Goal Achieved

Yesterday I met my goal for the 1/2 marathon I ran. I wanted to run in under two hours and my official time was 1:58:afew seconds. I am very grateful that I was able to reach this goal and I absolutely could not have done it without my Heavenly Father's help.

Sure I had the training under my belt and was feeling mostly confident in my training. But I had a couple of things beyond my control that were stacked against me. First, the last few long training runs resulted in a foot injury. On these runs, my foot started hurting pretty bad around mile 6 or so. The pain was such that there were a couple of times I wasn't sure I would finish the training run. Second, the pesky monthly clock was set to go off yesterday morning. This leaves me feeling completely drained and sidelined with some gnarly cramps. Friday night I prayed that these two issues wouldn't be a factor in keeping me from achieving my goal. And they weren't. The foot felt great the whole race and the clock waited until this morning to go off.

Now some may attribute the foot not hurting to the good rest program I initiated last week (a couple of short runs, lots of ice, and ibuprofen). And the delay in the monthly clock I suppose could be attributed to ramped up training miles and some anxiousness about the race. But I know that it was the tender mercies from my Heavenly Father that rained down on me yesterday that helped me achieve my goal. I know that it was He who pushed me the rest of the way in when I totally bonked at mile 9. I am so grateful to a loving Heavenly Father who cares for me enough to bless me to fulfill my totally worldly goal of finishing in under 2 hours.

I also am grateful to cheerleaders who got up early to see us off at the starting line

I am also grateful for an excellent training buddy whose stride matched my stride (although in this picture we both look like we are fast walking instead of running).

And I am especially grateful for a wonderfully supportive family, who I neglected to get a picture taken with when I crossed the finish line. Without their love and support I would not be able to get in the training time that I need. I so appreciate that they found me along the run and cheered for me. And knowing that they were waiting for me at the finish line kept me putting one foot in front of the other.

Oh, and I can't wait for my next half marathon. This one was a pretty good experience, with the exception of bonking at mile 9.