The power of motivation (13.1 continued)

Good evening Friends,

I'm feeling super inspired tonight, so I thought I'd write another blog post and share some insight into some of my recent goal setting/conquering and share my gratitude to some awesome friends and family members who've kept me motivated. Literally I would not be able to do what I do without you ladies and gents! Each text, like, post, share, comment, etc. serves as motivation for me to keep pushing and to try even harder to reach my goals.

As y'all may or may not know, I've had a goal to run a half marathon for a little while now. I originally posted about it in November of 2014, and looking back at that post, boy was I naive, ha! What a young moron I was way back then. I also mentioned it in my post this February, although I had no timetable on when I'd actually run one. I was really trying to run the St. Jude half in December, with maybe a 10 miler/other long run this summer as a kind of "barometer" of where I was at physically and mentally (really mentally, running after a certain point is all a mind game anyway).

Little did I know I'd start training and run a half wayyyyy sooner than anything I had planned... I got an email from Start 2 Finish here in Memphis about a half that was in April (4/22 to be exact), and I thought, "hhhhmmm, could this be the one?". Buoyed by some encouragement from friends (in particular my boss who told me about a training program that could limit any injuries) and family , I started training slowly and working my way up in miles and endurance each week. Most training programs are about 10 weeks long, and I only had about 4 to get ready, so I knew trying to cram in extra miles was important, but I also had to keep myself from getting injured severely.

The abbreviated training helped prepare me physically, but I knew the biggest test would be mentally. Waking up on race day (which was yesterday, in a monsoon, with a 7 AM start time, and no end to the rain in sight), I had no expectations of when I would finish, I just wanted to get out there, run out the nerves (I'm always nervous before a race, especially one that was this long) and finish.

The race started as well as could be expected with waterlogged shoes, soaking wet shorts, and a rain jacket with the sleeves rolled up. I was drenched before mile 1, so I just embraced it and pushed on.

Here's the race summary:

• Mile 0-1: well I'm soaked, so this will be fun
• Mile 2: Began questioning my sanity/hit my first mental wall
• Mile 4: Hit the wall again, but kept on pushing ("almost 1/3 of the way there" -my inner monologue for a mile"  
• Mile 6: "Why the hell am I out here? This race isn't even halfway over yet"
• Mile 7: Hit yet another wall, but we were also running past St. Jude, FTK!!!
• Mile 8-9: "Where the hell are we?" 
• Mile 10: "Why are there people out here with signs? Are they protesting the race? More power to them, but I don't even think we're running for a cause?" 
• **I'm going to stop here and explain/express my sincere gratitude to some of the most awesome people I've had the pleasure of knowing. Remember those conditions I talked about earlier? Driving rain, long race, 7 AM start time, no end in sight for said rain? So this group of people with signs were not protesting, not at all. THEY WERE MY COWORKERS WITH HANDMADE SIGNS CHEERING ME ON WHEN I WAS DOUBTING MYSELF THE MOST!!! How freaking awesome is that? Mile 10 is where I was questioning whether I would finish the race, and I come over a hill to see a group of people with signs, yelling at me to keep going. Game on, my friends! Talk about an injection of adrenaline and happy thoughts Literally, it was like a second (actually probably third or fourth) wind. **
• Mile 10.75-11.75: I call this stretch"the lonely island" nobody in front of, or behind me for an entire mile is the most disheartening thing. You never realize how much other racers push you until you have nobody near you to try and run with. 
• Mile 12.2 (ish): Guess who's back, back again? MY COWORKERS!! Another injection of pace and will to see the race out, all thanks to my friends! 
• Mile 12.8 (ish): Guess who, COWORKERS AGAIN AGAIN! Cheering me on as I crossed the 13 mile marker, with just a few more feet to go
• Mile 13.1: Race done, coworkers cheering, me stripping off clothes (it was hot in that rain jacket), and trying to figure out where to get brunch. Post race food is important after all (so are the beverages). 

I literally would not have been able to finish without y'all, and I hope you know that! The encourage both before, during and after the race was absolutely amazing, and I cannot say thank you enough! It's y'all that keep me going, even when times get tough. 

Special shout-out to everyone else who texted, commented, liked, called, talked to me in passing or just takes a genuine interest in my life. Those were motivation too!