Most people who know me know that I love to run. I learned to enjoy running (after a childhood of despising it) while I was in college. Over the past several years, I always thought it would be fun to go down to U of I and run in the half marathon that they started after I graduated. However, though I claim to love running, I've only ever loved running a couple miles at a time! Anything more than a 5K seemed impossible, but the thought of someday running a longer run became a goal of mine.
This past winter, I decided there was no time better than now to give it a try. I researched various training schedules, signed up for the 1/2 marathon, and figured I had nothing to lose. Training went fairly well, though most of it was done on a treadmill because running in negative temps all winter was not my idea of fun. I learned to enjoy longer runs by just plugging my headphone into the IPad and zoning out with a good Netflix movie or show. I only managed to sneak in a few outdoor runs, and those were mostly during our trip to Florida. The longest training run I did there was 12 miles and it. was. HARD! Between the humidity and the lack of scenery (the only path to run along was the sidewalk along the main road, which was lined with high rise condos) I figured my actual 13.1 run couldn't be worse.
The day came, and just like the forecast had shown for a week, the weather was awful. I grabbed a rain poncho, covered my socks with plastic grocery bags, and hoped for the best. It was chilly, drizzling, and windy throughout most of the race. The temp ended up being pretty nice because I didn't have to worry about getting too hot. Other than that, the weather stunk! Drizzles occasionally turned into significant rain, and the wind was just like I remembered it being during my four years there as a student...brutal! Despite the circumstances, it was still a race to remember. I had moments of thinking there was no way I'd ever make it to the end...but, in my determined stubbornness, I pushed through and ran the entire time. I held a good pace until the last few miles. At that point, I felt like my legs weighed 500 pounds each and it took everything in me to just keep going. I am still not sure which was harder...natural childbirth or those last few miles!
We didn't end up with any pictures from race day, but these two were taken the night before (when, by the way, the weather was absolutely lovely)!
