13.1 Miles - Run and Done (for today at least)

2013 Rock and Roll Half Marathon in the books

    This morning I made a trip to Tempe for the 10th Annual Rock and Roll Marathon. This year I decided to do the half instead of the full and it ended up being a very fun race. I love this event as it holds lots of great memories for me. It was the site of my first half marathon, my first full marathon, my first below freezing race (the year it was 18 degrees at the start...brrrr) and best of all, the site of my engagement to Mario... All great times for sure.
    This morning's race was really fun. The weather was PERFECT, the event well organized, the course fairly flat, and I felt really good the whole race. I ran a 2:20, not my fastest, but not too bad, and the new race course was really nice as it went through Papago and the Desert Botanical Gardens.
     My attitude towards running and racing has changed over the years, and I think for the better. While I am still very competitive and always train and race to do my very best, I have also come to grips with some of the limitations of my body. I am almost 48 years old, have had two knee surgeries and am honestly not built like a distance runner. On the other hand, I can still bust out 13.1 miles without walking, can still train and work on improving and enjoy the journey of getting there, still LOVE doing running event and triathlons, and love how my body feels after pushing it physically. While I used to stress over how well I would do in a race, I now am able to just enjoy the experience (yes, I still look at my watch A LOT, but it  now does not stress me out).
   I have to thank Mario for some of this change as he has been great about reminding me of why we train and race...if I start to stress about my speed, or lack thereof, he always makes some comment about "the prize money" he was counting on :)
    If you have ever thought about giving this running stuff a try, I say GO FOR IT. The experience is more than worth the effort and sacrifice. Besides, getting new shirts every so often is not too bad either.