thirteen point one

i did it, y’all! number one on my list of things to do before my next birthday was to run a half marathon. this was on the list mainly bc i promised myself, when ramona was born, that i had 365 days to run a half marathon. it was a promise to myself to make sure i maintained some love and respect for my body after it had gone through delivering a baby human.  i had forgotten about this promise during the colder months and by the time i remembered it i only had nine weeks to train for the 7/7 race. ramona turns one next week.

my dear friend lauren approached me asking if she could run the race with me. oh my. YES! PLEASE! no matter what, i was going to do this thing but the challenge was made a little easier and much more enjoyable by having this crazy, spunky lady running by my side. she’s the one that got me out the door for our long training runs and the one that convinced and encouraged me that, no, we would not be last. miles went by so quickly since the two of us can chat it up.

we woke up at 3:00 to get ready and get to the buses to take us to the start line by 4:30. the race was at 6:00 (yuck) and jp and ramona met us at the finish line. we made it there 2:19 later. slow and steady, we finished!

before & after

here are some things i learned having run a half marathon:

• find a running buddy. and a fun one like lauren (though i can guarantee you you’ll have to settle for less fun than her bc she is the most fun).
• training, or at least some consistency, helps. some weeks i followed my training schedule and was running five times a week. i felt great. some weeks (like when denver had a heat wave and it would have, really, killed me to run) i only could get out the door one time a week. it hurt.
• but don’t psyche yourself out. it was ok that i wasn’t rigid in my training schedule. my time, ultimately, might have been faster, but sometimes life got in the way of the sort or length of run i needed to do. it was ok and i didn’t beat myself up about it. sometimes hanging out with ramona and jp was more important to me than that one run.
• either way: the habit of getting out and running, no matter the distance, got me back to loving running again.
• you can drink wine and run the next morning. in fact, lauren and i enjoyed a rose and a carmenere over shrimp pasta the night before. we convinced ourselves the residual sugars would give us energy. we are very good at making things up.
• you need body glide anti-chafing stuff: for your armpits, for your thighs, and, yes, for your butt crack. lauren told me about this and i didn’t believe her. that is, until i took my first shower after the race. woman of wisdom, she is.
• when you gotta go, you gotta go. man was i glad there was a porta-potty at the ten mile mark.
• listening to podcasts makes the time go by. i cannot run to silence and i cannot run to music. every three-minute song reminds me that only three minutes have gone by. i listened to moth radio hour and this american life podcasts. the stories sucked me in and i only knew how much time had gone by when the 60 minute podcast was over.
• running makes me emotional. i started bawling when i saw jp and ramona waiting for me at the finish line. sheesh.
• i may never do this again and i’m ok with that. but i did it!