Journey of a hundred miles

Back in December, I decided I wanted to run a half-marathon. Since then, several people have asked why in the world I would want to run that far. I don't really have a good answer for them either, other than it's on my list of things to do before I die. By the way, so is winning the lottery . . . :)


When you set out to train for a half-marathon, which is 13.1 miles for those of you asking, you don't really know what you're getting into. In the beginning you're all excited and pumped up for this huge accomplishment. I had never run more than 3 miles before so what on earth made me think I could actually run 13 is beyond me. I had some serious training to do.

Part of that training was a 5K that I ran with my friend Crystal Pistol in February (that's not her real last name but it's so fun to say that I can't resist). You would have thought that Mother Nature would have smiled down on us and at least warmed up a bit. But no, on race day, it was cold (35 degrees cold) and wet . . . not rainy per se, but it drizzled . . . non-stop. It. sucked but our outfits were cute, so at least we had that going for us.

Next up was a 10K in March. Now around here in March, the weather is a crap-shoot. It could snow, it could be hot, there could be a tornado even. Thankfully it was sunny and relatively warm. But I had never run 6 miles before and Crystal Pistol has this thing about a big finish; you have to SPRINT to the finish line, AFTER you've already dragged your fluffy butt through 6 miles. I literally thought I might toss my cookies, which the winner of the race actually did. There is a saying that when you run these races, you 'leave it all on the road.' Well he definitely left it all on the road . . . and on the curb . . . and in the bushes.

Now, I have to say that I've learned a lot by training for this half-marathon. There are definitely 'good run days' and 'bad run days.' There were days that I felt like a Rock Star (cue the Rocky music) and could run from here to California. Then, there were other days in which I wanted to sit down and cry after only a mile. Seriously. We choose the Country Music Marathon & Half-Marathon in Nashville, TN. It's part of the Rock N Roll Marathon Series so race day, however, turned out to be a BLAST. It's hard to have a bad time when you're surrounded by 40,000 people. There was music and food and vendors. It was like a really big party except you're really exhausted at the end. But we loved it! There are all kinds of people at these races . . . big ones, small ones, pregnant ladies, people in costume, even a blind guy. When you see a blind guy cross a finish line after running 26 miles, can you really cry about how much you miss your couch and your twinkies?

Since I started training I've run approximately 175 miles and burned approximately 20,000 calories.You'd think I'd be smaller than when I started but no . . . baby still got back.