Houston Half Marathon

In May of 2012, I signed up for the Houston Half Marathon for January of 2013.  I had really enjoyed the 2012 race as was ready to do another and I had even seen some pregnant women running the full marathon the year before, so I thought that I could do the half easily.  Well, being a pregnant diabetic was a little more work than I thought that it would be.  Although I kept running, I was not running very long distances and the amount that I had to check my blood sugar and levels that I had to keep it at were not conducive to the half, so my doctor told me I couldn't run it (which was honestly kind of a relief to hear).  So my big belly and I deferred my entry to the 2014 race.

After having Sadie, I wasn't cleared to run until 6 weeks after she was born.  I started off slow and easy (honestly slightly afraid my stitched from the c-section would rip open..haha..).  Luckily, they did not!  I think that starting running again after all that my body had been through would have been difficult, but starting all of this at the end of June in Houston added a new facet to it.  Once I got back into it though, running became my "me" time.   After Sadie turned 6 months, I was able to bring her along with me and I have enjoyed getting to introduce her to outside time and being active.

I planned out my training for the January race by adding 2 miles a month until I got up to 12 miles and running that distance a few times.  I was not able to run as many days a week to train, but that's okay!

Last Sunday, I finally got to run my race.  I felt about as nervous as I did for my first half.  I was running this distance in a race for the first time in 2 years, without a running partner and all of my training runs had been slow.

The weather was wonderful and thanks to full nights sleep from my little one, I felt rested.  I started off cautiously, afraid that I would be unable to finish or would have to walk.  

I ended up finishing in 1:52:35 and felt great.  I was exactly two minutes slower than 2 years and a baby ago.  I'll take it! Nine half marathons completed! Now I'm ready to sign up for the 10th!

I hate driving downtown and the road closures make me nervous, so I was SUPER early...like the 5th person in my corral

Nervous, but ready to run 

Finish time

 So excited to be finished!