Fitness Friday-Aramco Houston Half Marathon 2014

It was a great idea at 11 p.m. at nite.....my decision to participate in this year's Aramco Houston Half Marathon.  13.1 miles on Houston streets.

13.1
Thirteen Point One Miles
69, 168 feet
23,056 yards
21.08 kilometers
Half Marathon

Like I told you Monday it has been a hectic end to 2013, and I was not planning on running the half.  I did not sign up with the rest of my friends.  I was going to be a spectator.  But the opportunity was there for me to be able to join my friends and well the running bug got me.

I have ran a half marathon before, remember my 1st was the Hippity Roc.  Last year I had to run the Aramco Houston Half Marathon 2013 for my husband since he hurt his leg.  This year I got the opportunity to run for a friend in the Aramco Houston Half Marathon 2014.  But I had not trained, ran or thought about anything other than cheering on the sidelines at this run.  But because of a personal situation/decision I decided to do it.  Supporting my friends is always top on my book.  And since I had completed 2 others, I figured it could be done.  I did not know what I was getting myself into.  We also had another friend who was doing the half for the first time.  The 3 of us decided to do the half together.  2 veterans and a newbie.  We helped each other all along the race.  We stopped at the gatorade and water stations.  We took breaks along the way.  We ran/jogged and walk in intervals.  In the end we gave it all we had, and we crossed the finish line.  I got blisters on mile 4.  My knees started killing me mile 8.  By mile 12-13, I wanted it to be over so I stayed steady at my pace telling the girls I was the pacer.  They passed me up, caught up, we kept moving forward.  Each of us battled our own bodies.  We did it!

Afterwards we stretched, regained our composure, and waited for our friend to cross the Marathon 26.2 Mile Finish Line.  Each one of those miles was worth being able to wait for my best friend at the finish line.  

She is a #girlonfire !!!  She finished the marathon in 4 hrs 28 mins.  How awesome!  We are so happy for her and her accomplishment.

And of course, my accomplishment!

After the race we all were pretty pooped.  I could bearly walk with all my blisters on both feet.  I soak and laid on the couch for the rest of the day.  But my husband and I started talking about the half marathon, we realized that I have never ran the Aramco half marathons for myself.  Both times I did them tagged in for someone else.  My husband's favorite line to me is always, "Imagine if you would have trained?"  And that line stuck out to both of us.  Imagine if I did.  I know I can cross the finish line because I have, 3 times.  But imagine if I actually trained for the next one, what would my time be?  My 1st half marathon I really didn't know what I was doing, did not really train for that long of distance, and I set a PR for myself to beat next time around.

I am not ready to conquer the full marathon, but I will be working on my Half Marathon!  Wish me luck!  How about you?  Have you challenged yourself?  Do not knock it until you have tried it...trust me, best feeling ever.  So what is stopping you?

Baby steps, start with a walk.  So what 5K walk/fun run is in your area?