I did it!

Amber & I after the race

Every year in March a Half Marathon & 5 Mile Race are held in Moab and every year for the past I don't even know how many years, I have participated in the race. And every year I would think to myself how completely ridiculous it sounded to run 13 miles all at once so I always opted to do the five mile race. Five miles seemed plenty to me and thirteen was just never going to happen, in my opinion. Well, somehow I got the courage this year to sign up for the half marathon (probably with some heavy encouragement for my older sister who is an ANIMAL when it comes to running. Seriously, she is so good). I also signed up for it last year and backed out at the last minute and ended up doing my trusty five miler.

Me, Amber & Momma after the race. My Mom did the five mile - way to go Mom! 

Well this year I was not going to let that happen. I started training in January and stuck to my little running schedule like nothing else mattered. And then February came along. And I got sick not once, but TWICE! It literally prevented me from going to the gym no more than once or twice a week! I was so bummed! I kept having this mental battle with myself on whether or not I should run the half or if I should just opt out and do the five. But I kept having this feeling that I just needed to prove it to myself that I was capable of doing a race like this.

My sister Linz was signed up for the five mile race but ended up having to have her gall bladder removed so wasn't able to run. My Dad stepped in and ran for her with no training, yeah Dad!

I trained pretty hard for the two weeks right before the race and found myself thirteen miles from the finish line on the day of the race. I was pretty nervous to say the least. I took shot blocks, caffeine jelly beans and everything I could think of that would help my survive this race.  I lined up with my sister and her friends at the starting line and ran with them for probably a minute tops before they left me in the dust. Who was I kidding lining up at the 8 1/2 minute mile pace?!? I comfortably run a ten minute mile, 9 1/2 if I really kick these long legs of mine into gear. So I settled into my pace, listened to a little Miley Cyrus on my Ipod and was good to go. I shuffled along and did my best to not get discouraged if someone happened to be a little faster of a runner than me. I listened to my body, walked when I felt I needed to, took more shot blocks and finally crossed the finish line after two hours and twenty five minutes. I was hoping to finish in just a little over two hours but my knees didn't feel like cooperating that day. And to be completely honest, I was not discouraged with time one bit! My sister finished in less than two hours and I was so happy for her! She is a speedy one! I just feel bad my family had to wait an extra twenty minutes to cross the finish line. (Sorry for that Mat. haha) But there is just something so fulfilling after finishing a race like that. Knowing that your body was capable of doing that is such a surreal feeling. I feel like a lot of the time I don't give my body enough credit. I limit its abilities so much when I know that it could be pushed much farther than I push it. I am so grateful that I have a body and that it is healthy and capable of doing so many things at this time in my life. The Half Marathon is probably one of the hardest things I have ever physically done and I can't say that I enjoyed every minute of it. But what I can say is that I can't wait to see what else my body is capable of handling and I can't wait to do another Half Marathon. :D So if you are like me and don't think your body is capable of doing anything, just get out there and try and you really might surprise yourself!

Amber and her little cheering section! :D

Amber, Me & Emily. We didn't get a picture with Linz but she was there cheering us on too!