Boo-ya!!! First Half Marathon.......Best fight I've ever ha

Yesterday I completed my first half Marathon in 2 hrs 21 min. 37 sec. A WooHoo moment! My emotions had been running high all week, I was a bundle of nerves most of the week too! Thanks to some great support from wonderful friends here on MFP and at home I got the nerves under control and was able to enjoy Saturday and Sunday:)

I ran this race for Team In Training my honored teammate is a dear friend of mine Steve Cochrane. On a good day he feels like he has the flu, so I can't even i magine what a hard day feels like. Steve and his wife got their butts out of bed ay 4:00am on Sunday to come and Cheer me on. Steve wasn't feeling well:brokenheart: , so he stayed back in the hotel room and his wonderful wife took my kids to cheer me on.
During training I had been having ITBand challenges throughout my training, but have been strong the last 6 weeks, I was able to finish my long runs and not have any soreness. Yesterday, about 2.5 miles into the race someone cut me off mid-stride. When my left foot came down my ankle collapsed and pulled my ITBand. I immediately knew I was in trouble:ohwell: I thought ok push through hopeful as I run things will losen up and the pain will subside. At mile 3.5 I saw some friends and they lifted my spirits and distracted me with their cheers:) By 4.5 miles I had to take a walk break, but after walking for a minute the pain seemed better so I started running again. The pain started increasing steadily and at mile 7 I stopped, walked and put some performance pain reliever on. That carried me to about the 9 mile marked. At this point I felt like I had a knife in my knee it hurt to walk and it hurt to run. I stopped stretched and balled. Then I remembered Steve had drug his but out of bed at 4:00am that morning, he wasn't feeling well and I can't fathom the pain he faces on a dialy basis. I decided if I was running the race in his honor I should truly honor him, so I began to run, at mile 9.5 I saw his wife and my kids, by far the best moment of the race and exactly what I needed. I stopped for some quick hugs and was plenty inspired to finish the race. I walked two other times and then pushed through the last mile of the race, which btw was uphill, brutal, I saw two friends a 1/2 mile before the finish and I crossed the line upright and running:) Best fight I've ever had with myself!

Being a part of Team In Training was absolutley amazing. The dinner on Saturday night was incredible. I am so proud to say that my life will never be the same. The strength and the positive outlook that everyone at TNT has, changed me and will stay with me for all of my days! They are all an inspiration. Crossing the finish line was a great feeling, but sharing this experiece with wonderful teammates and truly amazing friends made this an experience of a life time!!! As a wise man once said, Boo-Ya!!! :flowerforyou:

If you don't run, but you have a friend that does, cheer them on, seeing a friendly face on the course really makes all the difference in how you feel.

So I definitely want to race again, hopefully my next race I'll see some fellow MFPers:bigsmile: