ING Miami

I realize that I haven't posted in a while. Between work, trying to buy a house, and working out, I haven't found time for pretty much anything. However, the day had finally come for the race, and I knew I had to blog.  All of the training, preparation and energy I have spent getting ready for it was finally going to be used.

This weekend was pretty much all about the race. I had joined the American cancer society team determination to train with them and and had not had the best experience with them. This team was a charity based team and even though I'm typically not into the whole raising money thing, I had decided to do it for grandpa. As I'm sure I've said twenty million times, grandpa died from brain cancer. So, this team really meant something to me. However, the main issue I had with this group was the lack of camroderie. We had joined the team when there was a local contact based out of the area. After two months, they let him go and we had no real communication with each other besides the team practices. However, I tried to not let it bother me. I had my friend N that was with me throughout the process and we pretty much energized each other.

So since we had raised a higher amount, we got a "free" hotel night stay. I say "free" because we later found out that you have to share a room with another teammate. If you don't share, you pay an extra 119/night . I'm not going to lie that pissed me off. Why would we have to pay for a room if our fundraising coved it? So when Greg and I talked about it, we figured it would be nice to get away from the dogs and househunting and relax! So once we checked in we received a pasta dinner which was absolutely phenomenal (I know a crazy word to describe pasta). The pasta dinner was really nice and helped me to reenergize my attitude about the team and actually give them props.

After the dinner, I finally tried going to bed and was completely unsuccessful. I probably got like 5 hours or less of sleep. I woke up excited and scared as hell. I even googled thoughts for your first half marathon. To prepare for this specific race I had leggings, my jersey, compression socks and my new balance shoes. I had also brought jelly beans and sports legs for nutrition.

N and I had eaten breakfast with the team and then headed to the race. It was just as nuts as it was last year and I was glad I knew where to go this time around. The crowds were wild and so I guided N to our corral. She got nervous and claustrophobic at one point and I kept telling her we would be okay (I think that actually made me feel better). Once we got to the corral, we hung out for a while until it was time to go. While we were waiting I figured that I would try to maintain a 12 min/mile and with that I had a plan.

So off we went. It killed me to maintain a steady pace, but I did it. I took the scenery in and took pictures as I went. I made it all the way to mile 13 without a hitch and was right on pace with a 12 min/mile. I must admit it was really hard not to finish with the half marathon group. Once we passed the mark, the crowd thinned out ridiculously. I kept thinking .. Just one more mile... And so up came mile 15, 16, 17... And then I hit mile 22. I hadn't walked the entire team and my legs were on fire. I tricked myself into thinking that the walk break would help me. So I walked, and in a nano second my legs were cramped and the pain was unbearable. I tried to keep walking and couldn't so I pulled aside and stretched. Then I tried walking again and stretched. At one point a coach from another group asked me if I was okay and I told him I didn't know. I kept going. At mile 23 I decided to jog again. I made it to mile 24 jogging and took one more .25 mile walk break before finishing it up. I finished with a 5:12 time - an 11:50 min/mile pace lol.

During the marathon I was on the verge of breaking mentally. You question and doubt everything about yourself. You feel pain and stiffness and force yourself to push through it. I'm not going to lie it absolutely sucks lol. However, you also get moments of strength and encouragement and it can literally makes you run more miles.

Before the run I had asked for texts and posts of encouragement on Facebook and it honestly kept me going. At one point in my delirium all this support and encouragement brought tears to my eye. In the last mile I saw my in laws waving and cheering me in. It took every bit of strength I had to move my legs as fast as they could go towards the end. I swear I was flying. When I crossed the finish line I threw my fists in victory. It was over. I had tons of family and friends there: my wonderful husband, in laws, my parents, n and her mom, and k and g. I love them and am so amazed that they came to see me. I am just so ridiculously humbled.

This experience was completely different than anything else I've done before. Half iron mans are a different beast and not as demanding on my body as this marathon. Am I glad I did this? Sure. Will I ever do it again? Hell no lol. I'm starting to scale back my racing and will be focusing on total body workouts and speed work. My next race is a1a and I'm hoping to kill it. First, I'll take a couple of days off :) ill post pictures of the race throughout the week!!