It's official. I have completed my first official Half-Marathon. I did it with the love and support of my husband, my children, my sisters, brothers, parents and friends. Never did I have any doubt that I would complete this race because I felt so many people cheering me on.
I began this journey just over a year ago with what I thought was a very unrealistic goal of running a race. At this point I had never even run a 5K and that distance seemed so challenging to me. Bob told me if I wanted to do it that I should start small and grow. As a family we ran the Thanksgiving 5K and had a blast. I felt such a sense of accomplishment and I loved running it with my daughter, my dad, my sister and my 8 year old nephew. He beat us all. (His name is Matthew and he'll tell you, "I'm pretty fast!") We finished that race in the bitter cold (19 degrees at the start) and headed home for a day of family. Thanksgiving is truly one of my favorite holidays because it is all about being thankful for the blessings in your life and my blessings feel abundant.
After that race life got busy and I just spent my time working out at the gym. It was cold, snowy and miserable so running outside was not really a great option. My bucket list dreams still seemed out of reach. Then came February, my sister invited me to do a race that was bigger than I had imagined. I signed up for the Ragnar Relay with her team, began training and started a blog. I learned so much from that training but I still had so far to go. At that point I still felt it was acceptable to walk the hills and while I felt like I was really training, I had so much to learn. In preparation for Ragnar, I ran the Trolley Run and had a great time running with my friend Katie by my side. With just 6 weeks until the big race I felt ready. Then came Ragnar and I had a blast. I was still completely naive, I still walked a bit and I enjoyed the scenery as well as the camaraderie of my teammates. Finishing that race felt like such an accomplishment. During the race, my 12 TuTu girls talked about what came next. Many of them were training for fall marathons but I knew that just wasn't a realistic goal for me. I settled on the Indianapolis Monumental Half-Marathon. The course was reasonably flat and I would be running with family and friends. However, signing up for the race was another story.
After Ragnar, I couldn't wait to run. I ran outside 3-4 days a week and did something really stupid. I ignored the heat warnings and advisories. I had something to prove and I was going to do it. Again, I was just naive enough to believe that nothing was going to happen. Then runners started dying during races due to the extreme heat. I realized that being stupid about my running wasn't going to help me reach my goals so I headed back to the treadmill for a bit. Finally, the heat advisory was lifted and I was back outside. However, for some reason my confidence was shaken and I just wasn't sure I could do it. Jaime kept asking if I had signed up for the Monumental Half and sending me coupons and reminders to do so. I drug my feet. I was scared and I didn't want to admit it. I finally signed up near the end of September and that moment was so freeing.
Once I made the commitment to run that race I knew I would finish it. I had trained for it, I was ready. After each long run, Bob would ask how I did, and I would say that I felt good, I improved upon last weeks time and that I still had improvements to make to reach my goal. He would laugh and say, "finishing with a goal is just showing off!" Well, I can honestly say, I began that race with a goal. I wanted to run it in 2 hours and 30 minutes. I felt is was realistic and attainable. However, race day details are part of another post. This post is about overcoming fear and obstacles and believing in yourself. I have always been everyone else's cheerleader. I wasn't an athlete, I was a spectator. Today...I am an athlete!
"You can be or do anything you want. It doesn't matter where you start, what matters is where you end up." Debbie Turner, Miss America 1990
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