From Pennies To Yennies

I can now say I have achieved one of my New Years resolutions: I ran a half marathon start to finish!

In 2010, I decided to run complete a half marathon before my 25th birthday, on June 26th. I barely trained, and in the end I walked most of it, and was diagnosed with a stress fracture in the foot the next day. I vowed I’d never do it again. I couldn’t walk for 2 days, every muscle in my body hurt!

So this year I decided to do it again- June 26th, half marathon, except this time I was in it to win it. I set out after work, at 10:30pm, with the plan being to run into my 27th birthday after midnight. Off I went, and I felt good!

Weather was perfect, no sore muscles, new music, aka perfect running conditions. Not too many people were out in the park that night, a few walkers and runners, and a running group for my first couple miles.

I ran to the park which takes a mile, then did 6 laps, which put me at roughly 7 miles. At this point I felt good and was over halfway done! I slowed down and ate a Gu packet. I read online that the best way to have Gu is not to squeeze the whole packet in your mouth, but to slowly eat little drops of it. So I made it last as long as I could, and I think I tolerated it better.

By the eleventh mile I was ready to be done. My legs were tired, I was feeling out of breath and wanted to get home to celebrate my birthday! I tried to focus not on running but distracting myself, so I thought about the past year, what I accomplished, and what I hope to accomplish in the next year.

Highlights of being 26
Volunteering in Ishinomaki to help the tsunami victims
Race for the Cure Portland with my friends
Warrior Dash with my sister!
Disney World with Dan, Kelsey and Jim!
Caribbean cruise with Kelsey
Many trips to Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea
Got my first Cricut machine
Christmas in Tokyo
Got a job in Japan!
Made awesome new friends
Kona, Hawaii with Dan’s family
Running 3 races in 3 weeks
My sister’s baby shower
Becoming an Aunt to Mighty Nate!
Losing 30+ lbs
Ran a half marathon!

Things to look forward to while I’m 27
Run an official half marathon race in September (maybe 2!)
Warrior Dash, Pints to Pasta 10k races
Portland Pink Sox at Race for the Cure
Running a marathon in January
Visiting Okinawa, Kyoto, Nara and Osaka
And so many other things!

All these exciting things saw me through to the end. I finished my 13.1 miles about a quarter mile from the house. I stopped and stretched. I did it! It felt unreal. My half marathon race is something I know I can do now. While stretching Dan came out to meet me with water (he was tracking my run online). It was much appreciated!

My stats

Plenty of room for improvement. I have 2 months!

Dan and I walked home together where I got my first official birthday treat: a Krispy Kreme donut!

We enjoyed our donuts and then Dan gave me some other yummy American junk foods that I’m allowed to eat during birthday weekend (we declared birthday weekend a no running, no dieting event). He also said we were going shopping this weekend for new hiking boots so we can get them broken in before our Mt. Fuji hike in August.

I was pretty tired from running for nearly 3 hours, so we hit the hay soon after. The next day was officially lazy day. I watched some downloaded tv shows, enjoyed my treats, read and just hung out with Penny. While hanging out I got a birthday package form my Seattle roomie Kelsey! She sent me an awesome box with a new purple hoodie, a necklace, nail polishes, and lots more! I went ahead and did my nails right away.

I had to go into work, but after my coworkers took me out for my birthday! It was so nice of them, and I can’t remember the last time I had 15+ people singing Happy Birthday to me!
Coworker friends

More friendlies

After, Dan and I went to Hard Rock Cafe to cash in my free birthday ice cream, a little annual tradition of ours. At this point it was late, so we headed home to get some sleep before our 2 day trip to Disney!

But not before one more AWESOME birthday surprise…
Beautiful shoes!!