Well friends, I cannot move a muscle today.
Ok... so I'm walking much better today than the past three days anyway. I can actually bend down and not feel like my IT bands are steel beams down the side of my legs.
Most would consider this a bad thing. A foolish thing. Especially when they find out I paid $50some dollars to run 13.1 miles last Saturday. Which is actually what I heard one spectator shouting to us during mile twelve. He said, "Remember, you paid to run this. You actually paid money to run today." Let me tell you, that was when I was about at the wall physically, and I laughed so hard when I heard him encouraging us that way. I dug deep and ran. Plus it didn't help any that I got passed by a thirty-some year old guy wearing a black Tshirt with the words "dig deeper" on the back. That was also encouraging.
I think that's why I love running races so much, especially big ones, not necessarily big in mileage but big is participant number. There is always so much encouragement during the race. Sometimes it's from the spectators on the sidelines, which there were a lot of on Saturday. Sometimes it's from runner's Tshirts. Sometimes it's from the family that is there at the crack of dawn to support you. But a lot of times, it's from your fellow racers themselves.. I like to talk to those who pass me or those I pass. We may not always like it...getting passed that is... but it boosts us. We know how each other is feeling and how miserably joyous we are to be there. We know this race isn't about racing each other, it's about racing ourselves. We're the best ones to offer anything.
to each other
I carried my medal around in my pocket yesterday at work, just to hold onto my accomplishment. And my accomplishment was that I broke two hours in running a half-marathon. 1:58.02 to be exact. A PR for me... and a good goal to beat in September when I try another one. When I first started running, I never thought I would break two hours in a half: it was one of those lofty, runner-dream goals. And I was a pill of discouragement all week because I didn't even think I could finish this race, considering the most I had run at once in my training thus far was 7.5 miles. It's been a rough few months of adjustment to life, but it never fails, I always have my running to beat things... if I believe in myself just like my husband and mother beleive in me.
So I did Saturday morning. I dug deep and just ran, knowing that the strength I had wasn't my own. And I ran 9:00 min miles for a good long time thinking I'd have my worst race, and I had my best.
I think I can... I think I can... I think I can turned to I know I can.
And I did.
