Today I obtained my ultimate goal in my exercise plan - I finished the Music City Half Marathon. I AM a FINISHER! WOO HOO!
I have trained for four months - I confess it was not whole heartedly - with 5 friends for this day. My original plan - the one in my crazy head - was to run like a Kenyan across the finish line of this marathon. Here is the reality of my life as it relates to the race though:
- I pushed a stroller while running - I'm pretty sure Anna Kate gained about 20 pounds over the past couple months. (My friends pushed the stroller for me at times - Thanks y'all!)
- I took a month off because we had sickness in our home - the reality of a family of 5.
- The training schedule was hard on my family because it took a lot of time.
- Jon brought home a whole box of GiGi's cupcakes for Valentine's Day - see this post for explanation
- I had a spiritual experience during my training - read here
- Birthday season hit at our house
- I nearly completely stopped training for the two weeks prior to the race - you don't have to tell me how smart this was...
All of the above at one point or another through this process drove reality home to this girl - WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?! Each of these hurdles could have given me a good excuse to give up, but I'm so, so glad I didn't!
The reality of today is that I walked the 13.1 miles with one of the best friends/sisters a girl could have. I could have finished 15-20 minutes faster if I had been running, but I would have missed out on some really great memories including miles 8 and 9. I will not go into details here, but it included tears, prayer, salt, and water. ;-) I would have likely been in a LOT more pain than I am tonight if I had run.
This half marathon was an item on Heather's Bucket List! I am so glad I was able to help her check it off!
I'm proud of all of us for finishing what we started. We have built our friendships and our muscles - a win-win situation for ladies who have been 29 for a more than one year....
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| Friday night carb dinner at Carraba's |
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| Before the race! 4AM and I do not get along... |
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| We finished and finally found our cars! |
