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!
Hey Kris, since you struggled on the half-marathon, the prospect of getting through with more ease (and maybe even faster!) should be motivating enough for next year's goal... save the full Marathon for later, if Chuck Norris has never done it, you can give yourself another year, right? ;) however, as a mere Marathon "finisher" (4:30) i can confirm that simply going the distance is fulfilling enough... either way, looks like an exciting year for you! :-)
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