Outside Katrina’s Kitchen | My First Half Marathon

I ran my first half marathon. You can too. If you’ve been following In Katrina’s Kitchen on Instagram you are probably tired of seeing pictures of my running shoes. Here’s the story.

Well I did it. I ran 13.1 continuous miles. And I survived. This is a LONG post with lots of pictures if you’re into that sort of thing. If not then you can just scroll to the end for a $200 Albion Fit giveaway. There’s not a pop quiz at the end.

So many of you started this journey with me when I ran my first 5k race in May 2012. That was such a big deal for me. In my training for that race I remember laying in bed the night before I was supposed to run for 20 minutes. I was out-of-my-mind nervous and filled with self-doubt. I don’t like trying new things beyond my comfort zone. Imagine my surprise when I ran that 20 minutes without walking and went on in the coming weeks to run 3 miles!

I don’t know what happened to me this past February but I got this CRAZY idea to run a half marathon. I found a reasonable 12 week training plan, sent a text to my husband saying that I was going to need some extra me time, and I started running. I remember the confusion I felt when I heard people talking about long runs, race pace, tempo runs, intervals, and fuel belts. How and when was I supposed to hydrate? What is Gu? I need to consume calories while I’m running? What?! As I marked those days off of my schedule I looked at each weekend long run with doubt. Then came the day I had to put my money where my mouth was and register for the race. I think I was only up to about 5 miles at that point and I was still very emotional about the whole thing. I literally cried after I hit submit on that registration website. I was scared, and nervous, and beyond excited.

Could I run 6 miles? Could I run 8 miles? Surely I could not run 10 miles without stopping. I remember very specifically the day of my 7 mile training run. It was a horrible run. I looked down at my garmin watch at what I thought was surely the 6 mile mark and I hadn’t even hit 5 miles. I wanted to quit. I wanted to cry. I held back tears. I was mad at myself for thinking I could run 13 miles. I was mad at myself for being mad at myself. I was mad that it was 30° out and I was freezing cold but also sweating. Every runner talks to herself during runs and I had to tell myself the shut up. Just shut up. I had to shut myself up and move past that self doubt. I had made this choice and there was no way I was quitting now. I tried to think of training for this race as a gift to myself. I was giving myself the gift of running- a sport I actually love. I still felt pretty defeated at the end of that run but I came out a new person. I’ll be honest, the following week I was nervous to try and tackle 8 miles and I was messaging with my friend Cindy (daily!) for her running wisdom and inspiration. You know what? It was an amazing run and I never looked back. 

When I made the decision to train for a half marathon you can be sure all that anxiety came back along with a whole lot of WHAT IFs…

 

What if life gets too hectic and I can’t fit my runs in?

What if my knee acts up again like last Fall?

What if I can’t find babysitters to watch my kids during my long runs?

What if I don’t know what to eat or drink?

What if people laugh at me?

What if I wimp out and quit training?

What if I cry?

What if I’m too slow?

What if I need to use the bathroom?

What if I come in last place?

What if I can’t physically run my body for 10 miles?

For 11 miles?

For 12 miles?

For 13 miles?

What if I can’t finish the race?

 

But WHAT IF I CAN.

And I did!

 

 

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Albion Fit $200 Gift Card

This Giveaway is CLOSED. A winner has been chosen and the prize(s) have been fulfilled.

You can find the training plan I used and some other inspirational pins on my Run Katrina Run Pinterest Board.

 

Disclosure: I was not compensated for this post. Giveaway provided by Albion Fit.