Wow- you're probably wondering how I could have accomplished this task. I've been thinking the same thing. Let me give you a little background information. I ran 3 marathons after I graduated from high school. My last one was in 2000 (10 years ago). I had actually signed up to run one more with Scott our first year of marraige. I was injured and he went on to run it with my sister. After that, I never really ran again which is odd considering I used to go out for a 6 mile run for the fun of it.
Here I am ten years later with 50 more pounds on my body, birthed 3 children, and become incredibly lazy. I've been watching the biggest loser and was inspired to run a half marathon to help me lose weight. So I started out on our treadmill walking for 15-20 min. Then I'd run for the last 5 minutes then 10 minutes when pretty soon I was walking a 5-10 minute warmup and running 20 minutes. I would continue this until I was ready to increase my time. Scott was my task master which was good and bad. He would make me run even when I didn't want to so either he'd be in trouble for making me run or in trouble for letting me off the hook. Poor guy. I finally got to the point where I could run 3 miles on the treadmill and a 13:30 pace. Not too shabby. Then it was time for the real road. That was very hard at first because it's not like the treadmill that will give you a little push off springy step. Finally I was able to run about 4 miles outdoors at the cemetary across the street. That was nice because no one could see me and it was 2 times around the outer perimeter to equal 4 miles. My neighbor, Becca, or Scott would sometimes run with me which I enjoyed but I realized that I was pretty good and keeping myself steady even when I was by myself. Unfortunately I'm still lazy and only got up to just under 8 miles which lead to some shin splints and knee pain. Not good when training for a half marathon but I would really feel good about my runs and felt that I could pull it off.
The day before the marathon, my sister, Angela (27 marathons under her belt), came to stay with us. I had been down to the expo to pick up my clothes. Can I tell you how much I didn't feel like a runner that day. Here I am short, overweight and thinking I could run a half marathon. I was feeling pretty discouraged. I didn't think my heart was in it much and I didn't have a lot of enthusiasm. I knew I should have done better training and felt that I wasn't quite ready to run (neither did Scott!). With those heavy feelings we picked up some Olive Garden for some carbo loading then off to bed.
Early (4:20) the next morning, we were up and dressing. I was shoving a little bit of food down my throat and then out the door to catch the bus. I just kept telling myself that I was just going out for any other run. Angela headed to her marathon bus while I climbed onto the half marathon bus. I chatted a bit with the girl next to me then we were dropped off at the start. I hit the porta potties then off to find my work friends in the hoards of people. I finally found them all after texting them. Fun to have someone you know at the start. Otherwise, it's quite lonely. Finally it was time to start. We were quite a ways back from the start because of our pace time. I have to tell you that I felt pretty good through the whole race. I was warm around the dam and kept thinking that it was longer than I thought. My bladder was on overdrive and I had to visit quite a few porta potties along the way. I was a little bit chilled on my arms and hands through the canyon, and I had to walk a little bit between miles 8 and 9 to get rid of a side ache. But I was keeping a 12 min. pace which was a bit faster than I had trained. I was feeling good with only some minor aches and pains. The markers kept coming up faster than I was expecting and then suddenly you're at the parkway meaning only 3 miles left. Scott, his mom, and the girls were all there to cheer me on. Unfortunately our camera was left at home having been forgotten while Scott had to deal with a sick and fevery Ashley. Scott wanted to run with me but there was a sign earlier telling unauthorized runnners to stay off the course. The longest part of the half were those last 3 rolling miles of the parkway. The little hills felt like big hills and it kept on going. My speed dropped considerably here. Even as you got onto the last stretch, it was still 5 blocks away. I just kept counting, 20, 21, 22 ... 25 YEAH! I made it. After shoving nourishment into my mouth, I met up with my little family. Poor Ashley was still sick and laying on my shoulder (which is not like my non snuggly Ashley). My mother in law took the girls home while Scott and I waited around to see Angela cross. It was fun to see all the people I knew there and more than anything, I realized that I could do it. I had made it and done very well especially with poor training. The next couple of days were filled with stiff and sore muscles, achy knees, and slow walking movements.
There is now a slight desire to do another half marathon and hopefully get Scott to do it with me. Although I didn't lose much weight (darn my appetite), I realize that this is a very attainable goal for me. I think that I'm done with full marathons though. My fat old body doesn't desire that anymore!
