My First Half Marathon!

This weekend I ran a half marathon with my oldest daughter.  This was her FIRST half marathon.  I asked her to do a short recap of her experience.  She put in the time, trained, and succeeded. We are so very proud of her.  Please take a few moments to read her story.

I’d just like to say hi to everyone who’s taking the time out of their day to read this! Thank you for reading my thoughts and feelings on my first half-marathon!

Firstly, here’s a little background on myself: my name’s Khloe Martinez, I’m 14 years old and I’m going to be an incoming freshman at Everett High School. In the past, my main sport was soccer, but I recently switched over to running in March of this year. I’ve found a new love in running that I never really had with soccer (or any sport), and I’ve found even more fun in running with my high school cross-country team. Everyone there is really welcoming and supportive, and I’ve made tons of new friends by joining the team.

Now, onto my first half-marathon. Up until my feet had passed the start line, I felt nervous. Before I start any race, I usually feel like my stomach is upside-down and my breathing gets a little out of control. Just like every other race I’ve done, I felt this exact same feeling of nervousness and anxiety before starting the race. However, as soon as my feet passed the start line, all the nervousness and anxiety whooshed out of my body as I started to run with my mom.

Oddly enough, my side started hurting about a minute into the race, but I just ran through it and eventually, the discomfort went away. Luckily, it didn’t really get any worse than that until about mile 11. Before we reached mile 11, the running felt easy because I was trying to pace myself rather than trying to get a fast PR. My mom and I just talked all the way along the run, which helped a lot because I wasn’t focusing on how much my feet might hurt later. Surprisingly enough, the route was fairly easy to run along, except for one part where we had to run to one of the trail (about .5 of a mile) and then run back.

Then, we reached mile 8. For the last five miles, I dedicated each mile to one of my family members (and a couple furry family members). This was my mom’s idea, and it really pushed me to keep going and finish the race. Seeing my family members along the side cheering for me and my mom also pushed me to go even further (the ice water they brought was also super refreshing!)

When I actually finished the race, my feet felt super numb and it was exhilarating. Even though my feet and legs hurt and were sore after the race, I felt awesome because I had accomplished such a big feat! This was my first half-marathon, and even though I didn’t finish fast, I finished. Finishing was my only goal that day and I’m glad I accomplished it.