This last week has been all about THE HALF MARATHON!!!!! I signed up for this race back at the end of November. Since then I have talked, trained, and planned for September 17.
And, after all that…the weekend arrived. Hubby and I headed for a fundraising dinner cruise…great price and great cause…
And it was time for flat runner Charity!
Hubby’s alarm went off at 4. I rolled over and told him to “shut that thing off.” That was not an option when my alarm went off at 5. I yelled and fretted, but we got to the race start in plenty of time.
The first half of the race was decent. I finished the first loop in good time. Still smiling.
I’m pretty sure I quit smiling after this.
The girls made me posters to cheer while I ran.
It got way hotter, I dipped into my nutrition gummies and accepted the water at each spot. I quit smiling.
I may have cried more than once. I used up a little strength to text hubby “I can’t.” It got hard guys. Really, really hard. Beyond hard. Unspeakably hard. I cried. I seriously considered sitting down on the curb in the last mile and just waiting for someone to come get me…but I had come this far…I just couldn’t quit knowing how far I had come.
A few strides, if you could call them that, I heard my hubby whistling and cheering from around the bend.
My Caitlyn came up and ran me the last few feet up to the finish line as I sobbed uncontrollably.
After the race I felt so horrible, I hardly noticed someone hand me my medal.
But I did hear the announcer say “Good job mom, way to be an example for your kids. Kids, pay attention to how strong your mom is and what she did.”
Beyond that, yesterday afternoon and evening was miserable, not what I expected at all. I am used to feeling amazing after a race–feeling like I could conquer the world. This time, my hubby had to catch me several times as I threatened to fall over on the way to the car.
It was hard, y’all.
But today, today is better. I have enjoyed sharing pictures and I might have interrupted the girls’ schooling at one point to yell, “I DID IT. I RAN 13.1 MILES!!! I PLANNED TO DO IT, I TRAINED TO DO IT, AND I DID IT!!!!!!”
Today, I walked while Sue was in dance class and thought about getting back to running later this week and get myself back to training for something. Another half, not at this point, nope. But I have a 5k coming up and I love 10ks, so we’ll see.
And today, I can whisper–“it was worth it.”