Hey everyone, wow has it been a minute! I was thinking I'd post an update for anyone who's been curious or, I guess, needs some inspiration (I've been told I'm inspiring, I feel weird about that, but okay!) OG post here, and you can see the follow ups in my profile.

I did complete DriTri in September, and I cried like a baby after. As I anticipated, I was the last finisher, completing it in an hour and 20 minutes. My trainer hopped on the tread next to me and ran the last .1 of that 5k next to me, and we hugged standing there on the tread once I finished. It was really special to me. I worked my ass off to be able to do it in the first place, and I might be a turtle in the OTF world, but I completed it and that's what's important to me.

Since DriTri, I've fully shifted to half marathon training. I've developed an interval based training that I've been using and I hit a major milestone today, which is why I wanted to post an update. Guys, I ran 8 MILES today! 8 miles!

I was worried about this one - the last long run my training plan had me do was 5 miles, and now we were adding 3 more? Fml. I honestly wasn't sure how it would go. I don't know that I ever fully doubted myself, but I definitely felt the uncertainty of "I think I'm going to do it... but I don't know how I'm going to do it..." I discussed with my therapist on Tuesday who told me uncertainty is natural, maybe even a little bit of fear too. But self belief is everything. 

I talk to my dietitian on Wednesday and we game planned nutrition. 2 starches with dinner the night before, 96 oz of water to ensure hydration. I'd start my run day with Liquid IV and my fav source of sugar. Electrolytes (salt stick) would be consumed at 30 and 90 minutes (I estimated it would take me about 2 hours to complete the run). Sugar every 30 minutes. I felt good about all that.  

But, I was worried. I started tossing and turning around 4 AM, stressed about the run. I got up at 5 and put myself together while in a very questionable headspace. The saving grace of today's run was that one of my good friends agreed to do it with me. I hadn't heard from her last night, so I wasn't sure she was still in, but she pulled up right at 6 and I will be forever grateful for that. 

The first quarter mile felt good - I wish everything felt like the first quarter mile. I took it low and slow, not trying to hit my pacing targets because I knew we had a LONG way to go. After about 2 miles, I started finding my stride. By mile 3, I was chatty and starting to sing out loud out of amusement. By mile 4, I was solid and feeling good through each 4 minute run interval. Mile 5 was full of silliness. But with about 1.5 miles left, I started to tire. I could feel every muscle in my body, and I willed it to keep going, somehow still hitting pace targets once in a while. At mile 7, I was telling myself "One more. We've got one more to do. Something like 3 run intervals left. You're going to get this done." I had my visual check points to keep me going - Just past the boat launch, half a mile to go. Fitness playground, one quarter left. The bench there, sprint it in. And I finished that shit. 

My friend and I traded sweaty hugs, she having never run 8 miles and me only last doing this 10 years ago in the midst of a brutal eating disorder. I felt good, strong, capable. Exactly the way I needed to feel to keep going and really believe that a half marathon was going to be possible in my 300 lbs body - AND that I'd beat the pace requirement. The crazy part is my pace time was right on par with my 4 mile time. Consistency!

When I was deep in doubt about all of this on Tuesday, my best friend said this to me: "I’m convinced you are a beast, capable of just about anything." Sometimes, like today, I believe him.