half marathon training

Although I don’t have an official bucket list, there are some things I keep in mind that I’d like to accomplish by certain stages in my life. For instance, I wanted to attend school outside my native Zimbabwe, for at least a couple of years…I wanted to learn how to braid hair just because the girls who knew how just seemed so cool!…etc

Well, I can’t remember when the first time I heard and comprehended the term, “marathon,” was, but completing a marathon just struck me as a worthwhile endeavor. Hmmm, I thought, I’d do it by the age of 30! Ha.

Thirty’s here and I haven’t run a marathon yet. BUT, I’m surprisingly on my way 🙂

The thought of 26.2 miles simply running seemed mind-numbing at first. With time though, I’ve come to appreciate the quietness and peacefulness of an early morning run (ahem…jog!). When you find that zone where your body’s movement produces a calmness that results in greater clarity of thought…

Today’s run was the longest I’ve ever done in my whole entire life. Yes, I think it’d be fair to say that. No, it wasn’t 26.2 -_- It was 8miles!

When my friend who coaches triathletes told me I had to do an 8miler today if I was to stand a chance of completing my half marathon in 2weeks, I didn’t believe I could do it. Eight miles? No way! Me? Whoa!

So I prayed for my run. Perhaps I should be a better Christian and pray for every run, but my run time is conversation with God time, so I never think to pray for the run since I’ll be praying during the run. Today though, I had to pray for the run – to ask God to work a miracle and help me do 8miles! I didn’t think I could do it. In fact, I was convinced I couldn’t (and that’s where the failure begins, right, in your mind).

A little over halfway through my run, God sent Kimmy to encourage me and we ran the second half together. Those last 4miles seemed to fly by. And although my body was/is tired, my mind was tip-top. God answered my prayer. He gave me the ability and assistance to finish, and exceed by 0.4miles, my work-out today!

The actual half marathon is going to be gruesome. And the work I have to put in to get ready will be arduous. But I’m encouraged by my experience today, that God will pull through for me! He always does.

If I can complete that half in two weeks, I’ll sign up for the full in October. That way I can say I ran a marathon when I was 30 🙂