my 1st Half Marathon

So I had signed up to run the 10K with Jason this year. Jason threw his back out last Saturday and it wasn't a great idea for him to do this race so soon. I had already pretty much decided not to do the race either and just go watch the kids play soccer that morning instead. Friday morning I was finishing up my last day of boot camp at the gym I attend when my trainer said I should think about upgrading my race from the 10K to the Half and run it with her and another friend. I don't know what went off in my head, but I took her up on it. Andrea is the friend that I hired about two years ago to train me and to help me get over my slump in my fitness goals. She not only has helped me in so many ways with my fitness levels, but has become a die-hard-tried-and-true friend of mine. I love this girl and owe so much to her. I know I could NEVER have finished that race had it not been for her.

So I ran up to the University that was hosting the race and switch up my status to run the Half. I ran the 10K two years ago here and just about didn't make it. My knees started going out at the 5K marker. I was very worried about running it again, but now had just added twice the distance to my run. Well, after a ton of laughs and cheering each other on, Justine, Andrea and I crossed the finish line at just about exactly the 2 hour 40 minute mark... We ran the whole way only walking up a few of the MANY hills on the course. We called ourselves the "no-train team" because none of us had done a lick of training to get ready for this race. It was a beautiful run through Shepherd University's town into Sharpsburg and in threw the Antietam National Battle field. We had pretty much 13.1 miles of wind, very cold rain and temps of only high of 48 degrees.

This may not seem like a big deal to some of you who might be reading this, but it was a HUGE deal to me. This was the biggest test of strength for me yet in my life. I don't know how my knees held up the whole way. I also have been dealing with severe pain in my kidney area (both sides) that runs down my legs into my knees. I am not gifted with an athlete's body or abilities. I've always quit things when they became too hard in the past. It's just been in the last few years that I have wanted to set my goals a little higher and show MYSELF (not anyone else) that I could stick with it and DO IT! I am so grateful for good friends and loving family members who realized how big of a goal this was for me and supported me and cheered me on from the beginning to the end. Now I can check this off my "bucket list" and see what comes next...