Half Marathon #3 Is In The Books!

A couple of weeks ago, I completed my 3rd half marathon.  Three times, I've run 13.1 miles and crossed the finish line with a smile (maybe more of a grimace) on my face.  And you know what?  As I have each race before....I loved it.  I'm already scouting out my next one.

ABJ's Mama and I signed up to run the Route 66 Half Marathon in Tulsa a couple of months ago.  My training plan was right on target--despite having to begin said plan in the heat and humidity of College Station and then trying to continue it in the frigid temperatures of the Texas Panhandle.  But then.....the wedding, the honeymoon, life as a newlywed....and well, I didn't stick to the plan.  She had similar struggles.  I think we both wanted to quit, but we kept each other going.  We headed into the race not really sure what to expect.  Our goal going in was to finish in less than 3 hours.

Starting line photo.

The weather was absolutely perfect on race day.  The atmosphere was great at the starting line--12,000 people all pumped up and ready to go.  When the race started, we settled into a pretty comfortable pace.  About 2 miles in, we both felt really good and, as has happened in both of my prior races as well, I realized that I really could do this.  So....we did.  We ran the first 10 miles with only stopping a couple of times for water and walking maybe 2 minutes total.  The last three miles were rough....we were tired, we hurt, we were hungry....that's probably where that extra training would have come in.  So we walked a bit more than we would have liked there, but all in all, we finished the race 18 minutes under our goal.  18 MINUTES.  We were so excited!

Finish line photo.

Every time I post pictures of a race, I always get the same question.  "Why would you ever run that far?"

It's something that you won't understand until you've done it.  When you cross that finish line, you feel like you can do anything.  Sure, it's hard.  Your whole body hurts, you are hot, you are hungry.....but you feel so empowered.  You realize that your mind imposed limits on you that just don't exist.  It's about so much more than running.