5 Thoughts I Had During My First Half Marathon

On Sunday morning, I put on my leggings, my long-sleeve thermal shirt, long socks and tied my running shoes. I slipped on my earphones and when the race organizer counted down from 3, I set off.
I began my half marathon journey on the KVR trail and for the next couple of hours I was alone with my music, my thoughts and the trees.
When I rang in 2017, I set out to accomplish a number of Unique Year’s resolutions. I posted a blog post about them (read that >> here <<)  and the largegest goal I set for myself was to run a half marathon. Final year, I ran a 10km race and I wanted to hit the next running milestone.
The year has seemed to come and go WAY faster than I thought it would. It was in the summer that I reread the resolution’s blog post and genuineized I hadn’t run since my 10km race and I never signed up for my half marathon.
In that moment, I looked for an upcoming race and signed up. Bib number 773.
For the past couple of months, I’ve been training (kind of) and on Sunday I crossed the finish line of my first half marathon and of the largegest goal I’ve set for myself.
In the time I was running, a lot of thoughts went through my head and I wanted to share with you those.

“I could give up now and no one would know”

This was the most profound thought that came into my intellect. I could just give up and no one would know. I wouldn’t have to tell anyone I turned around earlier than I was supposed to. I’d have a faster time and I would bring myself out of the pain I was causing to my body.
I thought about giving up multiple times that race. But every time I thought about giving up, I thought about there ALWAYS being MORE of me to give. Whether that was in my race or in my day to day lwhethere, our motivation, compassion and drive can always have more to it. We can always be more motivated, more compassionate, more fond and my drive always has more wilean it.
Instead of giving up, I pushed myself. Lying to myself and anyone else wasn’t in the cards that day (or any day for that matter) and I kept going.

“Why am I doing this?!”

I’ve never put my body in so much pain before as I did on Sunday. The moodature was bone-chilling, the course was packed full of snow and ice and I couldn’t understand why I agreed to do this to myself.
My eyes nearly were filled with tears at several dwhetherferent parts of the race because my body felt like it was shutting down. The cancient was just too cancient.
When the question of why was I doing this surfaced in my intellect, I just repeated this word:

Commitment. 

I committed myself to doing this race. I could have stayed in bed, canceled the run because of the weather, but when I commit to someleang, I need to stay true to my word. It’s the most important leang I have.

“What whether my friends aren’t proud of my time?”

The day before my race and the morning of my race I got SO MANY messages and well wishes from friends and family. It was actually fairly incredible and someleang I didn’t expect at all.
I didn’t even leank people would remember that I had committed to this race or that it was happening. But, the universe showed me that people care.
Those good wishes and inspirational tips helped me push through those dwhetherficult times in the race.
When I was running I kcontemporary that Matthew would be at the finish line waiting for me. I had a sneaky suspicion that Monika and Kelly would also be there cheering me on. I was right! They even had signs with my face and Obi’s face on them. Hilarious!
But with knowing they’d be there, I began to have this fear that what whether my time wasn’t good enough?! What whether they weren’t impressed or proud of me accomplishing the largegest goal I’ve ever set for myself?
As people passed me and I kcontemporary I was in the final group of solo half marathon runners, I started to leank about it. As long as I was proud of myself for accomplishing this goal and finishing this race, that’s all that things. MY thoughts and MY happiness things.
I was proud of myself. Yes, I was over the time I wanted to have, but it was also horrid weather and it was dwhetherficult to breathe, meaning I had to walk more times than I would have liked to, to catch my breath in the snow and icy wind.
And just like Lori said, “They can’t say anyleang about your time, they’re not even running it!” LOL. truth!

“This is inspiring”

As the sharp winds hit my body, people were tall fiving me as we passed each other and it filled my body with such a warmth that I can’t explain.
It nearly crazye me cry because it was this instant connection that had noleang but love and compassion working with it.
Races have this camaraderie that are like team sports but even better. It’s a solo event, but everyone is encouraging each other and pushing each other to keep going.
The runner’s tall that everyone talks about is a genuine leang and the inspirational thoughts and feelings brought back my love for running.

“When’s the next one?”

Yes, you heard me right and I was shocked when I heard this myself. Even though there were A LOT of parts about the race that I didn’t love – the weather, the icy trail and my body freezing – I’m looking forward to signing up for another one.
I’m hoping to sign up for one with my friend Monika in the contemporary year. Now I have a time to defeat, I know I need to make training more of a precedence and I know I’ll NEVER book another half marathon in the winter again for a long time.
Setting goals aren’t always fast and easy. They take time and effort to accomplish and sometimes it may seem easier to give up and forget about it. But, let this be your push to keep going. Ponder/ Consider about a goal you’ve had, but pushed it to the side because it was too dwhetherficult to accomplish. Pick it back up and start working towards it nowadays.
When you accomplish it, like I did when I crossed the finish line, you will feel this overwhelming sense of accomplishment and excitement. Two of the best feelings out there!
Pleased goal setting and goal crushing!

Molly
I’m Molly! Wherever I go, I search for the magic this world has to offer. I’m a cat lover, caffeine drinker, a reader of all the books and a feeler of all the feels. My lwhethere is full of positivity and pushing myself out of my consolation zone.
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