My First Half Marathon

I really just have three words to sum up how I felt yesterday: I did it!

Never did I EVER think that I would complete a half marathon! I used to loathe running and sometimes, I still do. (And sidenote, let's just accept the fact that I used the word "loathe" and said it in the Grinch's voice because I'm already in the Christmas spirit, haha.)  But, after completing the Monument Avenue 10K in the Spring, for some reason, I decided that I was going to sign up for the Half Marathon. Um, okay, I know one of my goals for this year was to participate in more races and everything, but I thought I was just going stick to races that were between 5K and 10K. NO idea how a 13.1 mile race made its way into the line-up!

So, I signed up. I signed up to run with a pace group, the slowest half marathon pace group, in fact, because I knew I would want to start out too fast and wouldn't be able to keep my own pace throughout the whole race.  Plus, it was a time that I felt was a good goal to set for myself.

I continued running all year, but I really started my training plan for the half marathon in July.  I really stuck to it with each particular running day and its distance, my cross training days and my strength training days (which I was already doing while training for the Spartan race).  Did I have speed bumps along the way? You betcha. In the early fall, my right knee started hurting...a lot.  I could barely walk without pain, let alone run.  When resting it didn't work, I finally had to suck it up and go to the doctor, so I wouldn't get too far behind on my training.  Well, going to the doctor usually isn't good news for me, and this was no exception.  I had pulled the anterior ligament in my knee, and flared up an old knee injury. LOVELY. Through that whole injury, from the initial resting to after the appointment and more rest, I was out of running for a month! That was kind of a big set back that did not make me happy!!  Then, several weeks ago, I did who knows what and ended up pulling a muscle in my back that wrapped around my right side, too. It hurt to do simple stuff like get in my car with my work bag in the mornings, roll over in the bed, play bells at church. It was ridiculous. Finally, the week leading up to the half marathon, this muscle started to get a little bit better, but it still was hurting some when I woke up that morning, but I had so much adrenaline that it was the last thing on my mind.

After all that had happened, I wasn't sure about the anticipated finishing time I originally hoped for. Since my training had its interruptions and challenges, and this point, I just wanted to finish!

I know it probably sounds like I'm just pouring out excuses, but when I look back years from now, I want to remember how I prepared for my first half marathon, the set backs I had, and how I still completed it!!

So, yesterday morning, I woke up way earlier than the alarms I had set because I was both anxious and excited. I finally got up and got dressed for the below freezing temps that I wasn't really excited about running in, as I had never run in temperatures that low before!  We finally got out there, and Matt was walking with me to find my starting wave. I was looking for my aunt, Kandi, and my cousin, Aimee, because I knew they would be around the same area as me. Coincidentally, I just happened to hear Kandi's voice and they walked right up behind us!! It worked out great because we ended up running the whole thing together!  And, that pace group I signed up to run with? Yeah, I never looked for them, because I had a better group to run with!

Matt, Mom and Dad were standing right at the starting line as we passed, and the start all happened so fast! Before I knew it, we were at mile 2 and that's when I got mad. My left knee started hurting. Seriously?! My left knee has never hurt me while running, and it chose that time to start?? Perfect. I kept changing my stride, and that would help alleviate the pain for a while, but then it would come back. It was a constant battle through the rest of the race! I was so mad.

It was so much fun running through Richmond! I was most excited when we ran past the Science Museum, which was in the first couple miles. Shortly after that, we conquered the hill on the Boulevard right by the Diamond.  Of all the hills we ran/walked, we owned that one! haha. I kept looking forward to Mile 7, because I knew we'd be in Bryan Park at that point, and that was the next Party Spot for the half marathon, and that's where Mom, Dad and Matt would be.  We saw Mom first, so we stopped for some stretching to loosen up.

Check out this sign Mom made!

Shortly after we passed her, we ran into Matt and Dad! It's always nice seeing familiar faces on the side for some encouragement to keep on going!!

Dad got these pictures of us running:

Matt got this pic:

I can't remember at which Mile this happened, but we started hearing police sirens behind us on the left side of the road. I turned around to see police motorcycles, but I didn't know what it was for. Aimee and Kandi told me the Elite Marathon runners were coming up on that side of the road! It was so cool to see them come breezing by, 20+ miles in, like it was NOTHING. We cheered them on as they came on by, and I decided I was completely fine sticking with 13.1 miles! haha.

