Half Marathon

This past weekend I completed one of my goals for the year; a half marathon. It was everything I thought it would be, scary, nerve racking, hard, tiring, exciting and so on. Six months ago when I began running I NEVER would have thought I would have this goal. I joined the running group because other friends were and thought it would be fun to have “girl time” on a Wednesday nights never thinking that I would enjoy it as much as I did. My goals kept getting bigger and bigger and by the time I knew it I wanted to do a ½ marathon.

I was nervous all day on Saturday. Hoping I didn’t over eat or eat the wrong thing because when you are a runner your stomach can do some weird things. The last thing I wanted during the race was to have to a) use a port a potty and b) use a port a potty to go #2! Saturday night I began to get all my stuff ready which made more nervous. I got in bed around 8 because I wanted to get plenty of rest. My alarm clock went off at 6am Sunday morning and I jumped out of bed ready. I was SO ready for this race. I am a true believer of the power of positive thinking. To me the race was mind of matter and I was 100% sure in my mind that I could do it. I got to the racing grounds about 30 minutes before so I could stretch really well. The most I had run was 10 miles so I wanted to make sure that extra 3 wouldn’t kill me. They asked us to start lining up, I seemed to be the only one without a partner but I wasn’t worried about it, I was ready. I plugged in my ear phones, turned up the music and began to run. I ran and ran my heart out. I didn’t stop once which was another goal of mine, I didn’t want to walk. Mile 12 came and I was totally exhausted, how my legs kept going I still don’t know but I got to the finish line with my mom and Kaela cheering me on and I did it! It was an amazing feeling of accomplishment, one that I will never forgot.

My stats aren’t the best but I didn’t run the race to be the best, I ran the race to prove to myself that I could do it. Here are my stats:

Ryan Flores's personal results:
Gun time: 2:32:36.7
Chip time: of 2:32:12.2
Pace per mile(based on chip time): 11:39
Age Group total finishers: 20
Age group place: 15
Age group percentile: 75
Total finishers: 355
Your place among total finishers: 308
Overall percentile: 87

Will I do another ½ marathon absolutely; maybe I can even beat my own time next time around. Now on to a bigger decision, to train for a full marathon or not to train for a full marathon?!