Anyhow, I am going to see this thing through and try to get better at blogging. I know that this half-marathon is a big deal to me, so it would be nice to be able to look back on this blog and see how much I have accomplished once the race is over.
The last couple of weeks have been tough. Our family has had personal issues that have slowed my training down. For about 5 days I just stopped running because of all of the craziness that had been going on. The good news is that the past two weeks I have been back at it! I have to admit, that I am impressed with my progress.
It was hard around the 5-6 week mark. That's when all the personal struggles started that prevented me from running, but also I was in rut with my training. I didn't feel like I was getting anywhere. I had run a 7 mile long run and it was miserable. I was exhausted after only 4 miles. I began thinking to myself, "How I am going to make it 13 miles at this rate?" I was on the verge of giving up after running pretty consistently for months. With all the personal drama coming to head at about that same time I was feeling defeated. I knew that it would just be easy to drop out at that point.
My husband came to the rescue, as usual. He told me that he knew I could do it. He encouraged me to get back out there and start running again. It was really the last thing that I wanted to do at the time because of everything else going on, but I took his advice and hit the streets. He was right. I felt pretty good. I was surprised that my running hadn't suffered from taking almost a week off.
That entire first week back went pretty well actually. With every run I was surprised that I was feeling so strong. And then August 20th came. A day that I had not looked forward to for so long. I had put this off until the deadline. It was the last day to sign up for the half-marathon before the price would jump up twenty more dollars. I knew I had to do it, but all along I had given myself an out. I told myself that if I didn't feel ready then I could always just run the Zooma Half in November. That would give me another whole month of training...
So there I was on August 20th - the deadline I had made for myself, the $55.00 cut off for the half. I thought about signing up several times throughout the day, but always managed to find something else to do. I figured I'd wait till I got home to ask David what he thought about me just post-poning and signing up for the later race. Inside though I knew that I didn't want to do the Zooma. Number one, I didn't want to run in November - its too damn cold to be running 13 miles. And number two, I was annoyed that at the end of the race they gave you a "finisher's necklace" and not an actual metal like other halfs. Even a girl who ran the zooma and later blogged about it felt like the necklace wasn't what she'd expected:
The blog also mentioned that the "perks" at the zooma were not very good. The only thing I did like about that race was the course - which starts at Atlantic Station and runs through downtown Atlanta. The route passes World of Coke, Centennial Olympic Park, Phillips Arena, the Georgia Dome, the Olympic Torch and runs under the Olympic Rings. That sounded cooler to me than the race course for the 13.1 in October -which was in Brookhaven - boring! (sorry, my Brookhaven buddies!). I liked the idea of running through the city with all tall buildings surrounding me and running under the Olympic rings. Well, that's what I told myself. I made it all seem so logical. I wasn't feeling ready for October and this race would give another month of training and a better course to run.
When I got home that night I told David about my new plans. He was not having it. He told me I would be ready by October to run the 13.1 and that I needed to just sign up for it. He said that this was the race I'd wanted to do the entire time and questioned me about wanting to change races all the sudden. "The zooma is so much better because of the great course through town." I explained. "What's the big deal about running through the city?" he asked. He reminded me that I'd already run races in the city twice over the summer. "Not through downtown though!" I told him.
He wasn't convinced. "What is really going on?" he asked. I finally told him that I didn't think that I was ready -that after that week off I thought I was behind in my training. He told me that I WAS ready and that I could definitely do it. Besides, I still had 7 weeks of training left. I showed him the details about the Zooma race and then he saw the finisher's necklace. "You don't want that when you finish your first half marathon Ashley - you want a MEDAL!"
"Yeah...." I knew that I did want that medal, not a cheesy necklace that I'd never wear. "Stick to your original plan" he said. "You got this!"
He'd convinced me. Not just because of the metal - (although I can't wait to have that around my neck), but because this is what I'd planned to do all along. He was right. With a little hesitation still left I told him I'd do it after dinner. So after dinner we sat at the computer together and I watched as he filled out my entry form. I have to admit that I was excited and a little nervous. After all the forms were filled out I saw the mouse hovering over the submit button..."here we go!" he said. My stomach started to hurt. And then he did it - "submit" - the confirmation page came up. I was officially entered. He hugged me and told me he was proud of me. Then I knew I had to it. Not just for me, but for him too. I knew right then how happy I was feeling and how even happier I'm going to feel when he'll hug me and tell me that very same thing when I cross the finish line in October.
So there it is. It's official. October 4, 2009 I will run my first half-marathon. 13.1 miles of running. Walking is not an option. Holy crap!
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