Half-Marathon

Last weekend was the BIG weekend. The much anticipated, much worked hard for, much planned weekend of the half-marathon. We drove down there on Friday night with a group of our friends from church and our first stop was at the Spurs game. Our seats were VERY high up and it nearly made me sick to look down, but it was fun nonetheless.

On Saturday, we did a little shopping and attended the Expo to pick up our numbers and packets for the race. That is when I began to get a little nervous! There were over 25,000 participants in the race.

The weather was predicting a cold front to hit and for Sunday morning to be cold. I got up at 5:00 am to get ready and we left around 5:45 am in the freezing cold temperatures of the 30's. I was not sure that I could handle the cold. I was in corral 30, and for those of you who haven't done a race like this before, they break everyone up into groups based on your predicted time. Since I was walking the race and had predicted my time very generously (so as not to embarrass myself) my corral was nearly the last one. They release corrals every 45-90 seconds. That meant I waited to start the race until it was nearly an hour into it. (That does not affect my time, however. My time started when my foot crossed the start line.)

So I braved the cold, along with a friend that had trained with me and was in my corral, and then finally we were off. And suddenly I had this amazing burst of energy and somewhat competitive spirit and I was moving faster than I ever had. My friend even commented that I was going much faster. And then I began to run. And I thought, "what am I doing? I never did this when I was training!" But adrenaline is a powerful thing and I could hardly keep my feet from running. So for the first three miles I ran a good part of them and walked a little, and did my best to weave in and out of the massive crowd, determined not to be passed up. I learned that I do not like being passed by people (something I would get WAY over by mile 6) and so I was moving very fast.

At each mile marker, there is a clock, so doing subtraction in my head from the time I crossed the start line, I could see what my time was. And I knew I was doing much better than I had ever done in any training.

This marathon was a "Rock 'n Roll" marathon, and that meant that at every mile there was a local band playing, and all along the race there were tons of people yelling and cheering and offering their hands for a high five, and it felt like the whole world was cheering me on. It was so fun! As I continued to pass mile after mile, the energy was great and it was so neat to keep telling myself, "Only a two-thirds left....halfway done...only a few miles left..." I continued to jog a little, but walk most.

And then I got to mile 12. And I was tired. I was ready to be done. And I had 1.1 miles to go. I could tell my time was slowing a little, but I kept going and by the time I got close to the end, I had enough energy to run the last little bit, and I had my friends and Gary at the sidelines waving and cheering for, just before I crossed the finish line. I grinned from ear to ear when I crossed and they handed my medal. It was an amazing feeling. I had done something I never imagined I would ever do! All of my dedication and hard work had paid off. And best of all, I had a finishing time far better than I could have ever predicted.

Now, before I get all proud of myself, I need to redirect us all to Who helped me do this. It was definitely from strength provided by the Lord. I prayed throughout that race. I prayed the night before. I have no doubt that the Lord was there, helping me to have strength and endurance, and to remind me that He will always be there for me, no matter what. And He wanted me to know that whatever journey I am on, He is there. Always has been. Always will be.

After the race, Gary came and met me and we hugged and I got to see all of my friends who had ran, most of whom had already finished. When we were all done, we took a group picture:

Then we walked to the Riverwalk for a much-deserved lunch and we all headed home.

I was very sore this week, and I got sick with a cold, so I did a lot of resting this week, which was nice. I also am convinced that this is something I will want to do again. I am already researching what race I may try next. It was so fun to work so hard for something and then to see it all pay off!