Rock on!

What happened after months of training, stressing, recovering, and staying disciplined when I lined up at the starting line?  I completed my first official half marathon yesterday.  I am ecstatic!  No, you cannot believe the emotional surge this physical activity has given me.  It is truly amazing.
It might be understandable considering the amount of time and energy I really expended trying to get to that starting line.  It has been a long and hard journey.  It has also been eye-opening and fun and exhilarating.  I didn't realize when I began that it would pay off with such personal rewards but it has more than exceeded any expectations I might have had going into it.
I believe I handled the last week leading up to it fairly well.  I started out with a few pitfalls that were no one's fault.  Information that was being given to me became an overload.  It was too much, too late, too different from the ways I had proven to myself would work.  I wanted to take in the information but needed to filter it to align with the ways I had been doing them all along.  I had to separate these different ways from the ways  that I had already proven would work for me. My feeling of initial confidence was being overwhelmed and I found myself needing to avoid subjecting myself to the qualms it might instill in me so close to what I had worked so hard for.  I couldn't allow any doubts to shake me at that point and I was lucky enough to realize it.  I could mull through all the doubts of whether I had trained enough or if I had tapered too early many, many times over but instead I found myself dismissing the thoughts.  I was determined.  I wasn't going to be stopped by myself or these thoughts.
After ignoring most weather reports for the entire week I found myself the day before the race very excited.  The weather of course could have been a major meltdown for me.  It has been in the past.  Perfectly beautiful weather seems to happen during the entire time you train but race day weather seems to become cold, wet, and weary.  It doesn't help to check the reports because they change hourly.  I am not exaggerating.  Please take this from someone who has made the past mistakes of watching the forecasts too closely.  I don't know why weathermen become terrorists a week before the race, but they do.  There was an article mid-week saying the weather would be 42 degrees and raining on race day.  Ugly man.  Obviously a runner terrorist.  The weather was 53 and fine.  Why are weathermen continually wrong at their job and get to keep them?  I don't know of another profession that would allow that.  But no matter, I got past the weather.  I didn't check it and somehow I knew it wasn't going to be as bad as they said.  I had decided I was going to show up at that starting line no matter what.
The day of the race started early.  My alarm went off at 4:00am.  I needed to move.  I had not picked my running gear the night before and it didn't make a difference.  I didn't forget anything or feel rushed.  I was smiling inside already.  I got there with plenty of time.  It was exciting!  So many people, so many runners!  We were huddled together waiting in our respective "corrals" as they call them waiting to start.  7:15am the first corral gets to go...but I was in corral 21.  As they moved each corral up, we waited our turn to start.  We waited and waited and waited.  It seemed we waited longer than the months of training we had just gone through.  But soon enough it was time to go.  It felt great!  It was wonderful.  I started up and never looked back.  I was able to keep an even pace the entire time and was amazed at how good I still felt half way through.  Not just good but great.  I kept going, I kept enjoying, I kept thinking of everyone who ever gave me an encouraging word even if they never knew they had given it to me.  The last two miles I knew my legs were getting a little stiff.  I was feeling the pad under my right foot.  I think it is the place where I am getting a callous over a callous.  No matter, I plugged away and before I thought it ever ever possible I crossed a finish line for a half marathon.
A half marathon.  I never knew.  But I did.
I did.  I rocked it and myself. It was an experience that proved itself to be well worth the physical and mental work I somehow managed to put into it.
I am still amazed!
TT