Half Marathon

At the beginning of the summer, I felt desperate for a fitness goal. I was craving commitment and I needed a challenge. I was feeling very unfulfilled because I was trying to do too many things at once. I needed a fitness focal point and so I decided to run a half marathon - a big part of me didn't think I could do it. Remember, I used to run a mere 25 meters at full speed towards a stationary object and flip over it. 21.1km seemed slightly impossible...

I spent the entire summer committed to the goal. I sweated my face off as I ran up massive flights of stairs (multiple times, may I add). I ran around the entire town of Westlock 3 times in order to get in my required km's. I ran in the pouring rain. I ran on vacation and while camping (of course, I had a beer right after :) ). I almost got heat stroke a couple of times. I fought off the lazy demons and even organized an informal 10K race in preparation for the big event. I was up EVERY Saturday morning at 7am hitting the trails with my amazing running crew (Breezer, Kimbo, Kung-Fu and De-Rock; I love you guys!). I remember one Saturday morning, though, when my running buddies were all out of town - I ran for nearly 2 hours by myself while listening to TED talks on my ipod. I hated it, but I loved it. Oh, how the life of being committed to a goal makes my wheels turn! I loved that morning because I felt like I was gaining momentum with each cement footed step I took. I could have easily said NO, and I wanted to, but I didn't. Giving up was available to me, no one else was there to hold me accountable, but I chose to push through and it made me stronger.

After a summer full of training, I am extremely proud to say that on Saturday October 1st, I successfully ran my first half marathon. It felt amazing! My goal was to run it in under 2 hours and I came in at 1 hour 47 minutes. Booyah!

I started off nice and slow just to make sure I would have some energy left for the end. It was a beautiful course and on a couple of occasions I completely forgot that I was running...I think they call that runners high ;) Then, when I saw the 18km mark, I started to pick up speed. I moved to a 4 minute km and started to blaze past people - I was in my element. Zoom. Zoom. Zoom. My inner superhero was screaming inside, "Move it people. I'm coming through!" When there was only 250 meters left, I found a totally new gear and sprinted to the finish line.

When it all ended, I was tired and satisfied. I felt like I had just experienced a really big moment in my life.

I also thought to myself, "I think a marathon IS possible"…

Uh Oh.