I finished this milestone October 18, 2015. It took me 2 hours 18 minutes and 25 seconds to complete. But the funny thing is it wasn't my planned race day... Let me paint the picture for you. Picture it, Sicily, 1952 (you know where I got that from? LOL) I woke up that Sunday morning knowing that I would be running 12 miles as per my running plan dictated. Really it should have been 11 but I was moving my "Race Day" up a week early because I wanted to run some place other than my usual town. SO, I already changed the whole game around by moving the day. I did my usual warm up walk, told my app how many miles we were doing, annnddd off I went.
Mile 6, the halfway point, I actually made it all the way to my place of employment. I felt great! In my mind I'm always trying to figure out where I am going to turn around and head back home and this was no different. My conversation kind of went like this... "You could just turn around and head back", "Yea, but you always run that way, how about going thru the campus way?" "But what if it's not the same distance?" "It's close enough to the same, maybe" "OK let's go!" <<< Yes, I talk to myself just like that #Don'tJudgeMe
Miles 7-9... Still feeling pretty good. The wind was whipping a bit but I pressed on. A littler slower because of it but hey, it's been a lot of miles. Some where in here I stopped at my Granny-In-Law's house for some much needed water and good surprise to her!
Miles 10-11... They were tough but I still had some energy. All during this time was when the idea of just going the whole 13.1 came up. That crazy question runners have of "What's one more mile?" Yup, I asked myself this question several times during those 20 or so minutes. The conclusion? You got it! WHAT'S ONE MORE MILE!!! I checked the time and instead of turning left to head home to complete the last of 12 miles I went straight. I went over the route in my head, making sure that I would reach the 13.1 mark and I kept it moving, still going off of my philosophy of if you run far enough away from home you have to finish. It works every time.....
THIS IS WHERE THE REAL CHALLENGE CAME IN......... Seriously, why do people do this? And by people I am talking about myself. Oh my word! I reached mile 12 and I was like what was I thinking? I could be home right now but nooooo I decided to keep going..... You need to be back to get ready for church.... Your husband just checked on you cause you've been gone too long.... But you will be done with it if you keep going and no more early mornings when it's still night time outside although the clock says otherwise. Maybe I should have waited until next week like I planned. YOU'RE GOING TO BE DONE! Keep moving.
And I kept going. Then going some more. Until finally 13.1 miles displayed on my running app. I. AM. FINISHED! I let out the loudest scream of joy that I could muster! Man, I am the WOMAN!
What will I do next? What level of insanity will I put my body thru? I really can't say. I've thought about training for a triathlon maybe, or just biking. I do not see myself training for a Full Marathon just yet but I will never say never. I said that once before and now I run Half Marathons for fun! If I did decide to train for it, I would sign up for an official Marathon. They have aid stations and medical people on standby for just in case and for goodness sake that is 26.2 MILES O_O! I need an audience, witnesses, a medal, t-shirt and pictures!! LOL! Until next time...
BE BLESSED!
