A Goal Getting Story: The Novant Health Charlotte Half Marathon

Not really sure how my legs are holding me up in this photo because I definitely grabbed a chocolate milk and banana and collapsed in a sunny spot on the grass about 3.5 seconds later. But y'all, I have never been prouder of myself.

November 3, 2018 is a day that I had so many things to be grateful for in my gratitude journal. That is a day for the history books of my life.

Last weekend I ran a half marathon. And let's talk about goals for a hot second. Two months ago, half marathon wasn't even on the bucket list or dream board or anything else. Then about a month and a half ago, I got the crazy idea that I might like to run Disney and texted a friend. He told me to sign up for the Charlotte Half Marathon and I did.

So with six weeks to train, I took to the internet to find a plan. I found a month long one I liked, tweaked it to span over 6 week, and got to work.

I ran 4 days a week. I ran by myself in the cold, in the dark, in the rain. I ran without telling anyone what I was doing. I ran for me. To prove to myself that I could. Then I went to Instagram and took to my stories for some accountability. And y'all that community knows how to show up for you. Ask and you shall receive. Thank you #last90days.

The goal transformed from "just finish the race without dying" to "do it in under 3 hours." But ever the overachiever, I knew that deep down I wanted to finish in two and a half. That was going to require a lot of effort and discipline on my part.

I trained. I cross trained. I ran the hills, even when I didn't want to. I ran on the treadmill, which is the worst. I boxed 5 days a week. I found solace in the elliptical, which was my cardio of choice in college. I ran. And then I ran some more.

The morning of the race, my stomach was in knots and I was just coming off a 2 day fever. Most of my family and friends had no idea that I was running a half marathon ever, let alone on this particular day. I wanted to prove to myself that I could do this for me. That it wasn't about anyone else.

I found a pacer with sparkly Minnie Mouse ears, I believe her name was Tracy. Her marathon pace time was 5 hours. So I figured if I stuck with her, I could meet my goal of 2:30. But knew that if I had to fall back I'd still likely finish in under 3 hours. I stuck with her through the first 5 miles and felt good about it. Then there was a dreadful hill and she slowed her pace.... I knew if I slowed my pace, I wasn't going to keep running. And if I stopped running, I might not start again. So I forced myself to keep going. To follow the footsteps of the other runners. To keep moving to the beat of the music in my ears. To keep going despite the little voice in my head saying "I'm tired."

Around mile 8, I told myself I'd be proud with anything. Because 8 miles was the furthest any of my training runs had taken me. Mostly because I skipped the 10 mile training run to go see a friend in South Carolina. I regret nothing.

Around mile 10, I started counting. I kept telling myself you only have a 5k left to run. You only have x amount of time left. Mile 11, you've never run this far before but think of how many miles you've already done, what is 2 more. Y'all the inner-dialogue and the people standing on the streets in the cold cheering, are the only things that kept me moving. And then, fight song by Rachel Platten came on and I saw the sign for mile 12. 1.1 miles left, my low back was screaming, I'm not sure I felt my legs anymore, my nose was running, but I kept going. 1.1 miles. That's 4 laps around the track at Eastern. You can do this.

That last .1 miles, I ran with everything I had left in me. I was determined not to let that clock read 2:15. It read 2:14:56 when I crossed. That was the gun time. My time actually came back as 2:13:05.

I have never felt so accomplished in my life. Not only had I met my recently discovered goal of completing a half marathon, but I crushed my goal of finishing in under 2:30.

All this to say that you can do hard things. You can go after your goals, even the ones you aren't aware of yet. Keep moving forward! And maybe train for me than 6 weeks when running the biggest race of your life 😉

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