13.1!

Surprisingly, checking things off of my list of 101 goals has been relatively easy the first three months, with the exception of the monthly tasks I set for myself.  I decided that instead of beating myself up about it, to give myself a pass for February (and possibly March) because our world has been a little upside down.  We've had a whole slew of visitors, all while having a lot of repairs done to the house and the entire inside painted.  It's been a mess to say the least, but things are starting to get back in order just in time for us to be out of town every weekend until May.  Awesome.

In my first update on the list, I'm excited to finally check off the half marathon.  It's something that I've been wanting to do for years, with no explanation besides I just want to, and I've started training two other times for it and chickened out.  For starters, I'm a terrible runner.  I'm really slow and I don't even particularly enjoy it.  That's kind of how I feel about a lot of things I'm not good at.  That's normal, right?  And training confirmed my belief that our bodies are not meant to run for that long.  Take a series of classes at the gym for three hours, sure, but run 13 miles straight, not a good idea.

My body rebelled on me for several weeks.  Having to stop several times mid run to have the runs if you know what I mean.  Throwing up post run on multiple occasions.  Migraines. Etc.   The only thing that felt good and could keep me from feeling will was to keep running.  Then somebody told me, "Hey doofus, you have to eat while you run."

Of course I didn't do a lot of research before I started my training.  It's running after all.  The easiest, cheapest form of exercise, right?  Wrong.

So I caved and bought a dumb looking water bottle fanny pack (or hydration belt for the runners out there) and stocked up on every flavor of goo and chew possible.  So everybody was right, those things really do work.  And don't taste that bad either.

Ready to get this thing over with but scared out of my mind.  Especially of the cold.

On a cold, cold March 9th morning (have I ever mentioned that I abhor being cold?!) I made my way to the start line and eventually to the finish line. 

My mom and Tom were excellent supporters and stopped to see me along the course to wave to me as I passed.  Of course, my mom was worried that I'd fallen and died or someone had kidnapped me because it took me so long to get to the nine mile mark.  Tom, knowing how slow I am, assured her I was okay.  And the best part, they got me lots of delicious, gluten free scones that I devoured quickly after the race because there was no food at the finish line.

                        

Did it!  And they couldn't even wait for me to take my silly-looking ear warmers off.  

So, in the end... I accomplished my goal -- I ran the whole thing without stopping or pooping on myself.  I was still really slow, but decided I'm faster than the person sitting on their couch.  I didn't catch the bug and still think it's silly to pay $70 to run when I can just do that on my own. The day before the race, though, I did find myself thinking about doing a full marathon but concluded that "ain't nobody got time for that."  If I did ever do it again though, I might try to actually improve my time.