You can do this too! I promise. If I can, you can. My first half marathon was October 14, 2012. My friend Melissa and I put our names in for the Nike Womens {Half) Marathon down in San Francisco. In April that year I was in Boise visiting Loren and I got an email saying we were accepted! About a month later, Melissa and I began running more consistently. I n those 5 months of training, I didn't go over 8 miles. The most I had ran was 7.56 miles and that was only one time! I mostly stuck to 4 mile jogs.
I hope this will encourage you!
My finishing time for the NWM was 1:55:44. My goal was 2 hours and I beat it! Let me tell you, the hills were nasty and my knees never locked up so bad as the car ride home. If I ever do a run in another state, I will not get in the car immediately for the drive home. We will be doing more stretching!
My second half marathon was my favorite of the two because it was with my husband! Such a great friendship building time. It was just yesterday, April 13, 2014. The last week of December, I saw an ad for the Corvallis Half and asked Loren if he would run it with me. He jokingly said yes and I took that as a yes so therefore I paid and there we were: signed up. He thought I was crazy.
We finally started running consistently in...March. January and February were full of hopeful thinking and great ideas of going out for a run, but I think we ran about 3 times total in those months! And each of those runs were no more than 3 miles.
For a month and a half, we tried to run 3x a week. That was our training. There were a good few weeks that we didn't run at all because of the rain (yes, we are whimps!) or because of sickness. In the last two weeks, we got up to 10.5 miles which was Loren's record mileage. We were averaging 10:30 minute miles in the long runs, and our goal would need 9 minute miles.
Race day arrived after a hectic week and we were ready to let those endorphins go! We stood in the 9mm area in hopes to reach our goal of 2 hours. Our first 4 miles were an 8:31mm and we felt good! After that, we were at 8:57mm for about 4 more miles and then hit 9:07 for a few. We ended up with an average of 9:11mm and I was so proud of my husband! Mile 11 was the wall. Loren was feeling it in his toes (time for new shoes and better socks).
There is something so surreal about being cheered on. We never run that fast or that hard, but boy when the people on the sidelines are cheering you on, it is quite a boost. It is so needed in order to keep going. There would be kids lined up ready to give you high fives and Loren kept telling them they were giving him power - it was awesome. Just when you feel like you might need to die a little bit, someone yells at you that you are doing great and they are proud of you. A stranger. Time and time again I was reminded that I need to be better at cheering on my friends and family in everyday life. But not JUST friends and family, but strangers. Waitresses. Baristas. Walker-by-strangers. We need to cheer one another on! It is so powerful, it brings so much encouragement. Even something as little as a "you can do it! keep going!"
Can we commit to growing in encouraging each other? What a difference it makes, especially when you're running out of inner fuel. You know yourself how much of a gift it is to be cheered on (I hope anyways!) - remind yourself of the blessing, next time you have even the smallest inkling to encourage someone else.
We crossed through the finish line, kissed, and grabbed a metal - which is hilariously awesome!
I have done 2 Half Marathons and Loren has done 1. We have been talking about running a full because, well, we are crazy. We are flat crazy. But let's be real: if we can run a half, why not go for the full? We love achy knees, sweating like a pig, letting salt dry out our faces, and having our bloody toe nails fall off. After all, doesn't that make for a great need for a pedicure?
Who is with us? We are looking into a {half} marathon for this fall. Maybe in Washington or Idaho. Would you join us if we did? Please comment & let me know! Or message me. We would love to have running partners to encourage and be encouraged by! Another idea we have been really talking about is doing the Columbia River Gorge Marathon. They also have a half. Why not brave the crazy with us? What are friends for?
