Half Marathon Accomplished

Okay, its a bit belated but here is my post on the marathon! Yes, I finished! Yes, I survived. Yes, it was a roller coaster of emotion. My sister Julie signed up the night before the race to run with me. No training at all! But she has run 4 marathons before and has always run at some point in her life. She was great, we ran the same pace the whole time. I was shooting for a 2 1/2 hour time for the 13.1 half marathon pace, but finished in 2 hours and 42 minutes. Not disappointed in the least considering it was 90 degrees and 90 percent humidity! Not bad! I only had one bad mile..the LAST ONE. I just kept running for my former self. The girl who could barely walk. I did it for her!

My only issue came when I started to worry excessively about Scott (hubby) who was running the whole marathon. He has had problems with knee pain and injuries and mental blocks about finishing the race. He wanted it so bad! I started to rally my sister and brother and told them we allhave tohelp him finish. And they did. My brother ran along side Scott for miles and so did Julie. And Scott finished too and got his medal! Phew!
My motto is now and forever "I am a warrior."

Photographic Proof!

Okay, here it is almost one week to the day after my first 5K race. It was a big moment as I mentioned here. I wanted to post this picture as photographic proof: couch potatoes do not have to stay couch potatoes!
(I still want to complain about MY HIPS after all this time.. Lordy, will I ever have that monkey off my back?)
Anyway, that's me running a race, for heaven's sake! Run Barb Run!

Barbara Runs A Race!?

OMG, the girl who sat out P.E. in school, the girl who read books through recess, the woman who could not walk to her own mailbox 16 months ago-- entered, ran and finished a 5K run today! I am absolutely astonished at myself! (Did I really just do that?) I ran 90% of the race, too. Allowed myself to walk for 10-15 seconds and kept going. Huffin' and puffin', but I finished! Scott slowed his pace to a jog to run with me. He was cheering me all the way. Good Man, that husband of mine.

This is how it happened: Scott came home last night and said, "I am going to sign up for the Santa Anita Derby Days 5K down at the mall." I asked when the race was he said, "Tomorrow morning." My first instinct was "Ugh, thats an early morning..." Since he had done this race one before, I said, "Cool." Then as I was walking out of the kitchen, something foreign came out of my mouth, "Maybe I can run it too?" WHAT? RUN? ME?

I work out with a trainer two days a week. But this trainer specializes in elderly people and those not functionally fit, so I do not feel very challenged usually. (I was VERY challenged at near 300 pounds!)

Am I sore? YES. Am I proud of myself? Hell,YES! As I ran, I kept thinking, "Do it for her..Do it for the 300 pound woman who was so sad but faked it all those years!"
I also kept saying,, "I may be almost 44, but I am NOT DEAD YET!" Not by a long shot.

I will post photographic proof of this event in a few days. I have to see it for myself to even believe I did it. :D