13.1 miles. Ran it.

The run was awesome. We ran the first 8 at a 12:40 average pace. It was so easy that we literally held a conversation 95% of the time. There were people cheering for us frequently along the route with encouraging signs and smiling faces from the start line all the way to the finish. By mile 8, I could feel it in my legs that I really needed to run my own pace. My friend told me to go on ahead, she would finish in her time.

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It was so freeing and really enjoyable to just stretch out my legs and go. I cheered loudly for myself at each mile marker and no one thought I was being silly. I honestly wouldn’t have cared if they did.

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My husband saw me off, caught me again around 9 miles, and then was waiting at the finish line for me. He was SO supportive and has been this whole time. He really trusts me that I will slow down and read my body accordingly just as the doctor told me to do. I averaged 10:40 min/mile for the last 5 miles.

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I’m not fatigued from this event at all. Took a bit for my tummy to handle food, but a few smoothies after the race helped that. I woke up feeling great today, minus a few sore toes. That is all because of the 3.5 months of training I did for it. I built up slowly. I would never recommend waking up and trying to run 13 miles. I started with a goal of running 2 miles without stopping.

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My dad asked me WHY I wanted to do this run. I knew my body was capable of this with the proper gradual training and overall, my physical and mental health benefited from the training and goal. I did this for me. I am being faced with a disease that is new to me and new to them. I am not sure what the path will be. It could be negligible. I will do everything in my power to make any “hiccups” as smooth as possible. The best way to keep this machine moving is to make sure I’m keeping all the parts moving and greased. 🙂 You will all have to learn to trust me on this.

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My motto from day 1 of this has been: “I can do all things through Jesus Christ who strengthens me.” — Philippians 4:13

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Love to you — J