13.1

I completed my first half-marathon today and as I write this blog post I feel content, accomplished and admittedly a little sore.

The race started at the butt-crack of dawn (7AM) which mean a VERY early wake-up call. I literally could not have ordered better weather. I met up with my running buddy Katie and we headed to the start line. Both of our virgin voyages in the 'marathoning' world, we were pretty nervous.

For some reason I am an extremely afflicted runner. My body can handle the mileage. My brain on the other hand cannot. Without fail, this voice kicks in with about 4 miles to go on any of my long runs no matter what the distance is and tells me to quit. Tells me I can't do it. Tells me that it is less of a let down to quit now then have to quit later because I will ultimately I have to quit. It's like I have this weird evil-naysayer dwelling in my sub-conscious. And about mile 9 today the voice got loud. "You can't do this. You aren't going to be able to finish."

But lucky for me, and to my imaginary enemy's shagrin, I had a kick-ass running partner who kept me going and a full blown cheering squad that was able to station themselves to cheer for us FIVE times. And I needed it.

The course was SUPER hilly. Had I known perhaps I would have ran a few hills during my training. Note to self: if I do another one, check out the course ahead of time.

But at the end of the 2 hours and 9 minutes, I prevailed and crossed the finish line.

What got me through:

1) An always optimistic, cheery and encouraging running partner.

2) A killer cheering squad

3) Some sweet signs that Nate made, that came in handy when it came time for cheering: "K-Bo, G-Rock"

5) A Bedazzled Bandana. To be fair, I didn't know it was bedazzled until after the race, but I could tell it was something special. Seriously...that is some cheer squad dedication. Katie is a professional though! Plus, I got some post-race kisses.

I hope with each run, regardless of a race entry or not, I can eliminate the nag of impossibility.