I AM an athlete

So after nearly 5 years of driving by and wondering what it's like?!  I decided to try out a new park a few miles from my house.  Turned out to be an awesome idea.  My half marathon is coming up in 17 days and so far my farthest distance on "the big browns" aka my legs has been 6.5 miles.  I was really starting to wonder if I truly am capable of finishing the race in the time-frame allotted - 5.5 hours.  Cape Horn Park has a loop that is a little over 1.1 miles and I managed to make it around 9 times which put me in striking distance of the 10.25 mile course preview I missed on Saturday.

I managed to jog about 2 miles within the first 6 and despite what the Wii Fit Plus said - I can't possibly have jogged 5 miles previously.  I know the concrete path is a different surface than my living room floor but there was no freaking comparison. Brutal is the only word that comes to mind, I almost thought about giving up on the race completely.  I kept thinking "you are not an athlete, athletes don't wear your size and 'they' can handle this" and nearing completion of 6th mile, I thought I was done for. But I talked myself into just walking a little more and next thing you know I had 8 laps (8.8 MILES) under my belt. Despite having been rained on torrentially twice, dodged more than a little dog pooh (c'mon people!), looked at sympathetically by the other walkers/runners and wondering if I'd have the muscle control left to drive myself home, I pressed on to finish that last lap and therefore put to rest all doubt that I am capable of finishing the upcoming race.  I even recovered well enough to cook and host dinner for a couple of friends 2 hours later.  In the words of Ice Cube - Today was a good day!