Confessions

I have to confess...I've been eating chocolate without exercise.

I've been out of commission this week since the 1/2. Every step I take I feel my knee. I'm starting to reconsider if it was all worth it.....nah, it totally was. I limped for two days and am now walking reasonably normal, but it still hurts and is keeping me from being as active as I want. I tried to bike this afternoon.....

See why? Imagine how disappointed I was when 5 blocks in I decided to turn around because I decided it wasn't a good idea to ignore my body. And you know what else I'm guilty of? Not stretching as much as I should. I just researched how to cure a bum knee, and of course, stretching is the cure. Is it just that stretching is boring so I don't want to do it? Or is it that ouch-is-this-really-supposed-to-feel-good sensation I always seem to have? I suppose I can't complain about my knee when I'm not doing everything I can to help it along.....I guess I'll substitute my bike ride with some basic quad, hammy, and IT band stretches....and a little bit of chocolate. :)

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Yesterday morning my alarm clock rang at 5:00am. And yes, I willingly got up at 5:00am....willingly in the sense that if I didn't get up, the only person that would be disappointed would have been me...and maybe my running buddy....not willingly in the sense that I felt perky.

No. I never feel perky at 5:00am.

The only thing that drew me out of bed at that ungodly hour yesterday was this.

I had been waiting for this day for awhile. Actually, probably for about a month and a half when I found a half marathon training program online and got to work. And yesterday, it all paid off. Let me tell you about the race. First of all, I was nervous....not for the distance as you might expect, but for my knee. This is the first time I've ever had any sort of pain when exercising, and in training leading up to the race it wasn't getting any better. It was about 3 weeks before the race and I was out for my 10 mile run on a Saturday afternoon. Mile 8 rolled around and my knee started to hurt. It kind of took me off guard. What? My knee? No way. By mile 10 I was limping along. My next attempted run it acted up at mile 6, and then again on the following run at mile 3. See why I was nervous? I wasn't liking the trend. So I stopped in my local running shop and got one of these.

It's wrapped right above the knee to lessen the impact on your knee cap from your IT band. Needless to say, for the two weeks before the race I didn't train tapered.

The race day finally came. There were TONS of racers.

And the course was absolutely beautiful, up and down the river. I had my brace in hand as my running buddy and I entered the corral. We started at the back of the pack and before we knew it, we were off. The first few miles were great -- I felt good, the adrenaline was still pumping, and I was having fun looking at people's cute running outfits....and then it happened. Between mile 2 and 3 the pain came. I'm going to ruin the story right now and spill the beans that I finished. I wasn't sure if I could finish until I reached mile 7. It hurt -- I mean it really hurt. I actually never ended up putting on the brace. I wasn't sure if it ever really helped during training, so even though it stayed in my hand the whole 13 miles, it was nice to have something to squeeze every time I felt a shot of pain. And I probably looked ridiculous, because I realized that the less I bent my knee, the better it felt. Just call me the hobbit runner.

I think the only reason I was able to (children, don't try this at home) push through the pain, was because of my running buddy being right beside me the whole time (thank you Emilie!) and the cheer squads along the way. Really, race-supporters, you make all the difference. Seriously. I love the bells. I love the cheers. and I love the signs. Here were a couple of my favorite signs.

Run like you stole something.

Where is everybody going?

Getting up early to make this sign wasn't easy either.

Pain is temporary. Pride is forever.

You trained longer for this than Kim Kardashian was married.

....just to name a few. So, I have accomplished a half marathon. Check.....now what?

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