RunRunRan

So I ran the half marathon up in Pittsburgh yesterday. Holy crap am I sore today-though not as much as I would have expected. But I loved it. I'm definitely signing myself up for a full marathon and will continue running the longer distances.

Between miles 4 and 5, I tripped over a pothole grabbing a cup of water, scraping my hands and knees but my spandex remained intact. Around mile 11, I started to hit a wall. Physically, behind my knees was killing me and the rest of my body just ached. Mentally, I started to question myself and all that I could think of was a glass of Jameson, neat, to drink after finishing. That, and the idea that my friend that I ran it with, to pick someone and to slowly pass them to help us keep moving at pace. It worked. Coming down that last bridge, right in front of the mile13 marker, I just took off. I was at the point where my training and the adrenaline had come together, allowing me to churn on autopilot. As I crossed the finish line, I was elated. I had managed to beat my ideal score of 2:15 by five minutes. As this was my first half marathon-the longest distance that I had ever run at once, I was not expecting a time of 2:10:26.

I plan on taking this week off from running and eating well. However, this will not be a complete pig-out because I'm pretty sure that that would make me sick. I also plan to do some yoga to help ease some of my soreness.

My next run is a Thanksgiving 10k. This will take place in my neighborhood so I'm familiar with the route. My goal is to get a time under 55 minutes. I believe this is doable because when I ran a 10k several months ago, my time was 55:40 and I've only improved since then.

I know a lot of people think that I'm crazy because I enjoy running. Sometimes when I think about it, I'm agree with them. Because who in their right mind would run 13.1 miles? This girl. It gives me a confidence that I haven't received from past experiences. And it makes me want to stick with and to see how much better I can become.