This morning Brad and I ran in the Kansas City Waddell and Reed Half Marathon!
Here you have the before…
…and the after!
Happy faces. Tired legs.
Apparently my “I’m getting ready to run for a long time” and my “I just ran for a long time” pose are the same.
Pretty sweet medal!
Seeing all the Royals blue fountains throughout the race was really fun! I’ll always remember the year I ran a half marathon when the Royals were in the World Series!
For those of you that knew me in high school or even early college remember me as mediocre to less than average when it came to athleticism. I played sports, but that was mostly because my friends played sports so that’s what I wanted to do even though my talents lied more in the arts. High schoolers.
I’ve always been able to run at least a mile, but running was always something that I thought I just couldn’t do. “I’m just not a runner,” I told myself. I even did track and field for two years, but I shied away from running events and stuck to jumps and pole vault.
Then in college I started running a little further than I normally dared. I stepped off the treadmill and tried the track. Then I ventured outside of my comfort zone and took to the road. My running really began to pick up when Brad and I started dating.
After we got married I thought I was still just a 5k runner. A half marathon seemed like something completely out of my reach. Then about a year and a half ago Brad decided to train for a half marathon. I opted not to do it with him, but I’d cheer him on and help him train!
Throughout the course of his training, I inadvertently increased my endurance just by joining in on his runs. By the time he ran his race I had gotten up to 6 miles without even training. I figured I’d made it halfway, so I could make it 13.1 if I tried!
To be honest, we did not train like we should have for this race! We only ran 2-3 times a week and didn’t go any cross-training. We’re terrible runners! Part of me can’t believe we actually did it!
But we did. We went all 13.1 without stopping or walking! We are so thankful for all of our friends and family that encouraged us during our training and prayed for our race!
One half marathon down, and I’m sure there will be many more in our future.
One Little Bird Blog 