But, all the early mornings of training and hard work with the long runs along the river paid off. Today, I finished another half marathon; this time without injury. It was a good feeling to walk past the medic tent and I actually breathed a sigh of relief thinking about where I was a year ago.
There has been lots of change in the last year. This time last year I was limping through our new house that was still under construction. And this year, rather than getting ready for a long drive back to Saskatoon after the half, I was driving a short distance to our new house. We have settled nicely into our house and will soon be even more settled with all the yard work that is well underway.
I recently came across a quote that said, "It is not what you get in achieving your goals, but who you become in the process." I feel that over this past year, I have learned so much more about myself and who I am with the goals I have set, including some of the fitness goals I set for myself. I was training hard and hoping to complete this half in 2:00. But, as the run got closer, I learned the importance of striving for my goals but I also learned not to be so hard on myself when falling slightly short. Learning that and growing is in part due to the great friends that I have who encourage and support me. And, I was reminded last week that although it is good to have those goals, that I should be proud that I am even getting out there and running. It is all a matter of perspective and it was good to be reminded of that perspective again. I do believe that when you work hard toward goals, you do grow so much in the process. And it is so important to keep setting goals and working toward achieving them, even when you have had setbacks. Don't let who you were talk you out of who you are becoming.
Today I ran the half marathon! Today I ran and I was blessed to be able to run! The fabulous weather with blue skies and sunshine was a blessing. I was blessed by the many volunteers who make this event happen in Calgary each year. I was blessed by the people along the route who were there to encourage. I was blessed by the signs I saw along the way. I think the funniest sign was, "This is a lot of hard work for a free banana." That one made me laugh out loud. I was blessed by the music, especially since my music cut out around the 15K point of my run. I was blessed by the start of the run as we are all running crowded together and all you can hear as we are passing through the Stampede grounds is the sound of feet hitting the pavement - it truly is a cool sound. I was blessed by the feeling of camaraderie of running with so many other runners, all at different levels but with the same goal of finishing the race before them. I was blessed by my friends, Nichole and Rachel who I train with, who encourage me and who ran the race with me today. I am so blessed to be able to share this experience with them. I was blessed by the post-race breakfast with Nichole at Cora. I was blessed to nap when I got home in a quiet house as Jaret had ball practice. And I was blessed by the love from the kids who made me cute little encouragement signs to congratulate me on my run.
My official time for 21.1K was 2:05:23 which is slightly faster than last year when I finished with a time of 2:11:53. With this run behind me, I will continue to keep running with my sights set on the half that I am running with Rachel mid-August in Vancouver. And who knows what other runs I might register for!
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