The stupidest, hardest, best thing I’ve ever done aka running a 1/2 marathon

So I ran my first 1/2 marathon this past weekend down in La Jolla.  My SIL Nina inspired me to do this with her after she did the 60 mile breast cancer walk last fall and followed it up with a half marathon (she is a rockstar).  So I signed up and started training right away – you may recall a few of my posts.

I was doing great…even got up to running 6 miles at a time and then I hit a wall. I stopped training completely and pretty much avoided it all the way up to the race, which was totally STUPID. I just gave up and I thought well worst case scenario I would just walk it.

So day of the race we headed to the Del Mar Fairgrounds and I was totally buzzing with excitement (I have no idea why I was looking forward to this torture) and totally blown away by the 6,000+ runners I was herded in line with.  We took off running and I was able to run 4 miles straight, which was huge since it had been at least 6 weeks since I had last run. Then at mile 5 came this HUGE hill I mean almost 2 miles long of a huge mother effing hill.

Here is a look at the monstrous hill, take a look at what happens after mile 5:

By mile 8 I was in some serious pain with two bad leg cramps and feelings of defeat swelling up inside me…but I pushed onward.  By mile 10 I called my husband crying cursing Nina for making me do this and cursing myself for not training. This is when I realized that this was the HARDEST thing I had ever done. No joke.

I made it to the finish line (in 3 hours and 8 minutes) trying to take in the glory of being done and accomplishing something so hard, but to be honest all I could think about was going pee and not using my legs anymore.  The crying continued when I saw Nina who finished well ahead of me. My BIL Jason was the best cheerleader ever and made an awesome sign for us.

We made our way to the car walking like 92 year olds and then off to breakfast. We ordered the following: Pancakes, Cinnamon Roll French Toast, Hash browns, bacon, eggs, fruit, chili cheese fries and a belgian waffle. It was bliss.

Now 3 days later all I can think about is how much I miss being able to walk normally. I limp and cringe with every movement I have never been this sore in my life. But you know what it was worth it. I found out that I am capable of more than I ever thought possible.  Don’t get me wrong I am not going to be signing up for another one for a very long time, but I am proud that I did something so hard.