Half Marathon: The Payoff

It took 3 months to prepare for, and 2 hours, 13 minutes and 41 seconds to complete.

Katie and I ran in the Fort-4-Fitness Half Marathon Saturday in downtown Fort Wayne. If you've been following the training log then you know how long and hard we've been working to get ourselves to this point.

Going into the race, neither of us was sure we would be able to make it the whole way without stopping to walk. We ran a 15K race on Labor Day and both needed several walk breaks. Neither of us had ever run more than 10 miles without walking. But, somehow we did it. We didn't walk and finished strong.

I finished at 2:13:41 and Katie finished at 2:13:42. We ran a 10:13/mile pace. I was the 919th overall finisher, the 550th male finisher and the 102nd male in the 30-34 year old division. Katie was the 920th overall finisher, the 370th female and the 76th female in the 30-34 year old division.

Our friends, Craig and Jill, also ran in the race and they did great! They finished together at 1:47:24 (a pace of 8:12/mile). I am so proud of them.

Now, it's time to look back at the last three months and to decide whether it was all worth it or not.

There is no doubt in my mind that the pros outweigh the cons in this scenario. Despite the fact that we had to sacrifice time, comfort and fun to complete the training, I would never go back and change it. The payoff is a sense of great accomplishment, better health, a free shirt and a medal!

Most people will never run a half marathon, and for good reason (it's hard!), but I'm glad I did it. I'm glad I finally committed to regular exercise and stuck with my commitment. I am going to keep running - probably not as much as I have these past 3 months, but enough to keep my fitness level high.

During the race, Katie and I both expressed our lack of desire to ever do a half marathon again, but now that the recovery process is starting, I think there's a chance we might do this again. I don't want to become a marathon runner, or even seek out half marathons to run, but I am going to participate in several shorter runs and may enter the Fort-4-Fitness Half Marathon again next year ... we'll see.

For now, it's one more day of recovery and then Wednesday it's back on the treadmill to start preparing for the Pilots 5K during Bethel College's Homecoming weekend.

Here's a picture of (from left) Katie, me, Craig and Jill after the race. Sorry for my toplessness - I threw away the shirt I was wearing at somewhere around Mile 5!