I Did It! I Did It! I Did It! Yay!

I signed up for the Melissa's Half Marathon way back in February and set to training right away. Progress was going well until my long runs hit about 7 km and then my achilles tendon started acting up. I visited a physiotherapist who started working on my very messed-up right leg and told me to cut the running down drastically. I still had the half marathon in sight, but it was starting to look doubtful. Then I went away on my trip. I ran on the first morning, and that was it. When I got back I had good intentions but depression sucked most of my energy out, so 22 kms was out of the question. As of early last week I still wasn't sure if I'd run at all, but I figured I'd give the 10 km a shot. The nice thing about having originally signed up for the 22 km is that it made 10 km seem like nothing at all.

On Saturday morning I slapped on my tights and strapped on my running shoes and away I went. I had heard nasty things about the hill up Tunnel Mountain but fortunately it happens within the first 2 km. I managed to make it to the top and then took my time running back down so I could regain my breath and energy. By the time I made it to the 8 km mark I realized 2 things: 1) I had never run this far before, and 2) I was going to make it! At the 9 km mark I checked my time and figured that if I ran fast I could finish in less than an hour. So I poured it on and finished with a time of 59:24! I really had no goals beyond maybe finishing without having to walk. I am just so proud that I managed to do it, and I did it for me. I had an ear-to-ear grin for the last 2 km.