My First Half Marathon :)

There is something about running that is peaceful and natural.  Oftentimes it doesn’t start out that way.  It takes time to build up endurance, learn how to breathe and generally re-teach your body something that was instinctive at childhood.  Once you get past that hurdle, running can become the most rejuvenating and beautiful thing you can do for your body and for your soul.

Getting to this point for me took about 4 months or so.  After a vacation from running I picked it back up this summer as a method of stress relief.  The first few months were hard as I tried to figure out how to breathe and how to get back into shape.  It wasn’t until late September that I really hit my stride just right.  It was a nasty drizzly day in Houston when I took a 6 mi run through the streets with my iphone.  It kept jacking up and doing weird things so finally I got so fed up with it that I turned it off and ran with nothing to listen to except my own breathing.  I never took music with me again after that run. 

As I ran, my thoughts would wander and after the first mile I would slip into an almost trance-like state where breathing, moving and thinking just fell into place seamlessly.  I never thought I’d say it, but my long 1-2 hour runs that I thought I’d dread are therapeutic now.  It was with this mindset that I went into my half marathon race on Sunday morning. 

I woke up Sunday morning around 5:15am and slipped into my No Meat Athlete shirt that I nervously decided to wear. After checking the bag I lined up in the modest 17th corral, estimating a 11min mile. While standing in my corral I noticed quite a few people in red Team Beef shirts which only made me feel more awkward. Still, as we all inched toward the starting line, the excitement of the race began to overshadow my insecurities and soon enough it was just me and the road having it out…just like we’d been doing for many weeks. 


The race was put together really well. There were sufficient water stops, plenty of bands playing music, people standing around on the side lines and cheering everyone on...it really was quite a fun experience. The sheer amount of people racing on the road that day was really breath taking; it was literally a sea of people. Most races eventually thin out but not this one; I was constantly surrounded by people. It was incredibly encouraging to see so many people pushing their bodies to do amazing things.  It’s an individual sport at its most basic level but at the same time knowing how primal and natural it is for a person to run has the ability to connect people on a very basic level. 


I’ve been so inspired by the community and ambition of running that I honestly don’t believe I could ever give it up.  Bring on the next race J