Kaizen Girl : I Ran A Half Marathon

I started running back around 2005 when after moving back to the Houston area, I began enjoying all (unhealthy) aspects of Texas restaurants I missed. Texas food can be done healthy...I just didn't care at the time. We walked into a Bed, Bath & Beyond and found the section with scales. Out of curiosity, I weighed myself and found myself in shock...207 lbs!! I had never in my life weighed anything close to that! Anyway, that led to a Y membership which led to discovery of a treadmill...

That eventually led to a couple of 5Ks, including one at a Half/Marathon event. I made it my goal to finish a half! I ran my first half marathon in 2007 and followed it up with a few more. Then in 2012, I stopped running. Between 2012 - 2016, I just wasn't very active. I had spouts, but that was frequently interrupted with pregnancies or caring for kiddos. In October 2016, I finally ran my first considerable race...a 10 miler...at about a 14:30 minute mile. It was so slow I constantly feared I'd be escorted off the road by police opening streets back up. It didn't happen. I finished within the allowed time. I was on a mission from then on though. I had already signed up for today's half, The Woodlands Half Marathon. All of January and February, I pushed my pace. I had to beat a 14 minute mile. I also signed up to run the Houston full in January 2018 and knew there was no way I'd be able to run that at my current pace. I began hitting 13:30, 12:45 and even 10:30 in single mile speed drills. I was so nervous about today's half but the goal was just to finish before they opened the streets.

Well, I'm proud to announce I maintained a pace below 13 minutes most of the way! I kept it under 12:30 the entire first half. I eventually slowed to above 13 minutes but pushed it back except for the the final two miles. I have a long way to go before I am consistently below a 10:30 mile for long distances (my pre marathon goal). It all feels so much more attainable now though...and the mental buy-in is about 80% of my battle.

There was a major hiccup as I approached my corral today. My headphones (Beats wireless) would NOT TURN ON!!

I wanted to cry. It occurred to me someone around me may have a spare set, so I just began (pleasantly) hollering, "Does anyone have headphones I can borrow?"

I got sympathetic looks but no headphones. One old curmudgeon actually said as he walked by, "You're not supposed to use headphones." Right then another man walked up behind him. He looked down at his and said I could use his!!!! We agreed to meet up after the race to trade back. So grateful for Sue (who also ran the half) and her husband Blayne for letting me borrow headphones. I'm no running purist...music keeps me moving!

I'm so proud of my body for pushing through...even as I sit at a restaurant typing this waiting for my family and having my legs cramp like crazy!!

I can only get better!!