Wow, I did it!!! I successfully ran 21.1 km!!! During the run I remember thinking back to the summer of 2008 when I joined a gym and refused to run on the treadmills because I hated running. When I was forced to run I went for about 10 mins before wanting to cry. What a long way I have come! Over the next two years I have successfully increased my endurance levels to my middle goal of 21.1 km. Whats next? The full marathon baby.
I won't lie - the half-marathon was tough. Previous to this run the longest I had run at one time was 16 km. I was unsure on race day how the race would go. I ran the first 10 km very comfortably and was looking forward to the next 10 km. This was fine until I hit the 16 km mark. This is when I started to lose steam and when I really slowed down. By 18km it was almost agony. Why weren't my legs moving faster when I told them too?? My legs felt like steel drums that took all my concentration and energy to move up and down. At 20 km I didn't care whether I finished or not anymore, I just wanted to stop running. I saw someone with a sign saying, "Chuck Norris never ran marathons" this made me smile and gave me the last little bit of energy I could muster to finish the 1.1 km. When I crossed the finish line I wanted to cry, sleep, and sit down. I tried walking and stumbled. I felt drunk. After running for 2 hours and 2 mins it felt weird to suddenly not be moving. However, I was hooked. My next goal is to run the half - marathon faster with the ultimate goal of finishing a marathon. The winter will provide me training time and next spring I will come out ready to go!
Results: http://www.sportstats.ca/display-results.php?racecode=47247&first=KRISTIN&last=DAWSON&city=MONTREAL
1) Finishing an Olympic distance triathlon (Ottawa June, 2010 time: 3:06.47)
2) Raising enough money to do the Ride to Conquer Cancer (and finishing it!)
3) Finishing a half-marathon (Toronto Oct, 2010 time: 2:02.37)
I am conflicted on what I should work on next season. The choice is to maintain the current distance and improve speed, OR, increase distance with the goal of just finishing. I will be honest, both the Olympic distance tri and the half-marathon took a lot out of me. If I want to increase distance events I will need to step up training time (a lot). Increasing distance is attractive to me because it is always a constant struggle between body and mind. Can I finish this? Am I willing to push through?? Repeating something you have already accomplished is a little less motivating, but being faster and stronger always makes one feel better. I will put some thought into this and decide over our long, dark, cold winter.
Bye for now!
