Three Things Thursday (mostly wordless edition)

Proof:

Determination

 

Is often a result of motivation:

Somewhere around mile 7? or 9?

 

Because the finish line is so sweet:

Sweet relief

Rebirth

I did the Shamrock Half Marathon on Sunday.  Yeah – you read that correctly.  The half.  I started it and I finished it.  For the first time, I signed up for it and I finished it.  I’d only signed up twice before – each time to chicken out of the start.  To come up with one excuse (too much EMS) or another (marriage / life falling apart, therefore must not do the only thing that keeps me sane, but rather be home to be taken over the coals whenever convienent).  But damn, this time it’s different.

I was more concerned about how cold I was at the start than whether or not I could or would finish.  I ran with Chris – my boyfriend – and he ran with me the entire time.  He’d trained better than I had for the run.  Combination of exhaustion, screwed up ankle, knees, hip flexors and back – oh and the new job that has me hauling from 0700 every day meant that some days when I’d get home from work, I had nothing left in the tank.  But Chris said that ‘we started the race together and we will finish this race together’.  Granted, I’d bugged him every mile from around mile 3 forward to leave – to go run the race he’d trained for. But he stayed right by my side. 

After two straight up suck-tastic years, I finally feel like I’m on solid footing again. 

Chris and I have embarked on an incredibly ambitious and exciting training program.  We have races  that we’re going to do, races that we’re kicking around doing and races that are on the ‘damn, wouldn’t that be cool’ list. 

Here’s the current race schedule  – through October…but we’ve got races we’re thinking about for 2012…

Current Race Schedule:



March

Shamrock Half Marathon        Virginia Beach (0700, 20 Mar-Sun)  DONE!!!!

Wounded Warrior 5K              Virginia Beach (0900, 26 Mar-Sat)

April

 

May

Muddy Buddy 6.5                   Richmond (0700, 1 May-Sun)

Williamsburg Half Marathon   Williamsburg (0730, 22 May-Sun)

 

June

Breezy Point Sprint Tri                        Norfolk (0800, 5 Jun-Sun)

 

July

Allen Stone Run/Swim/Run     Virginia Beach (0730, 16 Jul-Sat)

 

August

Mud Run 8k                            Little Creek (0800, 13 Aug-Sat)

 

September

Rock & Roll Half Marathon    Virginia Beach (0700, 3 Sep-Sun)

 

October

Army 10 Miler                         DC (0800, 9 Oct-Sun)

Newport Marathon                   Newport (0800, 16 Oct-Sun)