I remember my first half marathon very clearly- don’t we all?  I say this to make sure Belle soaks up every bit of the experience. One thing I know for sure is I wasn’t nearly as prepared as this woman is. She is ready to conquer the beast.

Belle contacted us back in May as a new runner looking to work her way up to her first half marathon.

Tomorrow morning, the show goes down. She absolutley dominated her most recent race which was a 10 miler just a few weeks ago. She ran the race so smart that her last mile was her fastest! Then she dominated an Oreo Brownie Blizzard like any real runner would. My kind of girl.

When we first started working with Belle her weekly average mileage was 10 miles and her longest run was 5 miles. To date she is constantly running 25 mile weeks with her longest run is 11 miles. It took some major confidence and hard work conuquering each new distance. She built slow and steady, avoiding injury and burnout and her day has finally come!

There is nothing better than going into a race knowing you are prepared. And that she is! 

Belle- enjoy every step tomorrow. Remember all of your hard work and how far you have come. Think about the runner you have evolved to and how strong you are right now. You have the endurance you need, and you are not only physically prepared but you are mentally prepared as well. Don’t forget that! Remember your strong words and use them during this race. 5 words. Pick them and make them your mantra. I like – strong, steady, confident, happy and power. You pick your words or use those, but get something positive engrained in you head!

GO GET EM Belle. Embrace this race…. you’ll never get to run your first half marathon again. With every step remember how much joy and peace this running thing has given you. We are proud of you.

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I guess it’s appropriate that I’m writing my very first blog about my very first half-marathon. I am the black sheep in a family of runners. The very last to run a big race, 13.1. I didn’t want to be the only one to say that I hadn’t done it, which is a big reason of why I ran. When I signed up several months before the race I had every intention of training and being totally prepared. Alas- my lack of motivation got the best of me and I ended up with almost zero training. I’m going to go ahead and advise this as the OPPOSITE of what you should do. It makes for a very long and difficult race, and a pretty miserable rest of the day.

Race day we were up bright and early. It was FREEZING and I wasn’t a happy camper but, once the sun came up it started to warm up a little bit. I met up with my friend, Chelsea, in our start corral. Coencidentally she had not trained either so we pretty much decided to stick together the whole race. Once we got going the first 6 or so miles were a breeze for me. Once we got past that point things started to change. It got hard, and easier, and hard…. back and forth. I found that it’s good to have a running buddy when you plan on pushing yourself…. because you can push each other. Our goal was to run the whole thing without stopping- even if we were running slow. And we did run slow towards the end, I remember thinking at one point that I feel like I look like an old woman. Weather conditions ended up being PERFECT for running. It rained just a little bit and it was overcast.

Near the end of the race I can’t tell you how much I wanted to stop and walk…. and if you are a runner yourself you KNOW that feeling. My knees hurt so bad, my stomach hurt and after a couple of hours you are just OVER IT. I think a huge thing that got me through towards the end was that I wanted to finish and be able to say that I did it and I ran the entire thing. So- I DID IT. I ran the entire race- crossing the finish line at 2 hours and 38 minutes. What a great feeling !! And although during the end of the race I swore I’d never do it again…. I think I might.

– Shelby

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