Half Marathon Race

Race day finally came. I don't think my nerves could have handled another day waiting. I spent the entire summer training from 1 1/2 to 3 hours almost every day to be able to run 13 miles on Labor Day. I was really stressed out because the last two weeks, and most important part of training, I started having foot problems which translated into knee and hip problems. I could hardly walk, let alone run, and I was upset that after all my hard work I may not be able to race. After lots of cross training, iceing and heating and heating and iceing, and prayers, I felt good enough to race. The four of us that raced together stayed in a hotel at the location for moral support and a lot of well needed laughs. I was so incredibly nervous. We all bounced out of bed at 4:45 am and headed to the America the Beautiful Park. The line to the bathroom was so long, and I had to go so bad after hydrating like crazy, out of desepration we took an outdoor leak behind a statue at the park! It was just in time for the race to start. It was a beautiful trail. It went up for 6 1/2 miles and back down the the last half. By mile 8 my feet were hurting quite a bit, by mile 10 the pain was terrible and just got worse. The good news is my feet hurt so much, I couldn't even feel me knees. I wish I could've had the stronger run I wanted, but I still finished in just over 2 hours and in the top 1/3. It never felt so good to be done running! Denise said she would rather go through another high risk pregnancy than run an actual full marathon. It was a goal I never thought I would accomplish, especially since my New Year's resolution was to just run a mere mile around our loop without stopping. I learned to love the meditation and stress relief of running and really hope I'll be able to resolve my "pain" so I can train for a faster race next time.