13.1 (sweaty) miles later..

As I mentioned in a previous post, over Winter Break I went from running around 2 miles maybe 1-2 times a week to training full on for a half marathon! After finishing my New Year’s resolution of running 6 miles consecutively before the New Year even began, I figured it was time to take it to the next level – which is how I ended up running the Miami Half Marathon this past weekend!

The Miami Marathon takes place throughout downtown Miami and South Beach. As far as marathons go, the views are beautiful, the weather is perfect, and the route is fairly flat (what with south Florida being at sea level and all..). After training for a grand total of 3 weeks, which only included two long runs, I was pretty nervous about being able to finish the race. To make matters worse, in order to have some degree of accountability, I announced that I was running the Half widely and loudly to friends and family and acquaintances. I found myself waking up in the middle of weird nightmares where I overslept and missed the marathon, or had to run to the start of the marathon and then couldn’t finish the whole thing. The day finally arrived, with a bright and early wake up call at 5am in order to make it for the 6am start. I ran the Half with David, and we both arrived a little bleary eyed and with different goals in mind. Mine was to finish, regardless of time, while David aimed to beat his younger brother’s time at all costs. The Half began with Pitbull music playing, and I began my 13 mile trek with Mr 305 cheering me on!

The energy of the crowds was so inspiring that I found myself hitting a pace much faster than my training! There were fans with messages like “Done faster if you Run faster”, and Donald Trump punching bags to inspire the race participants to finish. Around mile 6 I realized that I could finish with a decent time and with that realization I put my head down and pressed on. I only hit one slump around mile 9 where I was running up a causeway with pretty substantial wind in my face – at that moment I remembered a man I had seen during the first mile. He was fairly overweight and had a sign that read “If I can finish a half, so can you”. He was wearing his medal from a previous year, and with that memory in mind I again pressed on! I picked up my pace for the last .1 mile to finish with a final time of 2:20. I was pretty happy with this time, considering the short training period!

This half marathon was a huge lesson for me on how important it is to make the mental decision to finish, no matter what. The human body is capable of so much, if we can only stop telling ourselves “we can’t do it”. I never thought I would be able to run more than 5 consecutive miles in my life –  but now I’m already signed up for my next half marathon! This upcoming May I will be running in the New River Half, which is purported to be one of the most beautiful marathons on the East Coast. This one has a few more hills than Miami, but I’m excited for a new physical and mental challenge.