I Did It! {13.1 miles}

On the Sunday after Leah's birthday party, I got up bright and early so I could see this view.  Just kidding, I was up bright and early to run my first half marathon and cross #3 off my "to-do" list. It's been on my to-do list for quite a while and for some reason I decided now was the time to do it.  I had several friends in Kansas City who were training for a half marathon too, so I used them as motivation and "training" partners. (I use the term training partners loosely because I only ran with Dara once, but I chatted with both Dara and Krissondra multiple times about running.  I'm so thankful they were only a phone call away and could give me some motivation!) 

I signed up with my friend, Erin, and we rode down to the race together.  Erin ran it last year and it was so nice to have someone who knew where to park and what was going on.  

I thought the sunrise through the Arch really was pretty and I tried to focus on it instead of the pre-race nerves.  

After the race!  I was so glad to be done.  I'll spare you all the race details and give you a condensed version: around mile 4 or 5 I started feeling my knee hurt, no big deal, I kept running*.  Around mile 8 or 9 my knee started really hurting, it hurt to run and even hurt to walk at times, if I stopped running and walked it hurt and was hard to get going again.  About this same time, I didn't know if I could finish it, but I kept going, knowing Tim and Leah would be at the finish line and knowing that I would be done.  Somehow I managed the last 4 miles and finished, but it wasn't pretty.  Overall I'm happy that I finished the race, I'm somewhat happy with my time.  This being my first half marathon, in the beginning I set a goal to finish under 3 hours, I did that, after my training I re-evaluated my goal and set it at 2:30, which I finished just shy of.  Will I run another one?  Who knows, I'd really like to finish under 2:30 and I think I could do it, we'll have to see what's wrong with my knee and whether or not it can withstand the training again.  One thing I do know for sure, if I run another one, I'd like to lose a few pounds and do more cross-training and strength training instead of just running.  

Erin and I after the race

 I signed up for the Rock n Roll half marathon clear back in June, and I remember thinking after signing up, "Am I really going to follow through with this and do it?"  In June, October seemed so far away, but the day finally came and I did it!

*I'd felt a few knee pains like this after some of my training runs, but nothing like I felt at the end.  I could barely walk back to the car after the race and it still hurt on Wednesday after the race and still occasionally hurts.  I'm scheduled to see the doctor for my physical next week, so we'll see if he has any suggestions.