13.1

Hey Everyone,

The half-marathon is over! It was a fun experience & I definitely want to do another one again. I want to get into the gym to lift, get stronger, and work on speed work to beat my time from this run. I finished the half-marathon in 2:58. I was expecting to finish between 2:30 and 3hrs. The race was fine for the first 6.5 and then I could feel my feet, legs, back, etc. Around 10 miles, I was like, OK 4 to go - this isn't that bad. I kept talking little walk breaks which almost made things worse because suddenly you can feel every ache in your body.

I met these two girls from the Santa Cruz team on the course because we kept passing/catching up to one another. We ran together the last few miles and even ran across the finish together. My coach, Joe, was on the course at around the 12.8 mark and ran me in. It was good to have someone to just keep your mind off the last few steps. Running over that finish line felt really amazing though. When I hit the 12 mile mark, I thought 'I cant believe I'm doing this' and again at 13, I thought 'I can't believe I just did this'. Right now, my knees and ankles are killing me but I will be fine in a day or so. Plus, the pain I am feeling now is a lot less painful than the chemo the cancer patients I ran for, feel. This woman had a shirt on the course that said "Think running a half-marathon is hard? Try Chemo". How's that for motivation!?

I have come a long way from the team run back in February where I was astounded I was able to run 4 miles. Doing my first Half with a team was also a great way to run. I had so much training and support. It was really a great experience. I will be back next year!

So - what is next? Keep running. I feel like I have made it a part of my life and don't want to stop. Plus, I've worked so hard to get to this point, I am not going to waste it. Erik and I have already signed up for an 8K next Sunday. At this point, a 5 mile race seems like a walk in the park! I am going to sign up for the San Jose Rock N' Roll Half-Marathon in October, too.

While running, I didn't have any thoughts of 'I want to do a full marathon' however, in the back of my mind - something is saying 'Eventually you will do one'

I also want to give a huge shout out and THANK YOU to Erik. Without him, I probably wouldn't have done this. He supported me the entire time when I left him home with Evie while I had team runs, track workouts, core class, etc. He rushed home to let Evie out so that I could go to my workouts. He was by my side during the 12K back in March and was waiting at the finish today. So, THANK YOU Erik for supporting me and being with me through all of this!!!

I'll post some pictures when I get them!