This past Saturday I finally completed a big item off on my life’s check list; I ran a half marathon. The funny thing is when others would tell me of their half marathon victories I would just sit and think, “meh-I could totally do that too. So what, you ran 13.1 miles, anyone can do that. You’re just a fanatic.” Even up until the moment I actually RAN THE RACE I kept thinking this would be no big deal- child’s play really. But looking back on it now, I was an idiot. I don’t care WHO you think you are, 13.1 miles is CRAZY! This is a feat to be honored, rewarded, and PREPARED for. So to all of those readers about to down play what I am about to gush about, boo on you. This is a BIG DEAL, ha! With that said, here are 5 things I learned after my first half marathon.
1. Attempting this race without any training was a BAD idea. I knew that I’d alway wanted to run a half marathon and figured it wouldn’t be a big deal when I did. However, I wasn’t so naive to think that I would just sign up willy nilly and run a race of this magnitude without any preparation, but it seems that is EXACTLY what happened. The moment I heard about a local half called the “Swamp Stomp” there was no other race I desired to run. But then the craziness of church ministry, adding new family members, and shear exhaustion hit and I had no time to run. In fact if you were to look at my running watch you’d see that my last run before the week of the race was in September. I’m telling you, it was THAT bad. And to top it off, the longest I’d ever run was a mere 3 1/2 miles. Yep, I’m an idiot.
2. I am SO a quitter. Yes, I made it through to the end, but holy cow people it almost didn’t happen. Luckily I had a sweet friend cheering me on keeping my butt on the course. By mile 3 I was DONE. And truthfully there was one moment I saw Sam and the kids pull up beside me (because some of it was an open course) and I nearly begged him to let me jump in the van and drive far, far away. Y’all that was only on mile 5 or 6. This is serious business, ha! Being the good man he is, Sam tracked my location through the “find my iPhone” app and drove ahead to park and cheer me on several times during the run. Such a blessing…even if that meant I couldn’t chicken out.
3. Everything swells. It could be my lack of skills and training, but I was most surprised to find my toes resemble sausages and my feet/legs begin to look all third trimester pregnancy on me. Of course they hurt, but dude isn’t that enough. Apparently not. You are forced to hobble in discomfort while only wearing socks and slippers. Fashion is out of the question my friends.
4. Race day attire needs to be on POINT. Sure you can say these things don’t matter, but you’re only kidding yourself. My friend and I shopped for new shoes prior to signing up for the event…you know, because we needed an excuse to actually justify BUYING them. So when you are about to throw in the towel and look down to see your pretty new top, you think “It would be such a pity to fail in such a cute tank!” and that keeps you going, even if just for another mile (until you look down again) Plus there is a finish line photo and you have GOT to look your best. Remember, black is slimming- HOLLA!
5. I am hooked for life. Though the run is tough and I may question my sanity EVERY time the starting gun fires, I am addicted to these runs. Maybe because I survived it, almost donning a badge of honor, or because I’ll apparently do anything for a t-shirt and medal, ha!
Stuck in a cloud of denial and self pity for my slow time and lack of athletic ability, it took me awhile to realize no matter how slow finishing this race is amazing. It’s not something I would take back for the life of me, just maybe next time I’ll actually do some training. You know, along with the all too important shopping.
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