Before I start this post, I just want to say that I didn’t not train enough for this half marathon. It is best to train before actually completing a run.

So, I ran a half marathon last Sunday. The longest run I did before running it was 7.5 miles. That is a little more than half the distance for the 13.1 mile run. My goal was to finish within 2 hours and 30 minutes, which I accomplished.

The first five miles of the run went pretty well, considering I didn’t train well. I averaged between 10 minute to 10:30 pace. I say that because I stopped to walk twice to drink water from the water stations. The first four miles was along a long stretch close to the freeway.

After mile 5, I started having a hard time running consistently for even 10 minutes. I kept walking and running the rest of the time. My calves started cramping around mile 6. It went towards a walking trail, up an overpass over the freeway, into a neighborhood, and then it went towards another trail. It was meant to make it a more scenic route.

There was one lady that I kept cheering on since we were about the same pace, with the walking and running. She had run a different half marathon (the Shamrock) a few weeks prior. We kept up with each other from around mile 7 until mile 12.5, where I ended up passing her completely.

It was sad because my uncle, who runs a lot of the races with me,  passed me around mile 10-11. He kept telling me to run and to try the jelly beans he had given me. I never tried jelly beans during a run so I didn’t try them. I ended up drinking some Gatorade at mile 12 at on of the water/fluid stations. I didn’t train much for this half marathon and I knew he would eventually pass me and get ahead of me. He beat me by a few minutes. He waited for me at the finish line.

In the end, I am happy that I finished running it. It really challenged me. My boyfriend was also at the finish line waiting for me. I love him so much. He told me that he could tell that I was in pain (extremely tired) at the end. We went to Freebirds World Burrito after where I devoured a monster chicken burrito. Then, I took a two hour nap when I got back home. It felt amazing.

My time was 2 hours 28 minutes and 50 seconds. My leg were extremely sore a few days after. It was a pain going down the stairs. But, either way, it was a great experience to run. I’ll be doing more of the local runs, including a lot of 10 Ks. I will talk more about them as the events come up.

Have you ran a half marathon before? 

If so, what was your experience running it?