Running Bravely

I did it. I did it! I DID IT!

If you have no idea what I'm talking about, read my last post. Or just keep reading this one.

I ran and ran and ran and ran Saturday morning until I couldn't run anymore. I have never run that fast in my life. I knew that I would have to come back and tell you all how the race went. The fear of saying that I didn't make my goal - that I didn't run fast enough to run 13.1 miles in two hours or less - kept me from giving up. I knew that you all were rooting for me from the sidelines, from your warm couches, or maybe from your dreams (it was 7:30 AM after all). But I knew I had to come back and tell you that I did it.

SO excited to see Trey on the sidelines!

When I hit mile 10, I started hurting. I knew that I couldn't go any faster than I was at that moment, and I honestly did not know how fast I was going. You see, I had big plans to listen to my favorite running music (Pentatonix & Anthem Lights) on Spotify, and to use the MapMyRun app to help me know my pace so I could make sure I was running about nine minute miles. You know what happens when you put 20,000 people and more in one block of one city? Your phone internet stops working. And both of these apps were run by my WiFi. So, for about sixty seconds panic set in. My wave was starting to run, I was coming up on the starting line, and I had no music and no way to monitor my pace. This is what we cheapos get for trying to use free apps! Daggonit. But all it took was about sixty seconds for me to get my act together.

This looks close to the end, doesn't it? I look beat!

I had worked so hard and so long for the results of this race that I knew I couldn't let a couple setbacks get me choked up. So I figured out another way. I pulled up my iTunes which had my old running playlist from a couple years ago, "Mommy Running" I called it, and listened to some tunes from Wicked, the musical, about defying gravity. That's pretty powerful stuff when you're trying to run as fast as you can.

My next problem to fix was measuring my pace. I knew that a family friend of mine who was running this race was close to the same pace as me. We weren't running the race together, but I had caught up with her before the race started and made sure to keep her in my sight. Until I lost sight of her. Shoot. Fortunately at that moment I saw a man with a sign on the back of his head that said "9:00". I assumed he was a "pacer" guy that helped everyone around him know they were running a nine minute mile. Right? Well I followed him for a bit, but then I lost him too. I was hoping I was in front of him, but I wasn't sure. So at that point I just kept running and hoping and praying that I was fast enough. It sure felt like I was because my legs were aching. But my mind was stronger. My mind reminded me that I was stronger than I had ever been - in my entire life - and of course, as I reached miles 11 and 12, when the going gets tough, I pulled out my last resort. When the music starts to sound like "blah, blah, blah", the crowd starts to blur, and my legs are on fire, my favorite verse gets me through. "I can do anything through Christ who gives me strength", Philippians 4:13. Seriously, y'all, it's powerful stuff and it works. My mind said this over and over and over...and then I saw the finish line. The clock above it said something like "1:59:42" and I couldn't believe it. I had made it. I DID IT.

What I realized later was that the clock I ran under had started six minutes before I even began running, since I started in a later wave. So in actuality, I had not only beat my goal, but I crushed it. My time was 1:53:43. About six and a half minutes faster than I had set my goal for and about 11 minutes faster than my personal record for a half marathon. And here I was planning my "I failed" blog post in case I didn't reach my goal. I was planning to talk about how it didn't matter because I had tried my hardest and I was in the best shape of my life. The fact that I ran this race at all and had shared my goal with you guys was good enough. And all that is true. However, I didn't have to write that blog post because I got to write this one.

Y'all, I DID IT! And if it wasn't for your support, I might not be saying that. Being brave and sharing my goal with all of you is one of the scariest things I've ever done as a runner, but it also led me to run harder and faster than I ever have. I have only just started writing, but in the season of being thankful, I am so grateful for the bravery that has come out of being brave enough to blog.

xoxo,