13.1 Miles into a New Journey

My husband is a runner, a very serious runner, and if you've followed me for very long, you know this. I, on the other hand, have never had any desire to run, in fact, I HATE running, always have. Or at least I did. Right after Christmas I decided I was going to start walking. You know, that post-holiday I-need-to-get-my-butt-back-in-shape thing that we all do? So I strapped on my tennies and took off. Before I knew it, I was putting in some serious miles and was really enjoying myself. We've been blessed with a mild winter and in January alone I was able to walk 16 days for a total of just over 100 miles (go big or go home, that's my philosophy). Somewhere in there I decided that maybe I'd throw in a little bit of jogging, just to get my heart rate going and really burn some calories. Each time I went out, I jogged a little more and a little more and then one day I was cruising along and the little voice in my earbud said that I'd gone 6 miles. Without stopping. What? Is she nuts? (and by "she" I mean the voice who reports mileage to me through the RunKeeper app on my phone, not the crazy voices in my head, lol) There's no way I just did that. But I did and here's the best part...I didn't hate it. I had already committed to walking the half marathon at Cowtown, but that day I decided that maybe I'd jog some of it, too.

Sunday was the big day and I have to say, it was a total blast. I didn't quite finish in the time goal that I had set in my head, but I only missed it by a few minutes and I'm happy with that. I covered the distance, got a cool medal and a super cute shirt proclaiming me a half marathon "finisher" and was feeling pretty damn proud of myself. It turns out that you don't have to be fast to enjoy racing. That's a good thing too, because I'll never be very fast and I've got another race coming up in just 26 days. Yep, that's right, I'm going to do it again and if this 40 year old body will hold up, again and again after that. Derek's been incredibly supportive of my new little adventure, but I'm afraid now he's thinking that he may have created a monster. A pink-clad, Pearl-Izumi-shoe-loving, Athleta-obsessed running monster. Thanks babe, I just hope we can afford my new hobby.  ;)

Here is our official finisher pic taken after the race. Just for the record, those are not all 3 my beer cups, I only drank the two I was allotted and it was the best freaking Miller Lite I've EVER had. Derek ran the full marathon on Sunday and completely rocked it. He finished in a mere 3:49, which was his 2nd fastest marathon ever. I am SO proud of my guy, it was a great comeback after RR100.


And this is my pretty bling. It's actually the 4th of 5 medals that will create a star. Derek has all the others, I'm joining the party a bit late, but hey, at least I joined the party, right?