I ran 13.1 miles!

So I'm slow in posting about it but I did it!

If you would have asked me a year ago I would have told you that there was no way I could ever run a half marathon. I did it though, and I'd do another one.

As I got closer to the big day and my long runs became longer and longer I really started having troubles with my knees. Actually, it was my ITBands, both my right one and the left one. I had pain in my hips and knees that got to be almost constant. I can't imagine always running that much and hurting like that full time. I know that it was because of the long distances I was putting in though and I've been pain free since the run. And I'm still running too! Not nearly as much because I'm not "in training" but I'm trying to do about 3 miles, 3 times a week.

The morning of the run we got up at 4:30 which was one of the worst parts! We got dressed and headed to my sister's hotel to pick her up. Then we went to my other sister's hotel to pick her and her boyfriend up. After that we headed to the starting line and I was amazed at the number of people who were there. It was pretty overwhelming!

They sounded the start of the race and we just sort of shuffled along since we were so jam packed. We had to start back a little bit so as we all neared the line the 5 of us joined hands and started the race as one. It was so cool!

We were spaced out enough after crossing the line that we were able to start running then. We all stayed right around each other until about 4 minutes in when I decided I should take a walk break. I felt like I could run forever but I knew that if I overdid it in the beginning that I would never make it to the end.

There is so much adrenaline pumping through you during a run that you don't really notice a lot. At least at the beginning. I did great for the first 3 miles or so. Time seemed to just fly by, my breathing wasn't labored, my legs felt great. It was pretty awesome.

Then I hit mile 4 and my right IT Band started hurting. Not just a little bit of pain but enough to make me think that I should quit right there. Generally I could make it through about 6 or 7 miles before I started having trouble so to know that it started so early had me worried that I wouldn't make it. From mile 4 - 7 I walked more than anything. I was so bummed out that I'd worked so hard and wasn't going to finish but I finally decided that even if it took me 7 hours and I walked the entire thing, I WOULD finish.

I started doing a bit better at about mile 7 and was able to run more frequently and go for longer periods of time. I still thought I was way behind where I needed to be to reach my goal of finishing under 3 hours. Then at some point shortly after that I passed a sign that said I was on pace to finish in like 2 hours and 50 some-odd minutes. It was then that I realized that I must have been walking fast or had gained enough ground in the beginning to keep me at a good race pace.

So I kept going and found that as long as I was running I was ok. It was the starting and stopping that hurt. So I ran like crazy, taking very few walk breaks. And I finished. I did it! The benefit of running with a group and having it be your first time is that you have your own little cheering group waiting for you at the finish line. As I neared the end I heard my name being screamed by my little sister and looked out to see Hubby and the whole crew cheering me on yelling for me to finish strong.

I also looked over to see on the side lines one of my sorority sisters! I have since found out that Kerry has been running for 4 1/2 years. I hope we can run together sometime in the future. She's done a couple marathons even, WOW!

Because my body wasn't used to running for more than about 5 minutes at a time and I had some pretty long stretches of running towards the end of the race, my hip was really in bad shape. I think without realizing how much I did it, I favored my left leg and then my right hip took the brunt of the pounding force. I spent most of the rest of that day hurting but I had such a wonderful feeling of accomplishment that I would do it again.

No plans yet to do another one but hopefully we'll be deciding on something soon. It sure does keep me motivated to keep up my training when I'm actually working towards something!