2011 Halloween Half Marathon

It seems weird that just a little over a year ago I was not a runner, nor did I care to be.

Just over a year ago Tessa asked me to run the 2010 Halloween half with her.

I thought she was crazy.

First of all I never ran, didn't like to, and she wanted me to train for it in 8 short weeks.

I humored her and went running ONE mile later that week and it was hard, I was dying.

Two days later I attempted 3 miles and my goal was to do it without stopping.

I did.

Two days after that I was excited to see how far I could go and I went just shy of 5 miles. It was seriously a huge thing for me. Next I ran 7 miles and didn't stop and from there the miles only went up. I was hooked, and I have been running ever since. I needed one more race to get me through the long winter and this was the race to end the season with. All in all I have ran 3 half's and 1 full marathon this year. For my last race I was hoping to break the 1:50s and get my best time. And Tessa was running it with me so I had plenty of motivation.

It was soooo freezing that morning and I was not excited about shedding my coat to run in the 30 degree weather. The first 5 miles of the course are extremely steep and that is where I wanted to save time and run my fastest. Of course Tessa and her friend didn't pace themselves too well and just took off at the beginning and I was sure I wouldn't see them again. For the most part I stayed just under 8 min miles for the first 5 and my goal for the rest of the run was to keep under 8:30 and I really had to push myself to do that but I did it. I ended up catching up to Tessa's friend, Rochelle, and passing her. I even caught up to Tessa and ran with her for a few and ended up passing her as well. THAT WAS SO AMAZING TO ME! Tessa is such a fast runner and the fact that I caught her and left her made me so happy. My final time was 1:49. I was happy to beat my fastest time by 2 min but frustrated because I thought I would have beat it more. I know I will never be a fast runner but I just want to be more than mediocre. I love to run and long distance is my thing.

It was so fun and I am so glad that I finally got a race in with Tessa. Hopefully it won't be the last. PS. you can't see it but I had a twister board clipped onto the side of my head.