Thirteen Miles

the past five months, three months more seriously, i have been training for a half marathon with two other great friends/teachers from peter kirk. when the initial talk began about training for a half marathon my first thought was that there was going to be absolutely no way i was going to be able to run 13 miles. THIRTEEN MILES! when we began our training our first run was only 1 mile and i thought i was going to die. within a couple of weeks we were running 3 miles and then a few weeks later 5 miles. our training was very successful and before i knew it i was able to run 9 and 10 miles without stopping. the last week of our training schedule we rested on monday, completed a 10 mile run on tuesday, rested on wednesday, did a 20 minute interval run on thursday(which was about 2.5 miles), then rested on friday and saturday. i was a nut-case on saturday...i couldn't sit still, kept pacing around our apartment, peeing every few minutes due to hydrating myself, and just completely antsy for the half marathon i was going to run the following day. i loved the anticipated feeling.

sunday came and i was beyond excited and couldn't believe that our half marathon day was finally here. i awoke early to eat a huge bowl of oatmeal and a hard boiled egg for protein in order to allow time for my food to digest before race time. once the girls arrived we headed down to mercer island to sign in, warm-up, stretch and just calm nerves down before the race actually started. we all ran together for the first couple of miles, and as usual, mindy and danielle quickly pulled ahead. i later found out that at about mile 5 danielle pulled ahead of mindy and from then on the three of us ran individually until we reconnected at the finish line. i thoroughly enjoyed the training, the race, and the joy of crossing that finish line is an unexplainable experience, but i'm unsure if i will ever run another race of this great distance. runners have a certain build, one of which i do not have...i have been blessed with hips from my mom's side of the family and i think my hips add additional angled pressure on my knees, causing great pain after the race. a feeling that i am not fond of. although i do enjoy running and will continue to, my distances will be none as great as 13 miles. for now, i will be content with completing a half marathon within my goal time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, finishing at 2 hours and 19 minutes.

the picture above is of mindy, danielle and i before the race at 7 in the morning. the pic below is of me after the race, proudly wearing my half marathon jersey.