I Eat Half Marathons For Breakfast

I ran the Philadelphia ING Rock N Roll half marathon this past Sunday. That's right, we're a week into the season, and I pulled off 13.1 miles. How did this happen, you ask? I'm not entirely sure myself, but here's what I got so far:

I registered for this race several months ago, because I liked the timing and Nicole was moving to Philly for grad school so we decided to run it together (by "run it together", I mean run the same race at drastically different paces). As race day grew nearer, I'd planned to increase my mileage and frequency of runs, but given the record-setting heat NY experienced this summer and my lack of brain cells, I didn't train at all for this bad boy. Up until the train ride down to Philly I wasn't actually sure I was going to go through with the race, figuring I would hurt myself or not be able to finish.

Well, I ran that race, I didn't hurt myself, and I finished strong! I wanted to take it nice and easy, do a little jog through the streets of Philly, and have a good time. Somehow that's exactly what ended up happening, despite my complete lack of preparation. What I gathered from that race experience is three-fold:

1. Racing is very temperamental... no matter what you do (or don't do) to prepare, there's no guarantee you're going to have a good or bad race
2. A flat course is a gift from God
3. I am in much better shape than I give myself credit for

I think #3 is the most important thing. I have come bananas far since I first started running on the reg. I went from aiming to finish a 10K last year to being able to run a half marathon more or less on a whim. Who am I?!? I am so much stronger and more capable than I think I am.

At the end of the race I was feeling pretty awesome, enjoying the beautiful Philly weather and taking silly pics at the top of the art museum steps (a la Rocky). It was the best I've felt after a race, no question, and I was just feeling the happy when I saw a girl with a t-shirt that said "There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up." I could not agree more, and it was the perfect way to end the perfect race.