Can I consider running two half marathons in less than a month, like running a full marathon? No? I didn’t think so.
This has been a HUGE accomplishment for me, I would have never dreamed of running a half marathon, much less 2 in a month. My 1st half marathon was the Rock-n-Fly on March 21st, 2015 on NAS Pensacola. I was super excited but also way nervous about running it. Why was I nervous, because I wasn’t has prepared as I had wanted to be. Reading between the lines, I really didn’t train as much as I should have. But race weekend was here and I was going to make it as fun as possible.
Since it was a Rock theme, my Phat Girlz and I all dressed up. Nothing like procrastinating and waiting until the night before to figure out what we were going to wear. But I totally went for the 80’s theme, bright colors and side pony tail. It was an amazing race day, there was a water stop with rock music at every mile, there was even a bacon station at mile 2, cause everyone loves bacon.
At around mile 6 I was getting tired, my foot hurt and I was ready to be done. I really wanted to quit, earlier in the week I had been talking to one of my besties about how I usually hit a wall around mile 6. I had it and I was done. I was about to send her a text saying 6 miles done, 7 left and then I noticed something ahead of me.
My friend Mary had ran to the side to take a picture with some people and I just figured she really liked their signs. Then I realized who it was and I almost burst into tears, it was my 2 best friends and her daughter. They had made signs and walked out to the spot where they knew I had said I always hit my wall. Got my second wind and kept going.
I finished the race in 2:53, under the 3 hr mark I had wanted to. Then we all went out and celebrated. I couldn’t have asked for a better race day and friends to share it with. 
Which brings me to this last weekend and my 2nd half marathon. There were about 30 of us from SBL that were running the Biggest Loser half marathon/5K in Mobile, Alabama.
Again was a little nervous about this race, why because I only ran once in between races. I know, I know I’ve got to get better at keeping up with my training. My friend Amber had told me to keep with her, she was running intervals 3min run and 1min walk at a 11:30 pace. We all started out, I kept up for the 1st 2 miles and then fell behind. Then out of the corner of my eye, I noticed the 11:30 pacer guy running past me, I thought nope I can’t let him get in front of me. So for the next few miles I kept up with them. Didn’t stop running.
Around mile 7 I hit that wall again and slowed down. My foot was hurting, I had lost my running buddies and I was DONE. I rounded a corner and at the water stop was my friend Melaina there. I gave her a big hug, she poured water all down my back and say Don’t stop now, you’re ahead of the pack. She gave me my second wind and I ran the rest of the way to the finish line.
I finished in 2:39, I had cut 14 minutes off my time. But that was so NOT the highlight of my day. I went back out to find my friends and encourage them to their finish line. I found my best friend and got to run in with her, I got to run in with my amazing new friend Daysha, then ran in with 4 more amazing friends, and the list goes on.
My SBL group is the BEST thing in my life & I learned so much about friendship and no person gets left behind. This is my family, my people and the world needs more encouraging people in it. We cheered each other on and cried together when we finished it was an emotional day.
This is how all my races will be from now on, finishing and then helping others get to their finish line. People say running isn’t a “team” sport, but Sunday I learned what a team really is. I proud of all my friends this weekend, we were the largest team there and we will also be DOMINATING at the Women’s Only Triathlon in July.
Always,
AngieB.
