Running my first half marathon
I can remember like yesterday, it was the beginning of another year and I really had it in my heart to push myself more than ever before. At that time, I was already running about 3 miles for about 3 times a week and HITT exercises 2 days a week. Like most people, in the beginning of a New Year, I set goals and purposed to accomplish them.
My husband and I were at an encouraging meeting one night, when the person leading mentioned goal setting for a new year. My heart was so engaged in every word being shared. I wanted to hear everything clearly because it only sparked what I already was considering. During the meeting, the speaker included ways of implementations throughout the year that can be acquired in accomplishing goals. I believe I realized that night was a confirmation that I was going to push myself to complete a half marathon before the year was done for the first time in my life.
My husband and I discussed and planned on what ways we would take to accomplish this goal together. It meant so much to me that he wanted to run a half marathon too for the first time. We both knew this would take so much discipline and would require so much for us to prepare for. The thing was, the more we discussed, the more we felt pumped up to attempt to do so.
Now, I want you to keep in mind as I stated earlier, I only was used to running 3 miles 3 times a week. Now I would have to build up myself to run for longer distance and significantly longer times. The funny thing was my husband was already a faster runner than me but he decided we would on the day of the race run it together. He would pace me and not leave me. What a true gift to me!
So a decision was made to run a half marathon in December that same year. We had the rest of the year to prepare mentally and our bodies for what it would require to run this race. We understood managing our time well and including the prep necessary for earlier days and eating better as well. Staying healthy was important. It was important to not only complete the race, but to run it at a pace of at least 10 minutes or a little less per mile.
During training, we were not always able to run together in preparation for the race but each week, we continued to build up to another mile. Little by little we went from 3 miles to 4 and so on. By the time the race would come, it was important to us to run that many miles (13.1094 miles) without stopping. This was our main goal and mindset.
It was also very important to eat properly and drink enough fluids daily in preparation. We made sure to include enough protein and veggies in daily eating to ensure what we needed after burning extra calories from running these extra miles. We both were losing weight and becoming stronger and became even more excited as the day grew closer for race day.
The day finally came, yes you bet I was extra excited and pumped to complete what I prepared an entire year to do. I was also very nervous and yet I already felt prepared in my heart and mind that I was going to complete what I started. Now, there seemed to be a deeper pull on the inside of me. Somehow I knew if I could do this, I can move past other obstacles that had tried to make me feel too often as if I would not be able to. Yes, a half marathon for me had so much meaning. It was so much more than a race and at that point even more than the time it would take to complete.
For anyone who has run long distance, they would understand what I mean by this statement, ‘feeling like you hit a wall.’ Although, your mind was so engaged in the race, you feel in this moment, I do not know if I honestly can go on. You begin to feel like, I know I want to but my body is telling me to quit. It was such a terrible battle. I remember during a variety of stops, where they offer water or a quick snack, each person saying, “you got this,” “you can do it,” you are almost there,” “you are doing great,” etc. I cannot tell you what those words meant to me. I may not remember exactly who each of these people were but I can tell you their words bought such incredible encouragement, I knew I could keep going.
I remember praying and asking God to give me strength to keep going. I asked Him for the ability to not quit. My body was in so much pain and I really did not know how much more I could go on. Then as my husband and I turned a specific corner, there was a police officer and I asked how much further to the finishing line? He said look ahead, you are right there. I cannot express the feeling I had in that moment. There it was, “the finish line.” Oh my, the feeling was so overwhelming. My husband said to me, ‘let’s run together holding hands as we finish. We did it together.” With tears as I pushed with everything inside of me, I crossed the finish line. I could hear the cheers from the crowd celebrating the fact, we completed it. I took a moment and really thanked God for helping me to finish the race.
