Our First Half Marathon

Well, we did it! Our first half marathon is complete!

If you’ve been here awhile, you know that I’ve been training for my half marathon for some time now. You also know that my husband decided to hop on the bandwagon about 6 weeks ago…and somehow went from running 0 miles to 13.1 in that time.

So, this past Sunday was the big day!! We got up early that morning were out the door by 5:50 AM. We got to Raleigh and got all ready—used the lovely porta potties (anyone else terrified of them? I hadn’t used one in like, 5-6 years!), gave up our nice snuggly coats at the gear check, and headed to the starting line. The race started at 7 AM. It was like 40 degrees. BRRRR.

So off we went. Brandon and I had only run together one time prior to the half, and that was last Thursday. But somehow, we ran together for 10 of the 13.1 miles. The first three miles I felt good. At that point, I started having pain all the way up the back of my left leg. It wasn’t so bad…until miles 7 and 8. Then the pain got a lot worse, and I was thinking “how in the world am I going to finish this thing???” So I did the only thing I could when I was hobbling along…I prayed. And by mile 10, the pain was back to the mile 3 pain level!! The whole first ten, we kept up with the 10/mile pacers, which is a super fast pace for us. Neither of us run 9:58 miles, but the miles kept going by and our Fitbits kept saying we were running that pace! So anyway, at mile 10, I was feeling better, but B was starting to feel a bit worse. He slowed down just a little, and I went on ahead.

The last three miles were pretty tough. Neither of us had ever run more than 10 miles at once before, so we had to both use all our physical and mental strength to finish those last miles. The great thing about races (you know, in all my experience, haha) is that the adrenaline and all the other runners really help keep you motivated.

I ended up finishing my first half marathon in 2:17:14, which is 10:28/mile. Finishing that race was amazing!! Miraculously, I did not cry. I just finished, grabbed a water, and started downing it while watching for B to cross the finish line. He finished in 2:20:47.

I cannot even believe how great he did! I mean, he started running a month and a half ago! He had knee surgery 10 years ago and spent all that time thinking he could never run. And then he ran a half marathon!!! I’m super proud of myself, but I am even MORE proud of him.

After we were done running, neither of us could feel our bodies. We went to take a pic at the race backdrop thing, then headed to find food because I was getting hangry. Thankfully, they hooked us up with donuts, pizza, chocolate milk, and beer. (I gave B my beer; I don’t like it.) After we ate I did feel a little better, but my legs still really hated me. So we hobbled back to the minivan and headed on home.

When we got home, B’s parents, Harlyn and Mav were waiting outside for us with a sign that my MIL made for us. It was so cute. Oh and also, they had been texting us while we ran, so we got little love notes on our Fitbits like “Mommy, Daddy, I am so proud!” –Harlyn and “GO GO GO!” –Maverick

I mean, is there anything sweeter than your babies cheering you on and being so proud!??! No. No there is not. I’m glad I can make my daughter proud of me. And I’m sure if my son had more words, he’d have said he was proud too.

And if you think for one second we didn’t wear those medals to work on Monday morning, you are dead wrong. We TOTALLY wore those bad boys. #noshame

I’m so glad we ran this. I can’t believe we actually did it!!

Brandon’s already thinking about his next half. He’s thinking about a December half, and I’m over here like, let’s talk in the spring. When I don’t need gloves to run. MMMKKK???

That’s got me thinking…maybe I need to figure out my end of year fitness goals. What are your goals for the rest of 2018? Can’t wait to hear them!