I was so excited to finally run the half-marathon today that I’ve been training for for three months now!!! It’s been a great way for me to keep my spirits up over the winter (spending time alone, listening to music, being in the great outdoors, boosting serotonin, and having a goal to work towards). I’ve had good days and bad days…fast days and slow days…feeling good days and feeling rough days…running through all of them. I’ve been learning how to pace and race myself. I even felt like Rocky a few times…haha…running in the freezing cold, crossing over snow-covered bridges…and running in the pouring rain, finishing up those last few miles. I felt somewhat young while I was running and really old when I stopped.
The last (and only) half-marathon I ran was about 14 years ago. My goal after Roman was born was just to get back to where I could run 3 miles 3 times a week. This fall, I started bumping up the mileage on the weekend a little bit just to see if I could do it. I’m so grateful to my chiropractor, Dr. Todd Smith, for inspiring me and encouraging me at that point to “resurrect the dream” and try to run another half-marathon!!!
It ended up SNOWING the day of the run. Crazy. Tom was so great and set up a course for me at Crockett Park, where I did the majority of my training. He and the boys met me at different points along the way with precious signs and exuberant cheers which really helped…especially past the halfway mark and beyond. It was so beautiful running in the snow…even though at times I could hardly see for all of the snowflakes blowing in my face. I was surprised but not to see quite a few other runners out there on the trail, grinning from ear to ear. Tom even set up a finish line for me, complete with dear friends and family cheering me on and a medal!!! So fun. So grateful.
