the 22 list | run a half-marathon

When I ran my first official 10K run back in April of 2012, never did I imagine that I would run a half-marathon just eighteen months later in October 2013. To me, 10K runs were pretty manageable. But I thought that half-marathons were just a little too long and certainly not for the faint-hearted.

I don’t know what possessed me to sign up for the craziness of a half-marathon. But I did. And now that it’s over, I’ll say that it was one of the best things I did this year.

This race was originally scheduled for July of 2013. However, due to the haze that smothered us in June, the organizers postponed it until October. It would’ve been pretty cool to add “Ran my first 21K” to the list of things I did at twenty-one. But at least I still get to say that I ran 13.1 miles in 2013 (:

I wasn’t as prepared for this race as I should’ve been. Training started late, but I tried to be consistent with my long runs as much as possible, working up the miles each week to race day. My goal for this race was just to FINISH under three hours. I really wanted to push for two and a half, but I think under three hours was much more realistic.

I felt pretty good during the first 15k – my energy level was high and I hardly walked at all (must’ve been those GU chomps!). But the last 4k really killed me. Everything was hurting and all I wanted to do was stop. It took everything I had to keep going. But I had my support team who pushed me on and soldiered with me to the end. I crossed the finish line with a time of 2:37, which exceeded my expectations so I was pretty happy about it (:

I surprised myself. But I know I wouldn’t have done it without the support of my siblings, who were my biggest supporters. They cheered me on, pushed me forward, and just ran with me even when I felt like giving up.

Sometimes, I’m still in disbelief that I actually ran (and finished) a half-marathon. It’s one of those things that I never thought I’d do. But I guess, you can accomplish more than you think you can – if you believe you can.

I’m not sure if another half-marathon will be a part of the future. But I’m definitely loving this running thing while it lasts.

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The 22 list is a list of things I made to accomplish while I’m twenty-two. For more about my 22 list, read this post.