13.1 Miles

I did it.  We did it.  Spencer and I attempting our first half marathon over the weekend.  We completed it, made it past the finish line, but barely.

Running 13.1 miles had been a goal of mine for some time.  I signed up for the Chicago Half Marathon in June as I had been running a lot and felt confident I would be ready.  Things happen, life gets in the way.  August came, my work scheduled changed, and long story short, I didn't run the entire month leading up to the half marathon on Sunday.  Not once.  But when you pay $90 to take part in a race, heck, not being ready isn't an excuse to skip out.

Taking the Blue Line at 5 am 

That said, there were plenty of reasons for us to skip this race.  Aside from not being ready, it was in Chicago meaning we had to set aside our whole weekend to run it.  We had to get up at 4 am just to take a train and then a cab to Jackson Park on the city's south side.   It was really inconvenient.  In the future, signing up for races that start a few blocks from my home (they exist).

So anyway, super inconvenient race.  We weren't prepared.  And it's why I'm proud that we both went head first into this, put a smile on our faces, and ran anyway.

The first 8 and a half miles were do-able.  I tuned out with music.  Spencer, in his pepperoni pizza shirt (Christmas gift from Allison), ran beside me.  But then I hit a wall.  My legs stopped working.  Cramped up.  I walked for a few, then ran, then walked, then ran, and that was the final five miles for us.  Looking forward to water stations, limping along, running when we could, being passed by runners of equal level who moments later we were running past as they took a break to walk.  There were a lot of us in the back, just trying to finish.  

It was hard.  I definitely wasn't ready, and as you can see by our final race times (below), I could have done far better.  The moments that made it worth it though:  

• Hitting that 8 and a half mile mark, the farthest I have ever run at once.  
• Seeing the smile on Spencer's face as runners and spectators cheered him on, yelling "Pizza!!"
• And the feeling of just pure love I had for Spencer as, even though he was able to keep running, he slowed down with me every time and stayed by my side. 

So still glad we did it.  I want to do another one.  Because seriously, look at my time (which is basically our time) we can only go up from here:)