13.1

A few months ago, my dear friend Kelsey texted me and said something absolutely crazy along the lines of "Hey! Let's run a half marathon together!". I, of course, laughed and replied "Yeah right!". A half marathon?? I am not a runner. Sure, I'll take a jog around the neighborhood now and again to get my heart going, I've even done a 5k or two. But a HALF MARATHON? That was definitely not on my list of things to do. However, after a little convincing on Kelsey's part I went temporarily insane and said, "Okay!" and just like that, I was committed.

 

Soon after, Kelsey sent me a crazy training schedule and I knew that if I was going to do this, I had to be doing it for myself. If I was going to commit to this, then I had to really commit to it. Otherwise, I knew I would never finish. I told myself that this half marathon was going to become a way for me to show myself that I could do hard things. Proof that I have grit. 

I soon learned that I was right-it was definitely going to take grit! Because of our crazy and conflicting schedules, we were going to have to run early in the morning-really early. Some days we started before 5 am which meant getting up around a little after 4! (Yikes!) There were days when my side ached or my muscles were sore and I just didn't feel like I could run. Those were the days that felt the best to finish. 

Other days were just fun! Kelsey and I talked about just about everything under the sun that we could think to talk about to keep ourselves occupied. We enjoyed sunrise after sunrise and actually started to feel really good on our runs. We spent mornings laughing and acting way too silly for our ages.  We joked about all of the calories we were burning and all the food we were going to eat to make up for said calories after the race.

After our 10 miler, the longest distance we ran during training.

The longer we trained, the harder it got and the more determined I felt. There came a time where I set aside any remaining doubts and said to myself, "I'm really going to do this." I was ready to go. Of course, after that came a million little worries. What if we hadn't done enough training? What if something happens race day and I can't finish? What if Kelsey gets sick or something and I have to do it by myself?? I focused on the finish line. I focused on how good that was going to feel and tried my best to push those worries away. 

Race day came. Kelsey and I met a few minutes early at the pick up spot where we excitedly climbed onto one of the buses and headed up the canyon. When we arrived at the drop off it was 38 degrees so we huddled around one of the fires along with several other runners. We warmed up and did some stretching just in time to walk up to the starting line. Many of the runners were late to the starting line so the race was late to start. Kelsey and I were front and center at the starting line and we were ready to go. 

5 am bus selfie. Blech!

The first mile was easy. We were surrounded by so many people and we were excited to be there. Miles 2-4 were a little harder. The decline was harder to run than we'd anticipated and we hadn't really had a place to practice that gave us an idea of what that would be like. It was really steep and it took a mile or so to get used to. Around mile 4, we both started to feel really good. The canyon was beautiful and that was the best way to see it and really take in it's beauty. 

When mile 8 came, things got tough again. I reminded myself that I had known it was going to be hard and worked to find ways to keep myself motivated. I even reminded myself that just last year, I had done something much more difficult; brought a new life into the world. That was the hardest thing I've ever done and if I could do that, then I could finish a few more measly miles. So we kept going. 

Kelsey and I had talked about speeding up when we saw the finish line. In those last miles though, I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to do that. I was sure that I was moving as fast as I possibly could. When we rounded that corner though, I can't explain the feeling. We went for it. I'm not sure how fast we were actually going but, it felt like we were flying. 

We did it! I did it! We ran the whole way and we NEVER stopped. I could hardly believe it-and my legs felt like absolute jello! The important thing though, was that I'd proven to myself that I could set my mind to something and follow through with it no matter how difficult it got or how badly I wanted to quit. I'd been able to say "this is a really hard mile, everything hurts" and also know that I was going to keep on going no matter what. 

It meant so much to me to have my family cheering me on. Kelsey's family was there to support us, my parents, Sam's mom, Sam, and my sweet Emma. Their support and love, the beautiful flowers and treats, and the best Emma hug ever at the finish line made every mile worth running. I'm so grateful for my amazing support system. And of course, Kelsey. I wouldn't have even thought about doing this without her. It's something I never thought I would do let alone COULD do. It was hard but, I'm so glad we did it together. It's something I'll never forget. 

Oh! And the medal was pretty cool too! :)