When we were in the last few miles, I felt like we would NEVER get to the finish line. My knee was still killing me, and then, just when I thought things couldn't get worse, they did. My calves started cramping. BAD. I honestly thought they were just going to pop right through my skin. (I know, what an exaggeration!) I kept stopping to stretch them, running different ways, but I could NOT get them to loosen up. It killed me being so close to the end and having to keep stopping.  When we approached Mile 10, we ran through our favorite spectator set up: Christmas!! They were playing Christmas music, and Santa and a couple elves were there! It was there that some random stranger from the Christmas-scene gave me a pat on the back and said, "Just 5K left! You can do it!!" My initial thought was, "Yeah, easy for you to say. YOU'RE NOT RUNNING!" But, after getting that out of my system, I realized that's why I love these running events: EVERYONE is so supportive and encouraging, and it was more than fitting that it was a Christmas person who gave me a boost of encouragement to keep going! haha.

In the last stretch of the race, Aimee kept reassuring me, "we're literally almost there!" "the rest is all down hill!" and I kicked up the pace, forgot about all of the pain I was in, because when I saw that finish line, I was going to cross it as quickly as I could!!!

Here we are getting ready to cross the finish line!! Video by Mom, pictures by Matt!

Regardless of all of the pain I endured, I was most proud of myself, because never once did I get tired aerobically. I could've definitely kept on going if I wasn't hurting so much. Who knows, there may be another 1/2 marathon in my future....I haven't decided just yet. Let me recover from these injuries, first!

And, to finish out this post, I thought I'd share these half marathon quotes I have been finding on Pinterest either as inspiration or as something I now read and think, "oh yeah, I can totally relate now!"

Spartan Up! Our Virginia Super Spartan Race Experience!

Last winter, we signed up for a race that was brand new to us. We'd never done anything like a Spartan race, but I guess we were up for that challenge! ha. Somehow, my dad got talked into doing it too, so, last month, we headed up to Wintergreen Resort to compete in the Virginia Spartan Super!

If you're not familiar with the Spartan events, they are races of different lengths with certain amounts of obstacles you have to complete throughout. The Spartan Super is 8+ miles with 20+ obstacles to complete.  The Wintergreen course we did is apparently one of the hardest courses of the Spartan events (which we didn't know prior to race day!).  Then, add on the fog in the mountains, the mud from the rain the night before, and the rain that came down as we approached probably the last mile or so (I really don't even remember the distance left!) and the last few obstacles.  It was CRAZY. 

The race was long, yes, but throughout the race, it didn't always seem as daunting as it sounds.  Yes, we did have to walk up the hardest slope they have at Wintergreen (and occasionally slide down a little bit in the mud..), but then there were also times when we were hiking in the woods, which made it fun and adventurous.  We really had no idea what was coming up next.

Some of the obstacles we had to do include climbing cargo nets, climbing 4ft, 7ft, and 8ft walls, carrying buckets of rocks up and down a hill--I believe the women's buckets were 60 pounds and men's buckets were 75 pounds. I honestly don't remember, but I DO remember seeing a whole lot of people who didn't fill their buckets all the way up to the line....Shame on you. haha.  We also pulled cinder blocks by chains, carried logs down and up a hill, carried sandbags up and down hills AND climbed over 4ft walls with them (we got really good and climbing hills/mountains, y'all), and of course, crawling under barbed wire, in the mud. Up hill. Which actually isn't as terrible as it sounds, either.

So, enough of the writing, here are the pictures! But, if you'd like to hear more about the obstacles or the event itself, I'd be glad to talk to you about it! It is really fun to relive the events of the day!

You could walk around in the festival area prior to the race where they had different things set up. Here we are watching for a technique for the rope climb..

And there's Matt and Dad trying it out..

This is about 15 minutes before our start time.  They had Certified SGX (Spartan Group Exercise) Coaches leading stretches and warm-ups near the starting line. We joined in, even though we all look super confused for some reason. haha.

And, it looks like it's early in the morning, but no. Our start time was 12:00, and it was just THAT foggy that day!

Ready to climb the wall.  This wall was NOTHING compared to the walls that awaited us later.

Yes, receiving help on obstacles IS allowed. However, I have been working on building up my upper body strength more now, so if there's a next time, hopefully I won't need as many boosts for all the walls ;)

Matt makes clearing these walls look so easy..

