Feelings from a year of "Personal Worsts"

I see the giant red numbers on the clock by the finish line. 02:14:4x My heart sinks and I know I haven't made it. Sub 2 hour is out the window. But no time to start the negative self-talk now (that'll come later), I have to dig deep and finish strong!

I lengthen my stride little by little to get myself into my usual finish line sprint and take a deep breath. Nothing. No air. I exhale quickly and try again. But again there's no air and I choke a bit, panicking. What is happening? What's up lungs?! My legs keep going and my arms keep pumping. I gasp and finally get a bit of much needed air. Ok. Small breaths work, keep doing small breaths.

02:14:54! Push! You can do this! You can cross under 02:15:00!!

Run a Half-Marathon: CHECK!

Personal goal of completing a half-marathon before my Masters graduation: DONE!

I'm writing this a week after the actual race day and I'm still feeling the runner's high from finishing my first half-marathon. :) I've been looking up races, checking out prices and thinking about my 2015 running goals. This is completely different from my approach to running this past year, where races were only semi-planned/something that I stumbled upon. But before I run off on a tangent (!!), I'll do a mini recap of my feelings on this race (my first "big city" race experience).

Race day outfit!

I'm Running My First Half-Marathon as a Charity Run!

2 month placement abroad, followed by a month long family vacation and I can truthfully say that I need to get back to the "world of the living". The amount of relaxing this summer was much appreciated, and I am now ready to find a new sense of direction. Those who know me well will know that I always like to be working towards a goal of some form. I can't stand to be unoccupied! Without classes (bye bye student life!) and still on the hunt for a job means that I'm in a limbo. My brain has needed the past month to recuperate and readjust to this new state of affairs, since it's something I've never experienced. Now I'm slowly regaining the motivation to move onto starting the next chapter of my life, starting with tackling some personal goals.

Before flying off on vacation, I buckled down and registered to run my first half-marathon. I did this so that I would not give myself any excuses to not do it and because I like signing up for things early so that I get to feel all the anticipation that comes with racing (oh, and because of early bird fees!). In fact, this half-marathon was on my mind for much of my vacation. As my running shoes walked around the other side of the world/country with me, my mind was gearing up for this new long distance that I've challenged myself with.