Proud of my Slowest 13.1 Ever!

So here I am writing the day after the St Jude Marathon Weekend where I ran the half marathon. This was the first time I have ever run the half, and I am so glad I was not signed up for the full. This is one of the premier races in the South in my opinion and I love doing it, it benefits St Jude Hospital in Memphis. No family ever pays for medical treatment at St Jude due to donation from all over the world.  So the first weekend in December, over 18,000 runners come to Memphis to run this race. The Marathon weekend offers a 5K, 13.1, 26.2 and a 26.2 relay option!

Now I knew going in that this was going to be a tough race for me. My last long run was an 11 mile run on November 1st and it took me 1:55, so I felt I was on track to have a great race. Well, things happen. Some things you can foresee and other things you can't. For some reason, I always seem to think I can train through the Christmas "Black Friday" rush and everything that goes into planning for those 2 wonderful days (and yes, that is sarcasm). Due to travel with work, I had a hard time keeping the training schedule going, but I decided I was still doing the race anyways.

So here we were on Saturday morning waiting to start. I started in Corral 8, which was a 10:07 mile. I was really unsure of how long I would be able to hold that pace, but I was game. I was running with 3 other friends and I knew that would help me. I also knew I was going in with no expectation except to finish the race and enjoy making that turn to the finish line.

The first 6 miles were awesome. Tons of people cheering and runners were everywhere. Our foursome stuck together, which you know is tough in a race this size. we were hitting a 10:07 pace which was getting tougher each mile, so I pulled back alittle and let the guys go on. I was able to keep a steady pace for the first 9 miles or so before I knew I needed to focus on finishing.

So I did some walking through the water stations and then ran tot he next one for the next few miles. My calves started tweaking around 11, but  managed to push through and get to the finish line. I crossed the line at 2:31:23.

2:31:23...my PR is 1:54.

Here is the thing. I am more proud of this 2:31 than I would have thought. I knew going in that I was not trained for it and even had thoughts of ditching the race, but I didn't. I pushed through. It hurt and my legs are still sore. I didn't listen to the voices. I maintained, I persevered and I finished. When you think about the reason this race exists, to raise money for kids battling cancer, my leg cramps seem trivial. So like I said, I am probably more proud of my 2:31 and everything it took for me to get there than I am my 1:54.

Unprepared, But Ready

So I am back to the blog, rambling on as always. It has been a busy time for me these past couple of weeks. Since this is mainly a blog about Ironman and racing, I will start off with my upcoming race that I feel completely unprepared for, The St Jude Half Marathon. I started the training off really well and had some lofty goals, but life has since reared its head and reminded me that this is my hobby and other things have to come first.

I do not know why I do this every year, but I do. As you might know, I work in the glorious world of retail, and I am finally surrendering to the fact that Christmas sales and late season races do not mix. I always think that I can pull off training and still deal with the Black Friday schedule, which includes school and church activities plus time changes, cold temperatures and everything else one must account for. It is just a difficult time of year for me to hit my workouts, yet I still think I can. I think I have finally learned my lesson on this race.

This past 10 days have been crazy for me as well. My father got very sick and was even in the ICU unit for almost a week battling an infection that got into his bloodstream. This was a very scary time for my family. We went form taking him to the ER, to him joking with us as we left for the night expecting him to be kept one night to us being called at 5 AM telling us he was in ICU on a breathing machine. It was unreal! I was glad we were visiting my folks that weekend all this occurred (it was his Birthday and we celebrated Thanksgiving that Sat because of my work). Being three hours away did not make it any easier either. I felt like I needed to be in two places at once so many time this past week!

**I do want to thank all the friends and family that did pray for my father, either from FB, IG, or people who heard about his condition**

I am happy/relieved to know that he is finally cleared to go home after being in the hospital for over a week! Huge relief!

So after all that, and now traveling for work this week, I have a half marathon coming up Saturday that I am so not ready for. My last long run of 11 miles was about a month ago. It is so going to hurt on Saturday!

I am still going to run it. I am an Ironman!!!  Right?

I have just changed my expectations on this race. I want to run it and enjoy it, just be in the crowd around other athletes. I know a lot of people running this race and I admit, the competitor in me wants to smoke my friends, but I may be the smokee instead of the smoker this year. (sounds totally whack, but you get it). So I am totally ready for my butt to be kicked. Everything is OK in my world right now and if me not hitting a goal time is the worst I have it, then its fine by me!