After completeing my first Half Marathon on 5/7/11, I'm taking this blog back in the direction of running. I went back and read back over my old posts and I'm truly amazed at how far I've made it! The accomplishments I've made over the last 10 months are really more pronounced now that I've seen where exactly I started. I couldn't run 3 miles without stopping, walking, boohooing and in general, just complaining. After missing my first half marathon in Myrtle Beach to a running injury, I slowly built up from 3 miles to 6 miles, to 8 miles, and then to 10. My first 10 mile run ever was on the Western Maryland Rail Trail in Feburary of this year. I still think to date this may have been the toughest run I've ever had. The trail was covered in about 5 inches of packed down snow, the wind was blowing at about 25 mph, and it was probably 30 degrees before factoring in the wind chill. The first mile or three I kept telling myself to just turn around, but before I knew it, I was at mile 5 and what goes out… must come back. I finished my grueling 10 mile run at 2:02. I knew at this point that it was defintley possible that I'd be able to do a half marathon. Infact, most half training plans don't take you beyond 10 miles. This is really when I got the fire under my ass to get a half marathon under my belt.
Just two Saturday's after my 10 miler, I did a 12 miler out on the C & O Canal. The snow was melted, but it was still cold and blustery. I saw very very few other people out on the canal that day and oddly enough they were doing runs just as long as I was. I only had intentions of doing another 10 miler, but at the 5 mile turn around point I decided to push out one more mile. I remember coming back and thinking "What the hell was I thinking?" but I finished in 2:27. I would have never believed even 7 years ago when I ran 5Ks on the cross country team that one day I'd be running 12 miles at a time. It was the craziest, yet most self accomplished feeling I've ever had. I had done it. Now.. what's left? Actually running a half marathon.
Fast forward a couple weeks, and I was signed up (completely on a whim) for the Chambersburg Half Marathon on 3/12. The weekend before the race I develop bronchitis that ended up knocking me off my running feet for a little over a month. This was now the second half marathon I'd missed, and I was really starting to think about dropping running from my life. In hopes of some kind of redeemance (is that even a word?), I signed up for a semi local 8 mile trail race at the NCTC. The night before the race (and hours before the looming government shut down) I get an email saying my race had been cancelled because it was on Federal Property. Really? Yes. My only hope left was the Frederick Half Marathon that I had signed up for MONTHS before hand, and that wasn't until May.
March and April were the worst months of "training" I've ever seen. I'd barely come up with 40 miles a month. I was tired of running. It seemed more like a chore, or a job. I was getting no actual satisfaction out of it at all. I was only hurting myself, and my pride. So when the week of 5/7 came along, I told myself that I couldn't BEAR to miss another race when there was nothing wrong with me except for being slightly..Ok… Extremely undertrained for my half. And on 5/7/2011 I experienced my first Half Marathon…..
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