Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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I Am My Own Superhero
A while back I decided to signup to run an all women’s half marathon. At the time I figured that since I was already training to run a 5K and I was interested in training to run longer distances that it would be the perfect opportunity to push myself.
Training for the 5K went well, as did the race back in late September. From there I planned on having just over a month from being ready for a 3 mile race to a 13 mile race. I figured that 5 weeks would let me get up from running 4 to at 10 miles at a good clip and would be able to then do the whole thing if I paced myself. Especially since all I wanted to do was finish.
Isn’t it interesting how things hardly ever go quite as planned?
Between the end of September and yesterday I managed to get 2 different bugs. The first one left me just utterly exhausted for several days. The shortly after that got better I got a terrible cold that kept me home on the couch or coughing for some time. So while I ran several more times in the end of September (for ultimate), I ran not at all in October until our last ultimate tournament on Halloween.
If you’re trying to figure out the numbers here folks, it means I did 1 day of running in the month before my first half marathon and previously had only been running up to 4 miles. As you can imagine, yesterday was interesting.
So what happened yesterday? I completed my first ever half marathon. That’s right, 13.1 miles from start to end. Not only that, it is the longest distance I have ever run. (And for full disclosure, I did not run the whole race. There was walking, especially up some beastly hills and towards the end. However no full mile between mile markers was walked at any time.) The race was in lovely coastal York, ME on yesterday’s beautiful, warm, sunny, and slightly breezy day. I miraculously finished the whole thing in under 3 hours! I did it in 2 hours and 55 minutes (and 58 seconds). At times I felt very much like giving up and just laying in a stranger’s yard until my guy came and found me, but I did not. (Miles 10-13 were especially hard, and 11 & 12 were torture.) Nor did I cry. Nor did I get mad at myself. (Nor did I figure out how to drink a cup of water while running without getting all of it up my nose. Stopping for water was the way to go!) Heck, I even enjoyed myself for most of it! And while I maybe did not pace as well as I could have, and perhaps could have run a little more here and there, I crossed the finish line running (albeit very very slowly)!
So yesterday in the car on the way home I said to my handsome fella that I felt simultaneously like a superhero and the lamest person alive. I felt like a superhero because I did it and lame because I always feels bad when I finish so far behind everyone else that there is no pack, or sign of a pack, or hardly anyone at all. Today, after I figured out my average pace was a 13.18 mile I was convinced of my own superhero status. Who cares if I came in towards the very end of the pack. Heck, who cares if I had come in last, I did it! (and boy oh boy do I have the aching body to prove it!)
Next time, however, I will definitely train. (Note how I already know there will be a next time. Nicole was right.)
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Race Results
On Saturday (26th of September) was the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure 5K in Boston. I was on a team that called themselves the blue-footed boobies. It was my first 5k and my first big fundraiser and I feel great about both!
My fundraising amount: $925 (because my friends and family are awesome)
My 5k time: 29.15!! (I’m allowed to be excited for that time, it’s my first race since high school!)
Now I just have to keep up with all this running in amongst all the ultimate and knitting! (New found love of audio books is making the latter really even more awesome!)
