Here We Go Again...Training for Half #3

Three weeks in and nine more to go.

Can I be honest? Had I not signed up for this race at last year's expo for a discounted rate I might not be running. I may have looked into changing to the 10k, but I'm not a quitter, so ready or not, here it comes.

For every race I've done I always pick a theme song to encourage me during training. The song for my first half was "Let It Go."

"The fears that once controlled me, can't get to me at all."

For last year's Rock N Roll  half it was "The Middle" by Jimmy Eat World.

"Just try your best, try everything you can. It just takes some time, little girl, you're in the middle of the ride. Everything will be just fine."

This year's theme is (drumroll please) "The Climb." (yes from Miley Cyrus...well pre-foam finger Miley that is. And mom please don't google that)

In order to re-motivate myself I had to return to the excitement I felt last year at the expo when I signed up. Revisit why I'm doing this and why I want to. Maybe you need a reminder too. If you're scared. I've been there. Heck, I'm there right now. You can do it though. We can do it.

I can almost see it: that dream I'm dreaming: but there's a voice inside my head saying you'll never reach it.

It took seven years after running my first 5k to get enough courage to run a half marathon. The biggest thing that changed my mind was when I saw the New York City marathon two years ago. I saw runners who looked like me, who ran like me. I thought, "Maybe I could do that too."

Always gonna be an uphill battle

This is the first race I'm training for while working full-time and I'm exhausted.  I also didn't know that I'd still be working to take half of the 20 pounds that crept on my body after being diagnosed with Hashimoto's disease and polyocystic ovarian syndrome* last September and January.

The first ten always come off easier than the last ten, don't they? And can I just say we should all give ourselves more grace about our weight and how we look. More grace for not looking like supermodels who have been retouched in magazines, who have money for trainers, stylists and makeup artists. More grace for those who fight health issues, or who are working hard to get their pre-pregnancy bodies back.  Grace for accepting our bodies where they are today and not where they were a year ago or where we want them to be next year.

Ain't about how fast I get there.

I was always the last one to finish the mile in high school gym class. I was the slowest in college tennis conditioning. I used to be so scared if people found out how long it takes me to run a half marathon that they would disqualify me as not being a real runner.

It takes me about 2hours and 50min to 3 hours to run 13.1 miles. That's about a 13:00-13:30 min/mile pace.

You may be faster, you might be slower.  If you're scared you'll be the last one to finish, don't be. You are a runner the minute you decide you want to be.

The struggles I'm facing, the chances I'm taking, Sometimes might knock me down, but I'm not breaking.

I took a nasty spill last fall during my training. There was construction going one of the roads and when I turned to cross the road my toe caught the edge of the pavement and down I went in slow motion.

Life can feel like that sometimes. Everything is going well and out of left field, something knocks you off your feet.

Get up, keep going, you will be okay. We can't always control what happens to us, but we can control our attitude.  

Keep movin', Keep climbin', Keep the faith...Keep your faith.

Last March, I crossed the finish line for my first half marathon. 

I remember passing the 11th mile mark and being ready to call it quits. 

I was freezing! It was cold and rainy, my clothes were soaking wet. It was a smaller race and almost all of the runners had already finished. 

I was scared I wasn’t going to make the three hour time limit.

I prayed, “God if I’m going to finish this,  You’re going to have to help me, because I cannot do it alone.”

And with one foot in front of the other, I crossed that finish line.

When the time came a few weeks later for us to give Chris' company an answer about moving 3000 miles across the country into Vancouver, Canada,  again I prayed “God if we’re going to do this, You’re going to have see us through because we cannot do it alone.”

*There's a lot of information on the Internet about these illnesses. So much in fact that when I was first diagnosed my doctor told me to stay off of the Internet. Because of her advice and because I frankly don't want to reveal everything about my life on the Internet, I'm not going to go in depth on my treatment plans or my diet advice, etc.  However if have found yourself recently diagnosed with these illnesses and want to talk about it. I'm happy to do so, off line.