Three Georgia Divas

After 12+ weeks of training, the day had finally come. Hard work, sweat, and tears (luckily no blood) all went in to preparing me for this day. I would cross another thing off My 50 List and I was pumped! I was running my first half marathon (The Diva Half) and doing it with two of my favorite people-my Momma & Tina (and 4500 other Divas--I fit right in)! In our matching neon pink tank tops and purple tutus, we were at the start line and ready to rock this thing! Around 7 a.m. we are off. Within the first mile, my calves were cramping and it didn't look good. I had no clue what was going on and I was frustrated. I had just ran a 10k the weekend before and this didn't happen. So, already, I was on the side walk stretching and trying to relax my body. Stretching didn't help much, so I had to run through the pain until I finally got in to my rhythm. By mile 3, I was doing good and I kept my pace until around mile 9. This was the farthest I had run while training, so anything beyond that point was unknown territory. I didn't know what my body would do, how it would feel, or what to expect. Through miles 10-12, I couldn't wait to see the water stations because I knew this meant I could walk and stretch (quickly). The last 4 miles were tough, especially mile 12. Being a straight away, it seemed to last f.o.r.e.v.e.r. It would've been so easy to give up and just walk the rest of the way, but I pushed myself to keep running, one foot in front of the other. Calves cramped, sides burning, heart tired, nauseas and thirsty, I kept silently repeating my mantra to myself "You are strong. You can do this. You're almost there. Keep pushing." At one point, I'm pretty sure I was saying this out loud to myself, but in a crowd full of women who are running 13.1, no one is looking at me like I'M crazy! It helped that towards the end, we were given tiaras and feather boas to wear as we finished the race! The finish line finally came, but after crossing, it wasn't the joyous, celebratory finish you would expect-at least not for me. I could lie and tell you I could've kept running, pretending to be in Olympic shape, but I'm just going to be honest. I was so exhausted and thirsty. My sides were burning so bad, it hurt to breath. I just wanted to sit lay on the ground, but I knew I needed to keep moving so my muscles didn't freeze up. My friends and family claim that I am the 'Drama Queen', but honestly I was in a lot of pain. I had just pushed my body further than it had ever gone and I was feeling it. I tried to enjoy the fact that we had just completed a half marathon and in all the pictures I put on a smile. I was very proud of what I had just done, I just couldn't jump around, laugh, and scream about it! The pain eventually subsided and my breathing returned to normal. I had finished in a better time (2:33:28) than the goal I had set for myself (2:45). As I look back on what I've done to get to this point and where I have come from in my running journey, I can't help but be proud of what I've done. Seriously, I used to dread 'the mile' in P.E. Who is this girl who runs a 5K like it's a warm-up?! I saw a quote that says, "You are so much stronger than you think you are" and it is SO true! If a mile is tough for you, start walking, take it one day at a time. If you want to do a 5k, work your way up to doing one. If it's something you really want to do, you will put your mind to it and make it happen! When you do that thing you thought was impossible, you will realize you are so much stronger than you think you are! I'm already planning for my next half. The trio is going to rock Savannah at the Rock n Roll Half in November. I have actually thought about doing a full marathon and I want to eventually do one-even if I crawl over the finish line. But right now, I want to get a few more halfs under my belt. I have completed my first half marathon and I have a sticker on my car to prove it!



I made it!



After. Everyone is pretending except me!



We did it!



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