Holy Hot Hills ~ Queen Bee Training Day 1

I decided that I needed a purpose to write or I simply couldn't write.

Life hasn't been all that exciting, minus the SPARTAN race I did last Saturday.

I decided at the beginning of the year that this was MY year to conquer my fears.

To do and try things I once never thought I could.

To start really living.

To live with purpose.

To be intentional.

To be happy.

To smile and truly mean it.

So I conquered the SPARTAN...

And now I feel that it is FINALLY time to conquer something I have been talking about doing for over five years.

My first Half Marathon.

So I figured that I might as well document this experience.

How rewarding it will be to see where I started, and finally where I end.

So here we are.

Day 1:

Of course today started out crazy.

My youngest isn't feeling the greatest, so instead of getting my early morning run in, I was taking care of her and running us to the doctor.

The key here is to not let things that don't go as planned deter us.

Today is a hot one.

It could have been a lot worse, but I wish it would have been better.

I may, or may not, have tried talking myself out of even running the entire way there.

Honestly my goal today was just to finish the 3 miles and allow myself some grace.

I will be completely honest that I probably wasn't as hydrated as I should have been.

Especially for a race smack dab in the middle of the day.

Whoops!

We live and we learn.

This will definitely be a learning experience for me.

I honestly didn't drink enough because I am infamous for having to pee during my runs.

TMI maybe?

Sorry!

Having kids will do that to you and I know my body and I have to be conscious of this.

The last mile was iffy but I ended up making it through without too many issues.

This is why I like to run early.

You also don't realize how hilly a surface is until you run on it.

My sister-n-law's neighborhood seemed pretty flat until today :)

Mile 1:  Stopped once up a hill.  Watch said I was going around a 12 minute pace.  Smiling.

Mile 2:  I am thirsty, my side hurts, why am I doing this again?

Mile 3:  You are almost done!  You've got this!  Don't quit now!

Being fast has never been my strong suit.  I honestly don't have a goal time in mind.  I really just want to finish.

Here is my Nike Running Stats for the first 3 miles of this crazy journey I am about to take you on:

Not too bad considering I was scorching and dehydrated.

I don't think my water bottle could have been anymore accurate for today's run.

Tomorrow is an option day which means I can either run or cross-train on the program I am following.  Honestly I may do a little of both for at least a half hour.