So here's a brief summary of the last month or so:
"Oh, I should probably run because I signed up for that half marathon in July"
Saturdays: "I'll do a long run, as far as I can!" (farthest I went was 7 miles)
Tuesdays: "Ok, I need to do some shorter runs this week" (usually only ran on Tuesday)
July 19th: "Shoot. Now I need to run a half marathon and I have NOT trained one bit"
Basically, I didn't do what I should have but in the end, I'm kind of glad I didn't. I had gotten so down on myself especially in the running department. After not being able to run the full marathon, running just wasn't fun anymore. Even a training plan didn't really get me motivated. I was officially burnt-out.
I went into the race this weekend knowing that I wasn't prepared, but hoping that I could just finish. I wasn't going to worry about time and I wasn't going to worry about how I felt. Just finishing. Turns out, this no pressure approach made it much more fun!
Race Recap:
So because this race was in Chicago, it also meant lots of family time! So for the expo me, my mom, and my brother ventured downtown to McCormick Place to pick up the packet. Let's just say that Chicago is waaaay more complicated than Nashville to navigate! However, the expo was a lot of fun and I enjoyed more than my fair share of Dunkin Donuts iced coffee samples. I also won the race before it started, so that was convenient.
Race day was warm, but not nearly as hot as it has been in Nashville. My family didn't believe me, but it was actually a nice break from the extreme heat.
The first couple of miles felt fantastic! I had super fresh legs (aka no training) and lots of coffee! However, around mile 4 I realized that my Garmin had somehow gotten off (it was showing 5.5 miles) so that was a little disappointing. However, I continued to run/walk and just plug away at the miles. It was so fun to run through one of the best cities in the country!
I had one major complication in this race. My marriage really started to feel restrictive. Totally kidding! Kind of... This is a picture of me running up to my husband to try to get my ring off my finger because it was cutting off the circulation to my hand. My fingers had swollen so much that I could barely get them off! It was a strange problem that I've never had before, but I was thankful he was there to hold them for me until my hands went back to normal :)
So to summarize: this was my second slowest half marathon ever. I was exhausted and really had no business running a half. However, I finished my sixth half marathon and I think this will go down as one of my favorites ever. Having my family there was truly special to me! Running through Chicago was special to me! And maybe most importantly, I'm learning how to believe in myself again. Marathon training took a toll on me, but it's not going to keep me down forever!
And in case you are wondering: yes, I am incredibly sore. Yes, I look like a toddler learning to walk. I'm proud of every ache!
I'm going to take a week or so off from running and then hopefully start training for another half in November. I'm starting now so that I can train SLOWLY and hopefully maybe enjoy a little bit of it :)
Thanks for reading!
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