*****
Today, I accomplished a goal that I never even imagined I’d set for myself.
I moved my body forward for 13.1 miles. I ran as much as I could. I walked when I had to- which was a lot of the last 3 miles. I felt fantastic for about 6 miles before I started to feel soreness and fatigue. It was a vast improvement from my 10 mile run experience just 2 weeks ago.
I stayed hydrated and fueled myself with dried pineapple.
I wore my Merrell Barefoot Pace Glove. My original pair gave me a terrible blister and Merrell was awesome enough to replace my shoes before my run. A couple of weeks in them would have been better but I was still happy.
I have some blisters. My legs are tired, my feet are sore. I came home and took one of the best baths of my entire life.
I ran and walked 13.1 miles.
There was entertainment all along the route. There were bands and people cheerin all along the route. There men outside a neighborhood barbershop, there were families on porches, there were high school cheerleading squads. I remember a lady holding a little gray toy poodle- that encouraged me because I thought of my own little poodle at home. There were kids and older folks giving high fives and words of encouragement.
I started and ended strong.
I crossed the finish line and couldn’t stop laughing and crying. I stopped at the side of the road, hunched over with my crying and laughing and not being able to breath. A medical person came to me to see if I was alright- I straightened up and told her that I was crying and it was preventing me from breathing. She gave me the best medical care she could- an amazing hug.
I ran with my best friend. We’ve been running through all kinds of ailments and stress. She ran with an injured foot. We sometimes compared pain points and then redirected ourselves to focusing on parts of us that didn’t hurt- elbows, ears, shoulders, cheeks. We ran our intervals for the first half pretty consistently. With her hurt foot, she walked slower than I walked but ran faster than I ran when my hip was hurting. So we just kept lapping back and forth for a good while.
She pushed at the last 1/4 mile through to the end and was cheering for me as I crossed the finish line. She cheered for me when I ran up the incline leading into the Speedway track. She went the 4 extra steps to get me a bottle of chocolate milk at the post-race party.
My husband sent me text messages with updates of what he was seeing on the TV coverage at home. He is proud of me. That’s an amazing feeling for me.
I did it. I did it! I fought my way through 13.1 miles. I enjoyed many parts of 13.1 miles.
I finished a half marathon.
There’s nothing Mini about that!
