It’s Almost Over

Here we are, only two days away from the Cox Providence Half Marathon! After five months of training and running my little heart out, I finally feel ready. I know that I will be able to run 13.1 miles on Sunday and not feel like dying once I cross the finish line. I can’t wait for that victorious feeling to sink in, that I, not a runner girl, just ran half of a marathon.

Me and my running buddy, Jess, who’s running the half marathon with me on Sunday.

Whenever I used to hear about or see people running any sort of long distance, I used to think, “they must be a runner and it just comes naturally for them.” You know by now that this is not the case for me, not even a little bit. Running has always been something that eluded me for the longest time. I would try, maybe too hard, and end up suffering from a day-long asthma attack. I would get discouraged and never want to run again. Heck, I was on the track team in high school and taught myself how to throw the javelin just to get out of running a two mile warm-up around the surrounding neighborhoods!

When I competed in the triathlon two summers ago, I had to run a 5k. The day of the race, I had never run further than 3.1 miles. Coming to think of it, even after my Halloween 5k and my Thanksgiving 5k, I had never run further. It wasn’t until I set my sights on this race that I ever mustered up the courage to run even 4 miles. I know it sounds cliché but if I can put one sneaker in front of the other and run a half marathon, so. can. you. All you have to do is be patient and start slow. Don’t set out for a run your first time.  Do the couch to 5k plan first, it will build up a great base for further distances.

Coldest day of.my.life. The HoBooKen 5k on Halloween weekend when we had a freak snow storm.

So here’s the thing…despite the fact that I’ve run four races and am about to run 13.1 miles, I still don’t consider myself a “runner".” Weird, right? I can’t bring myself to raise my hand in yoga class when the instructor asks if there are any runners in the class. Maybe it’s because I don’t really have plans for any more serious races after this. I guess I think that “real” runners are always looking for the next big race or competition. Sure, I’m doing a local 5k in June and potentially a mud run in July, but I don’t have plans to ever do another distance past a 10k. Maybe the running bug will bite me during the half, but I just don’t see it happening. I didn’t ever wake up on a Sunday morning excited for the miles ahead of me (unless they ended with a big breakfast and mimosas ). Don’t get me wrong, I still plan on running once this is over. I have big plans to become much faster with a couch to 10k plan, which I’ll share later. I am really proud of myself for building up this endurance and I don’t ever want to lose it and be back to where I was 3 years ago.

For now, that’s all I have to ramble on about . I will be back on Monday with my last Rhode Scholar blogging ambassador post about how the race went. Wish me luck!