Tag Archives: half marathon

If you run, you are a runner

“If you run,  you are a runner. It doesn’t matter how fast or how far. It doesn’t matter if today is your first day or if you’ve been running for twenty years. There is no test to pass, no license to earn, no membership card to get. You just run.” -John Bingham

For the longest time, if anyone mentioned running I would say there are only 2 reasons I would ever run.

Zombies, can you blame me?

And more importantly

When the Doctor tells me to run

But apparently there’s another reason.

This girl

When I last saw Brittney in March, she had just gotten engaged to Peter and she mentioned that, rather than go on a ‘wedding diet’ she’d like to train for and run a half marathon 2 weeks before the wedding. She also said she’d like to have some of her friends run with her. Since I was already training for a 5k, and I’m incapable of saying ‘No’ to my friends, especially if they’re a bride, I said I would train for it too.

So Keith helped create a training schedule for me and I’ve actually been running in a consistent and sustained basis (something that has never happened before) since then. Our friends Jen and Leah also took on the challenge and Jen even used my training schedule.

All during training, I’ve thought of the race as an inevitability. I was never afraid that I would finish it. I wasn’t out to run the entire way, I knew I’d walk large portions of it. I’m not terribly competitive, I knew I wouldn’t be winning. It was my first race, so whatever time I got would be my personal best. I mostly just wanted to say that I’d accomplished it. A lot of people asked me beforehand if I was nervous or excited, nope. Just determined.

This weekend, Jen and I drove up to Austin and Brittney and Leah drove down from Fort Worth. The weather was a little gloomy (rare, as we’ve been in a severe drought, especially in central Texas) but we were all excited as we tucked into our carbo-loading Italian dinner. When our 5:00am alarm went off, we looked out  at a soaking wet Austin skyline backlit by lightning. Lovely. We drove to the starting line just in case, but just as we feared the race was cancelled.

However, due to my aforementioned determination, I demanded that we run a half marathon anyway. Lightning and possible flash flooding made running outside impossible and unsafe, but 24 Hour Fitnesses are open and safe at 6:45am. I insisted suggested that we run our 13.1 on treadmills, depressing as that may be.

So we did.

Exhausted but triumphant on our treadmills

 

We even had a fan cheering us on!

So the race was cancelled but we ran a half marathon. And we still got swag, free champagne and chocolate, and soon we’ll get our finishers medals. The rest of the day was spent showering, napping, eating, and drinking (not necessarily in that order). And we all felt a little like Barney after he ran the NYC marathon…*

There’s been talk of trying another race in the near future, but I’m not sure. Going to have to think about it.

All in all, I’m really proud of myself. And a little amazed that my body could do something that I had always thought it couldn’t.

 

 

*today I’m good, but I’m worried about being sore tomorrow. It’s always the second day that’s really awful, right?

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B3DA 18-The People Pictured Are All British

Right out of the gate, I want to post this for Lisa because I know she’ll squee at it:

And some of the rest of you squeed too, didn’t you?

And this is just for me:

Okay, moving on. To some big, life changing stuff. Seriously. About a month ago I agreed to run a half marathon with my friend Brittney (and some of our friends) the week before her wedding. I’m not sure I was in my right mind, I’d just had several (several) cups of coffee and biscuits at Ol’ South Pancake House so I was obviously feeling good, and the endorphins swept me away. Well I told myself I’d start training for it once I’d run the 5k at TLA (which turned out to not be a full 5k, but who’s judging?). So this is to be the first week of training! I’ve got 24ish weeks so I’ll be taking things slow. Lisa suggested I log my total hours at the end of each blog entry. What do y’all think?

In other news:

Happy 40th Birthday David Tennant!

~~~~~~Jane Austen 30 Challenge~~~~~~

18. Moment that made you smile/happy while reading

Captain Wentworth’s love confession, just about every snarky thing Mr. Bennet says, the Middletons, when Wentworth takes Anne’s nephew off her back…

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