I ran my first half-marathon this weekend in Austin. My goals were to finish and not get injured; I’m happy to say I accomplished both and finished under 2 hours.
From 2001 to 2010, I had probably run a total of 150 miles willingly. I like team sports and am not much for athletic activities that don’t involve a ball. But I felt like I wasn’t getting enough exercise, and running is an efficient and flexible way to work out. So in December 2010, I started looking at running as a critical part of the rest of my life.
In 2011, I ran about 400 miles. Nothing amazing, but more than I had done over the rest of my life combined. I always thought of running as a boring activity, but it was really my frustration with not being good at it. Once I learned to get over that, getting on the trail became much easier. I lost motivation in September or so (my running partner, Blake, moved out of state and it was a hot summer in Texas), so I signed up for a half-marathon to give me a good proximal goal to keep me going.
My old running partner was in town this weekend. We both ran the half. Not together, but we met up at the finish line. We thought it was interesting how people always look so happy afterwards in their pictures. We thought it would be funny to take a picture that reflected how most people’s bodies probably felt. That’s below.
I know people run marathons and ultramarathons, and ultraultrasupermarathons…but in 2010, if you told me I would run 13.1 miles one day, I would have said you’re crazy. A lot can change in 14 months.
