incredible hardships that have resulted in physical limitations.  In a variety of different ways, their bodies have failed them.  And my body, for the most part, is healthy and strong.  And so I decided to challenge this 41 (and a half) year old body and ask it to do something it had never done before.

And today?  I did it!  I not only started, but I finished!  And I finished strong.  My body held up.  Hurting, but good.  It was such a fabulous experience.  The training was so hard on some of those days.  Today was hard, but not too hard.  Up to mile 6 flew by.  Smooth and easy.  My 8 I started feeling my hip and knee.  I missed the mile marker for mile 9, and was starting to get really frustrated at how long this mile was lasting, and then we passed the sign for mile 10!  Eastside?  Ouch.  Mile 11?  Hard.  My knee was barking all kinds of complaints.  I spent that mile praying for Ben.  And then it smoothed back out again and by the time we hit the downhill of Capitol we were cruising smooth again! 

Not even a mile in I had to run through Farmer's Market and use the facilities.  So that lost us a few minutes.  Those few minutes ended up being the difference in breaking 2 hours, but I am A-OKAY with that!!  We were somewhere around 2:04, and I'll take that gladly.  Especially since a time goal was not even on my radar.  Just finishing healthy was my goal.

I so wish I could have run with a camera and taken pictures of all the smiling, encouraging friends I saw along the way.  I cannot even describe what an incredible source of fuel it is to round a corner and see smiling faces calling your name and shouting out encouraging comments.  Marlece was so sweet to pick up my kids and drive them to different points along the route to cheer us on!  LOVED that!  And all the runners that knew the tough spots and "just happened" to pop up at those tough spots and cheer you on.  Those who are runners know how much it means, and now I do too.

AND to top that all off, to run this with my best friend, who knows all my insecurities about this and was so sweet to train with me and push me along.  He could have finished faster, but he chose to stay with me and run it together.  I don't think I could have done this without him, and I don't think I could love him any more than I do already.  He's a gem, and I'm thankful beyond measure for his support and companionship as we pounded out all those miles these last few months.

Here are some happy (and wet!) shots of the day:

Somewhere, I have no idea where, along the route

This is the moment I realized my kids were the ones "woo-hoo"ing for me!

The sweet, sweet finish line!

Record rainfall, and this picture shows how drenched we were!

Love the support of this sweet family so very much!!

And now I am hurting a bit.  But it's an oh-so-good hurt.  I'm oh-so-glad to not have to think about this anymore!  And I'm oh-so-thankful for a body that can do this.  And I'm oh-so-thankful for the dorky hat that kept the rain off my face!  A good day??  A GREAT day!