Crossroads 1/2 Marathon Re-Cap

Whoa, that was pretty tough!

Woke up at 5:30am that morning and was already prepared for the cold and wind.  It's normally a windy race due to the open fields along the course, so the weather reports of winds blowing from the north 20-30 mph with 40 mph gusts didn't help.  I ran the race last year, so I had an idea of what it was going to be like. 

My whole mindset was to just go out there and have fun.  I had just ran an ultra marathon 3 weeks prior to this race and was in the middle of marathon training for Sunburst in May.  I also ran a 15 mile training run two days before and worked a 12 hour shift the day before, but luckily my legs ended up feeling really good that morning.

I drove to the race and sat in my car for 45 minutes watching the rain trickle on my windshield and the branches on the trees blowing around, then I realized I forgot my GU Roctanes at home, so I had no fuel. I remember thinking to myself, "This is definitely not going to be a pretty finish, lol"

As we all lined up at the start line, that's always my favorite part of this event.  The 1/2 marathoners lined up on the left side of the road and the full marathoners lined up on the right side.  As we took off running in different directions, I was actually happy I was "only" running a half that day with the conditions out there. 

Right away we were hit with the rolling hills the first several miles.  Running through the neighborhoods and through the city around Cedar Lake, the wind was not horrible, but as soon as we hit open fields, the wind was enough to almost blow me off the road.  I kept my pace consistent so I wouldn't wear out early and it definitely seemed to help me especially at the very end. 

 Picture of one of the hills on the course

At mile 6, my IPod stopped working and I was stuck with no music the rest of the race(not very happy about that)  The last few miles were the windiest.  Mile 11 I was running straight into a headwind and at times felt like I was running in slow motion.  I just kept on repeating to myself, "almost there, almost there, I've got this"

I crossed the finish line in 1:49:17 and managed to place 2nd in my age group(originally it was 3rd place, but there was an error with the preliminary results and I still got a 3rd place award which I need to return)

I was actually surprised that I ran so well considering all the hills and wind.  I can't wait to see if I can crush my 1/2 marathon PR of 1:40:37 this summer with the speed work I'll be doing.  It was a fantastic event and I did have a lot of fun seeing a few runners there like Maria and Brenda.  I placed 35th overall out of 375 half marathoners too. Congrats to everyone who finished! I'm sure I'll be back next year to run those hills and battle the wind again.  After all, I always love a challenge :) 

13.1 to 50K-A Leap of Faith

2 years ago, if you would've told me I could run a 50K, I'd laugh at you....

Sure I'd been running for years and years up to that point, but I was getting injuries at a 10K distance so why even push it? I wasn't "built" for running marathons and such.

I'll never forget the evening though, sitting with my husband at the computer 2 years ago debating on whether or not to register for my first half marathon. 13.1 miles! The longest distance I had ever ran at that point.  Hey, I had given birth to another human being, I could run for more than 10 miles, right?  I remember feeling crazy nervous and anxious. My husband, Doug, just kept telling me "push the button" "you can do it, just try". 

What was stopping me?  Fear? Self doubt? Injuries?  Probably a combination of it all.  I had fallen on my face so many times in the past whenever I had tried something new.  It seems whenever I had tried to run more than 7-8 miles, something would hurt.  Well screw it, I'm going to take the plunge.  I pressed the button to register and the confirmation popped up on the screen.  Holy crap, I'm actually going to do this.

I didn't really train for the 1/2, but I did make it up to a 10 mile run before the race...and I did end up injured.  I was introduced to my IT band for the first time and what an ugly injury that is to have.  I did tons of research on it and decided to run the 1/2 with the injury wearing an IT band strap. I finished my first half marathon in 2:06 and the feeling crossing the finish line was incredible. I had just accomplished something I thought I could never do and with an injury!  So what was stopping me from trying to run farther? Nothing anymore...I'm going to run long distances. Including a 26.2!

1/2 marathon done-June 2012
Full marathon done-October 2013
Ultra marathon done-April 2014

So what is it that stops us from pushing ourselves more? Fear of failure? What exactly is failure to you? It's just a bump on the road of this crazy journey called life. It makes us stronger and wiser. It exposes our true selves in ways we couldn't see otherwise.  I'm not afraid of failure anymore. I'm running my 7th half marathon this month and my second full marathon in May.  I've gone from half marathoner to marathoner to ULTRA marathoner in less than 2 years.  If I can do it, anyone can.  It may not look pretty and I surely didn't "fly" across the finish line in my first 1/2 and full marathons(more like limped, haha)But I have grown so much as a runner and as a person in general.  I'm so happy I took that leap into the unknown and faced my fears. 

In the words of my daughter's favorite movie, Frozen:

"It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small and the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all."