I can't believe I did it! I managed to finish the 2009 Austin Half Marathon. I finished in 2 hours 33 minutes. This is about an 11.75 min/mile pace, which is slow I know. But, my intent was not to break any records - only to finish and give myself a goal in order to keep my ass in shape!Thanks to the support of my friends Jason, Paula and Kara we kept each other motivated during our training runs. Jason, who is also a work buddy, and myself have become run buddies and good friends through this adventure. I'm usually the slowest runner in a group, but turns out Jason likes to keep his pace slow and steady as well. It was great to have somebody to run alongside with to keep the conversations flowing and help distract my mind away from the miles to conquer ahead of us. Paula and Kara would usually end up running ahead, but I always looked forward to seeing their happy faces at the end, and usually to eat brunch with afterwards.
Running, especially this past year, has become my saving grace. It has provided me with not only exercise to keep me in shape but has also been a stress reducer and, perhaps the best part, it's given me an opportunity to meet great people and make wonderful friends. I love the freedom running gives me when I know I can just put my shoes on and go run outside! No matter how I look at it, it's been a truly positive thing in my life. Alright, so the hills suck, but even those aren't so bad when you've gone up them and you get to go downhill.
A special thanks to Jeff for meeting me at the finish line and taking Paula, Kara and I out for brunch afterwards. It meant a lot to have his support. We went to Mother's Cafe (yum yummy yum yum!) and got to watch all the marathoners (not half-marathoners) struggling at the 23rd mile mark (3 more to go!) outside our window. Wow, I dunno if I am game to do twice the amount of running I did! Kudos to them! I was happy to treat myself to an hour deep-tissue massage after my 13.1 miles! Then I went home, melted into the couch and slept like a baby!
So, yes, we've all heard the saying 'slow and steady wins the race'. I couldn't agree more, because I wouldn't have been able to run the 13.1 miles had I not been training for weeks. However, my next challenge is to gain a bit more speed to become stronger. It would be great to beat my time in next year's half marathon!