Half Marathon

Well I completed my first half marathon today. Right now it is about 3 hours after the race and I am hurting! I have been training since May for this event and I finally did it! The race was a lot harder than I thought it would be and I completely give compliments to those of my friends who do full marathons. I really don't know how they do it!

This first pic is right around the 6 mile marker. Peter, Nora, Mom, Katie and Zach were there waiting for me. I started to cry when I saw them and some guys was like it's okay, you can do this. It made me laugh because he didn't know I had family standing there. After he realized why I was starting to cry he said, that is cool, you can still do this! The people running were very nice.



Katie joined me around 8.25. I was really starting to struggle by then. I went and got a knee brace yesterday and that really took the pain away, but my foot was starting to hurt. It didn't start to hurt until around 6.5-7 miles. it was around 6.5 that we started our trek up 370 over the bridge. Let me tell you that is what took it out of me. Now I have trained in hilly areas, but my hills are steep and then down, so it is hard for maybe 1-2 minutes and then okay. This was a steady incline for 1.25 miles. It really killed me. I was not expecting to see my family again at 8.25. Again, I started to get choked up and Peter said they could tell I had hit a wall. I did take some free GU that they were handing out at mile marker 8. It wasn't too bad and I thought I might need it. So I got to 8.25 and my family was there and Katie was ready to start running with me. I am so glad that she did. I really needed a boost and she gave it to me. There were not many people along the race route. So when you saw and heard people it was nice. It ended up getting pretty hot too. I think that effected me more than I would have thought. I have been so used to running before the sun comes up that running after the sun was up was hard. It wasn't a very shaddy run either. But we made it. I started to really break down after mile 12. I thought I would have gotten an adrenaline rush or something, but my body was hurting so bad by that point. I did get excited again once I could see the tent and more people were lined up on the street. Katie was right next to me cheering me on thank goodness. She kept saying, "We are almost there! You can do it! Look how far you've come!" I love my sister! My goal for this race was to finish in under 2 and a half hours and I did it. We ran across the finish line in 2 hours and 28 minutes!

I started crying and she started crying and it was awesome! We forgot to get a picture there with Katie and I so I made Peter take one once we got home. I am proud of myself and all the hard work I have put towards this. I really can't believe I, Debbie Reid, ran a half marathon! It's a little crazy if you ask me! But I did it. Don't know if I will do this again, but we will see. Maybe it is like childbirth and you forget after a while. Now I am going to take it easy the rest of the day and relax and hope my body starts to feel better soon! Thanks to all the people who have supported me through this, by encouraging me and/or running with me. I couldn't have done it without all of you!