So I ran another half marathon.

In hindsight: signing up for two of them within three weeks (never having done one before) was maybe not the best idea. Also in hindsight: donating blood the week leading up to the race probably didn’t help either.

Despite feeling burnt out and tired, I finished and I am reminded that I can do hard things.

It was cold that morning, and extremely foggy. My feet, hands, and ears were all numb when we started. In fact, I wasn’t able to feel my feet until around mile 5. That was uncomfortable. I also had no idea where we were for the first half of the course. Every now and then a landmark would suddenly loom in front of us and I would think, “Oh, we’re on the street by the mall,” or whatever. Weird. Water droplets kept forming on my eyelashes. That was weird too.

My friend Joanna and I ran together pretty much the whole way this time. My mile-by-mile breakdown is pretty simple:

Mile 5 – I can finally feel my feet.

Mile 5.5 – Short water break. Take off my outer jacket.

Mile 9.5 – I see my parents spectating and stop for a quick pic with my mom (above). Another water break and I eat an energy chew.

The rest of the way – I am pretty miserable with pain in my hips and legs.

Mile 11-ish – Turn on some music on my phone because it’s a long, boring stretch to the finish and I’m having trouble focusing on anything except the pain I’m in. The music actually worked though.

Being a smaller race (and in its first year), my family actually got to see me finish. My dad took the photo above of me crossing. It was a great moment to see Meredith sitting on David’s shoulders during the last few feet. She was watching all the runners with such an intense look of concentration!

As we were running, Joanna and I were comparing this race with the Aramco Houston Half we just did. I told her, “I am looking forward to seeing the kids at the end of this race.” She responded right away, “I’m looking forward to not running at the end of the race.” Amen.

So my total time was 2 hours 20 minutes, slightly slower than my last race, but I’m happy with it. I’m glad Katy (my town – it’s a suburb of Houston) has this race now, but the lack of spectators was sad and it could use a little more organization or signage at the finish.

I’m glad I’m done with half marathons for awhile. I’ll probably do another one, maybe next year, but for now I’m taking a week off and then going to revamp my fitness routine to include shorter runs and cross training. I’m definitely looking forward to doing some different things like yoga and strength. And I also can’t wait to have 2-3 hours of personal time back to myself each weekend!