Last weekend, I ran the Shape Women's Half-Marathon. Yeah, you read that right. I laced up my New Balance kicks, secured my bib, and ran around Central Park. Twice. And then some. It was the longest distance I've ever run. (My previous longest run was nearly 10 miles.)
Miles 1-7 were good and smooth. I was in a groove and, at an average pace of 10'0"/mi, I felt like Super Woman.
Then it got hot. And hard.
And as it got hard, I started to think lots of thoughts. (Yes, some of them were about quitting.) So... here are 13 life thoughts about running 13.1 miles.
1. The people who say things like, "If you can run 8 miles or 9 miles, you can run 13 miles!" are what life-ruiners are made of. They're lying. #FightMe
2. Crowds are evil. (I was so through with crowds and ran on the outskirts for pretty much half of the half.)
3. A few encouraging people are all you need. Really. The hill at 9.5 miles kicked my ass. The hill at 10.5 miles tried to take me out. My headphones gave out at mile 11. At that point, I literally texted HEB to say, "Life hates me." But he texted things like, "Keep pushing" and "You got this" and "You're almost there." That's what kept me going. And the signs that people held up. Which bring me to my next point...
4. Signs are lifesavers. #BigSignsSaveLives
5. Hard does not mean impossible.
6. Slow progress is still progress. It got to the point where I really needed to slow down because the hills were trying to kill me. But I was still moving forward and I was still inching towards the 13.1 mile mark.
7. Focus on yourself and your goals because you are only in competition with yourself.
8. You don't have to be the strongest. You don't have to be the fastest. You just have to endure for a... little... while... longer.
9. Beginnings are beautiful and magical and what unicorns are made of.
10. Middles are rough and messy and murky and muddy.
11. There's an expiration date for things that are hard. When things got hard, I started to think of crossing the finish line and getting to that 13.1, or the metaphorical "expiration date." So whatever you're going through has an expiration date. Even if you can't yet see the finish line. Which brings me to my next point...
12. Finishes are glorious. It's up to you to push pass the messiness and murkiness and muddiness so that you can get to your glorious finish. #PointBlankPeriod
13. It's literally marathon, not a sprint. It took me 2 hours and 30 minutes, but I finished. And it felt damn good!
