Only Half Crazy

Running the half marathon was rewarding, painful and emotional for me! First of all, this is the longest race I have ever undertaken (The longest race I had ever tried before was 8.9 miles shorter than a half marathon). Though I did not finish the race within my anticipated time (I went over by 10 minutes), it is still the most rewarding race I've ran thus far.

The painful part of the race were my shoes. The cushioning is gone and I think I've finally put enough miles on those babies to retire them. The rest of my gear and my body preformed as expected; it is astonishing how successful a race is when you have prepared for it. No blisters, no missing toenails (I am told this is common and it scares the crap out of me), and no chafing to speak of! Just the usual soreness and stiffness that I have after my normal long runs on Sundays. Woo Hoo!

As for the emotional part, did I say how much of step up this race was? I was standing in corral #3 and was finally not intimidated by the other runners in my corral because I was one of them! After the gun went off, I kept getting choked up along the race route. I was quite emotional every time I thought to myself 'you are really doing this!' Then seeing the look of joy on my mom's face as I came into the finish line culminated everything I had felt! As I made it out of the finish area and met up with my hubby (who ran the mini marathon) and parents, my mom asked me, "So do you think you'll do this again?" My response was Hell Ya!

After the race, while discussing everything with my mom, she had made mention that the completion of my half marathon was the end of my journey. I joked with her saying, "It was only the end of a chapter."

And so begins Chapter Two...