The Big Goal Finally Acheived

What a day, what a day.

Today I accomplished a goal. I did something that I decided to do at the beginning of the school year, and knew I was going to do when 2011 started. Today, I ran my half-marathon. And it was AWESOME.

My shirt and medal!

There are a million little things I could say that happened during my race, and a lot of it would seem  meaningless to others but for mean were a million amazing moments. Like when I tried to take a swig of Gatorade but instead splashed the whole thing in my face on accident.
There were a few people who helped me finish this race today, and I'd like to thank them:

• The old guy in the orange and grey jacket,who I ran with/near from mile 3 to mile 8. You gave me a good target to keep with, wearing that neon orange and all.
• Guy who was listening to Keep on Dancing by Gwen Stefani and some metal music. Thank you for unwittingly letting me play the "Guess what that person is listening to" game and running a similar pace to me for awhile. It was also cool to run with someone who was running their first half marathon too. But man? Running 11 miles on Sunday and not running for the rest of the week before the race does not sound like a good plan. Maybe that's why I broke away from you at around mile 11.

And last, but definitely not least, I'd like to thank my mom, my grandma, my cousin Ali and my sister Chloe for coming to support me. If you guys weren't there, I don't know if it would have felt as great to finish. Having someone there for you at the finish line? That is a great feeling indeed.

There would be more pictures. However, there was a wardrobe malfunction I was unaware of until after the photos were taken. This is one of the few you can't tell very well.

As for the race itself, it was... rough. It was rough because the whole race was pouring down rain and terrible wind. 12 mph wind? Yeah. (Actually, I'm not sure how bad that really is, but it felt intense.) Strangely enough, I felt fantastic the whole time. Maybe it was adrenaline, but I just felt... good. Sure, there was a side ache for about half a mile, and my legs were starting to feel like bricks for the last two miles. However, I get sickly feeling a lot usually for longer. That didn't happen.

I had two main goals: Don't stop to walk whatsoever and get under the two and a half hour time (That was when they would start taking the guiding things down). I could have thought about things such as, "People have run way father distances than this! I'm getting all hyped about this little thing, and some people have done much more amazing things." I've had these thoughts pass through my mind before, when reading blogs and such. That is not what I thought today though. The thoughts passing through my mind were:
"You are going at such a great pace. Don't slow down because you feel like you might loose your energy, because you've done that before and ended up with energy to spare. Slowing down will make you tired. Keep going."
And
"Do NOT stop to walk. You know that if you walk, deep down you'll always feel like a quitter because you knew that you didn't actually need to stop. You are not a damn quitter. Don't give anyone the reason to say you are. Keep going."

Yeah, I can be a bit of a jerk to myself. It works though. (I might sound a bit nutty as well in my mind... I do have songs from various Disney movies play through my head when I run long distances.)



I really like this picture for some reason. Another thing I thought was, "Dang! I'm looking good!"

 My race overall? Fantastic. At the end I was even able to pass two girls right before the finish line! My inner high school cross country runner was exuberant. My time was 1:58:11. You read that right. I finished under two hours. I don't know about you, but that felt pretty amazing. I told my family, "I should be done about two hours ten minutes, so be around the finish line at two hours." I gave myself ten minute miles, just to give myself the benefit of the doubt. My time right there averaged me 9:01 minute miles. I finished 244th out of 524 runners.

After my race, I ended up eating enough the rest of the day to fuel a marathon runner and watched the Golden Globes. A "fun fact" I've realized over time? If something you talk about is not related to the person you are speaking to, they will not remember said information. People are conceited. Well, maybe all of the people in my generation that I meet. I specifically said to one of my hall mates, "Okay, I just want to make sure there's time in between my race and the Globes. I don't know how long it will take to get back from my race." She said I had never mentioned my race to her, taken aback by my accusation of her forgetting. I even mentioned to my whole hall, "Hey, on Sunday I have my half marathon in Turner at 9:00 am. If anyone is interested in coming, I just thought I'd let you know. It can just be draining. Sure, I can be super forgetful, and I admit that. But I also try to remember details, and I admit that I've probably asked things before.

Goodness, I have written a lot! I simply decided to pour myself all out I suppose. Now, I am exhausted. Love to you all!

What's your greatest fitness achievement to date?