tic tac toe, 3 in a row!

This was my 3rd Half Marathon. My first was 2 summers ago when Sara and I decided to run the Nike Plus Women's Half Marathon. It was for nike plus users all over the world to run on a specific date wherever they were and then log it online through the nike plus website. It was a great experience that I'll never forget....all the pain and suffering toward the end. And FINISHING...wow! Etched in my memory. The next one was last summer, with Ruth running the "Freedom Half" (as we called it) in Texas and me in Colorado...Sarah ran it in Texas too, and Jessica all the way in China. I made us shirts. Also very memorable for me. This Freedom Half, Ruth has coached a whole group of gals to finish by walking, running, run/walking...I chose crawling. (joking, sort of)

The day was g.o.r.g.e.o.u.s. So, that wasn't the problem. You saw the pictures...the scenery wasn't the problem. My left hip (the one that has given me so much trouble) gave me fits and my right hip decided to cause trouble too. That was the problem. Sometimes, you just have to accept things the way they are and choose to be happy. I ran the first 7 + miles feeling strong for the first 5 before the hips really started to get very painful. My hips hurt in the first half I did too, but only at the end. They killed me in the Creede Mountain run last fall (12 miles up and back down the mountain), for the last 4 miles. Doable. I can manage pain for 4 miles, 2 miles....but this time it was looking like 6 miles and mostly downhill-very hard on knees and hips. So, I started to get really frustrated that I was already struggling so much. Then, I decided to get happy. I realized that my finish time was going to be awful no matter what I did, so I would insert lots of walking on those many downhills to make the journey a pleasant one. I stopped timing myself and admired God's creation instead. Can you believe God made my home so beautiful? Did you see those waterfalls? I'll try the distance again soon with more uphills and fewer downs. I'll work to strengthen my muscles in my hips and see if I can keep my SI joints that are moving too much causing the pain (that's what the doc and I think, anyway) in place. I'll keep learning and growing and moving....even if it's at a crawl.

Another interesting thing about this Half Marathon is that I'm not a very talented measurer. My hubby has altered all of our vehicles so much that they don't measure distance correctly with the odometer. My Nike Plus has proven fallible too. With those two measuring devices, I mapped out the 13.1. To shorten a long story, I thought I'd gone about 13.1 when I stopped. Sara offered to measure the distance with her car, and it turned out that I'd probably only gone around 12 miles. (a little more, but approximately 12) So, I jumped on the treadmill and ran 1.1 miles for the grand finale! (barefoot because I had a big blister and didn't want to put my feet back inside those shoes!) Too bad I didn't think to get a picture of that!

This time, not having a clue which mile was which, I'll divide my run into 3 parts. There was the first part when I was loving the day and feeling strong and good. There was the second part when I was miserable, not loving the day and feeling frustrated and weak. Then, there was the last part when I surrendered to reality and did what I needed to do to finish, loved the day again and accepted my weakness. I think I can find strength in that somehow.