Feeling Good

The big day came and went. I completed my first(possibly my last) half marathon 13.1 miles of pounding bones and joints against the pavement. It was a great experience. The shot gun start was a little frustrating, not like the triathlons where you get assigned heats for your start. I felt really strong for the first eight miles. The next two miles I still felt good, but after the tenth mile it was torturous. Then came the eleventh mile (only two miles to go), I had nothing left. I was basically a robot going through the motions to finish. My feet hurt, my knees hurt, my hip hurt. I pushed on to the last mile. Man, that mile felt like two. I swear it went on forever. Crossing the finish line, the clock read 1:57:30. The shock filled my system and my body didn't hurt so much anymore. I couldn't believe it I made it under 2 hours. Of course, then I start to think I could have ran a little faster at the end, but like I said I had nothing left at the time. It was a great accomplishment for my own little personal goal and I won't have to run another half marathon again.

The next day I was pretty sore, but it was a good sore. It was hard to jump out of the starting gate from a sitting position, but as the next day came it got easier.

Now three days later, I find myself feeling really good. The only analogy I can come up with is giving birth. While going through labor, you feel pain (that's until they give you my all time favorite drug the epidural) and think how the hell will you ever get through pushing a child the size of a watermelon out a hole the size of a lemon. After the baby is born and everyone is healthy and filled with the bountiful love and joy of a new born baby, you tell yourself it wasn't so bad, I could do it again. Maybe not tomorrow or next week, but in the future I can definitely do it again.

So maybe I will do another half marathon next year.