1/2 Marathon in the books

My very 1st half-marathon in the books. Woohooo!!! Coach Alex Janss posted a video on the Relentless Boot Camp fan page and asked-- Why do you run?  I specifically signed up for this race because one of my 6:30am Deep Eddy boot campers and dear friend, Michelle, is one of the head honchos for the event. After watching the marathon last year, I said I would do it and wanted to keep to my word. A year later, the event is sponsored by LIVESTRONG and my Poppie (grandpa) is battling cancer. The whole race took on a completely different meaning for me.

Around mile 9, the LIVESTRONG water stop was set up and quotes were written all along Cesar Chavez. I teared up in the middle of my run at this point. When I got up on Sunday morning, I was running in honor of my Poppie and his battle with cancer. I was running because God has blessed me with good health. I was running because I have the ability to run. I was running because I had never run that far of a distance in my entire life and wanted to prove to myself that I could do it.

After the race on Sunday, I am 100% more connected to the endurance community in Austin and relate to the triathletes, marathoners, and half-marathoners in the CrossFit Central family in a completely different capacity. I now have 3 athletes from my Trojan Challenge team signing up for the 1/2 next year (one of them this being their very 1st one), and my little sister inspired to run a 5K in April. I believe even more how well CrossFit and Relentless Boot Camps prepares athletes for these races without overuse injuries.

4 days a week training at RedBlack Gym, 1x per week track workouts, and about 4 long runs with Michelle (longest 8.5 miles besides the Tough Mudder), and I finished the race in 1hr 59mins.  I'll battle with someone who says CrossFitters can't run distance.

The last 3 miles were brutal, but I did it. Thank you to everyone who cheered for me along the way! The support was beyond appreciated. On to the next one...