Here's my story......
I have never been a runner! The last time I competitively ran was in Junior High and after that I since retired my runner shoes. Up until a few years ago at least. Being a college athlete we were demanded to do a lot of training (anyone reading this and knowing where I went to college knows this is complete sarcasm, but more on that later).
Throughout college I struggled with gaining weight then losing it just to put it right back on again. So as I was ending my college year I realized that I really needed to pick up a new hobby of working out because I DID NOT want to be one of "those people" who gained a lot of weight and metaphorically "fell off". My mom started running a lot and seeing how it made her look and feel I want to see what it was all about. I ran my first 5k in the summer of 2009 and was hooked. I loved the adrenaline rush, it felt like I was playing again!
I trained for a half-marathon 2 years ago but never got the courage to actually sign up and do one. This time I wasn't leaving any doubt! I signed up for Angie's Half Crazy Half-Marathon and I knew once I hit the submit button there would be no turning back. I used the NikePlus+ App for my training runs and also incorporated Shaun T's T25 to my daily workouts and felt better than ever.
The week of the race was rainy and there was a chance that it could storm on the day of the race. Knowing this I thought to myself that I was just not meant to run in a half-marathon. But as the week went on it started to clear up for race day on Sunday.
Race Day:
I did this race completely by myself. This was the first race that my mom would not be running in and that fact alone I was a little nervous, other than that I felt excited and prepared! The race was a turnaround race so half way (at 6.55 miles) you turned around and went back the way you came. As I passed the halfway point I just started to think "It's go time!", because one of my goals was to finish in under 2 hours and there was no way I was not going to accomplish it. I started "picking off" people and just talking to myself saying "you need to catch her and keep going and find someone else to catch up to" I ended up placing 4th in my age group, which was a little disappointing because the top 3 got prizes, but I did finish in under 2 hours! The one thing that I will say is that as proud of myself that I am of my accomplishment I wish my mom would have been there so I could have shared it with her.
All in all it was an AMAZING experience and I can't wait to do another one!
Ashley Marie
No comments:
Post a Comment