Half Marathon......COMPLETE!

On Saturday, September 14, I completed my second half marathon.  My first one was on April 21, of this year.  Since that race, I had knee surgery.  I wasn't able to run or doing anything too active, for two months!  That is a super long time in a runners mind.  After those two months, and several physical therapy visits, my doctor finally gave me the okay to run again.  Greatest day ever!  The next day I started training for my half marathon which was four weeks away.  I felt like I was starting over on building up my endurance and strength to run again.  Since about the time I found out I needed to have knee surgery, I went back and forth on deciding if I should cancel my registration to run the race.  I knew it would be a challenge for me, and I didn't know how my knee would do running 13.1 miles.  As soon as my doctor gave me the okay to run again, I decided I was going to do the half marathon, and wasn't going to focus on my time or placing.  I was just going to do it to the best of my ability, and as long as I crossed the finish line, that's all that mattered.
During those four weeks of building my strength back up and my endurance, the most I ran was 10 miles.  Even those 10 miles had walking stretches in them.  I didn't feel like I could push myself the way I wanted, because of my knee.  When I had originally registered for the race, I had convinced my brother Shane to do the race with me.  I'm not quite sure if he said yes because he really wanted to do it, or if he got sick of me asking him about it.
Bright and early Saturday morning, my alarm went off at 2:55am.  I woke up, showered, and got my running gear on.  I was super anxious for the run, since I wasn't sure how my knee would do.  I met Shane and his friend in the parking lot of Cottonwood High School, around 4:30am.  It was freezing, and we all wondered what we were thinking!  We had to take shuttle buses to the starting point of our half marathon, which was 9 miles up Big Cottonwood canyon.  We got up there, and had to freeze to death until 6:40am.  It was beyond freezing cold!
As soon as the race started, I decided I wasn't going to push myself too hard, but I wasn't going to walk, if possible.  As long as I could jog, and my knee didn't hurt, that was my goal.  2 hours and 1 minute and 24 seconds later, I crossed the finish line!  I did it!  I ran 13.1 miles, didn't stop, and beat my time by one minute from my previous half marathon in April!  I placed 971 out of 2112 runners, and placed 608 out of 1524 female runners.
The feeling that I get every time I cross the finish line, is priceless!  Knowing that I'm accomplishing a goal I set for myself, and doing something I thought I'd never do, is an amazing feeling!