Time for the monkey bars, which were the 10th obstacle, about 3.5 miles in. By the time we got there, we couldn't see how anyone was completing them at all, as they were covered in mud (I told you it was a wet and muddy weekend!).  I may look all-smiles in this first picture, but let me tell you, I was not all smiles standing on his shoulders trying to reach the bars that were out of my wing span...I'm no Michael Phelps, y'all. It was insane.  I've always hated monkey bars anyway.  We later found out that this obstacle took out tons of people.

After that obstacle, we paused for pictures......and me for chapstick. HAHA.

Then, plenty of miles, obstacles and hours later, here we are coming across the finish line!!

I know it's blurry, but you can see how tired we are, and we were probably all saying something like, "okay, where's the Gatorade and food?!"

"Okay, we're in the line for food now, we'll stop and take a picture."

 Mom took close-ups of our mud-covered faces, lol.

These were the few pictures of us on the Spartan website. I will say, I am a little disappointed that they didn't have pictures from more obstacles.  Out of 26 obstacles, they only have pictures of one of the three of us at 2.  And, when you're on the photo gallery on the Spartan website, they only have four options of locations to search for your pictures.  They don't even have pictures of us jumping over the fire at the end and crossing the finish line.  I feel like after such a long race, they should at least have a picture of everyone at that!  Also, when you search for your bib number, you get pictures of so many other random people, with numbers not even close to yours! It's very frustrating! So then you try to search by the time you might've been at that obstacle, and hope to find a picture of you, but still no luck! :(

This picture is from the Atlas Carry, which was pretty early in the race. You have to lift the huge stone, which you can see some of in this picture, carry it from the flag on the left to the flag on the right, drop it, do five burpees, then carry it back to the flag on the left.  You can have help lifting the ball, but not carrying the ball.  I couldn't lift that ball alone to save my life, so I'm so thankful we could have assistance.  And, you probably didn't know this, but that's dad over on the far right behind one of the flags, watching either Matt or me complete burpees. haha. 

Here are some pictures from one of the trails. They just had this camera set up on a tripod that continuously snapped pictures at your walked by.  This is Matt's signature race-pose when he knows a camera is there....Anyone remember our 10K picture?? haha.

Here's the log carry I mentioned earlier.  I love this picture because it has all three of us, and I'll definitely be printing this out.  Matt finished maybe 10 minutes earlier, but I was moving at a slower pace and Dad stayed with me. Matt came back down the mountain and finished the obstacle with us again, without a log.  He's pushing me here because this obstacle was killing my back.  He held my back/pushed me as far up the mountain as he could, but there was a timing thing we had to walk over, so he had to walk around it so it wouldn't mess his time up.

I'm glad they got a picture of one of us at the barbed wire crawl! Here's Dad..

That was one of our last events, and by that point, it was pouring! We were so happy to have finally completed the Spartan Race!!

I've never worked so hard for a shirt in my life!! haha, but it's now one of my favorite shirts, and not just because it's made of the most comfortable, softest material ever! lol.

Also, this is the first medal I've ever received from completing an event, so that itself also symbolizes an accomplishment to me, too!

Who knows, maybe there's another one (or two or three??) in our future??? We shall see!

Wicked!

Several months ago, Mom got tickets for her, Abby and me to see Wicked! We went this past Thursday with a group of students and staff from Highland Springs HS, and let me just tell you, it was fantastic!

Our seats were in the balcony, front row, and I loved our view! I love looking down on performances because there's so much to see that you may miss when sitting on ground level. To start, the Altria Theater is just so pretty inside!

I am in the middle of reading Wicked, and I wasn't quite halfway through when we went to see the performance on Thursday, so I knew it'd be a bit of a spoiler for me, but I didn't care! There were so many things that I had already read that weren't shown, and what I've read since seeing the show Thursday has shown me that a few things were changed for the musical. It'll be interesting to see the differences as I continue reading the book. (I won't give too many details here, since I know some people may not have read the book yet or are still waiting to go see Wicked!)

I knew that Wicked was the history of the witches, but there were some parts of the show where I remember my jaw literally dropped when something was revealed and I was thinking, "who would've EVER thought that connection?!" It even showed how some of the events of Wicked overlapped with those of the Wizard of Oz! It was amazing!! 

Here's us after the show! 2 thumbs up from me!! I'd definitely recommend it, and I would SO see it again!!