Thursday Triumph – The Half

I’m getting into the swing of things with linkups, and decided to join another one this week!

Thursday Triumph!

Hosted by three spectacular runners:

Smitha at Running with SD Mom – I’ve been ‘running’ with Smitha since we met during the February Grow Your Blog blog hop, and have enjoyed keeping in touch! Smitha inspired me to join her linkup!

Carlee at Carlee McDot – this girl has so much enthusiasm! Visit her blog and you’ll see what I mean!

Linzie at Sharp Endurance – very impressive endurance athlete. I think I can learn a lot from him!

[Tweet “We all have that potential in ourselves to become better. Believe in yourself! http://bit.ly/1ICDd3P”]

On to my Thursday Triumph – talking about my #yearofthehalf, and what it means.

Sometimes people ask how I started running. This is not where I tell that story (you can read it here, though – stay a while!). Suffice it to say that I was very much a non-athlete all of my life. I avoided exercise like the plague. I eschewed all sports.

But in 2009, I started running. It was not immediately a match made in heaven. It was not instant success. But there was something about it that drew me in. Slowly but surely, running became part of my life.

I tackled my first half marathon in 2011 – the BMO Vancouver Half. As it turns out, it was also the 40th anniversary of the race. Fun and festive! Absolutely terrifying.

When all was said and done, I made it to the end. It took me a respectable 2 hours 15 minutes and 36 seconds. I came in 296/366 in my age category (remember this number). I may have vowed that I’d never run another half marathon.

2012 – I completed 2 half marathons. Improved my time and finished at 2:07:01

2013 – 3 half marathons. Broke the elusive 2 hour barrier with a time of 1:52:07

2014 – Yet again, 3 half marathons. Hit 1:48:12. Also decided to make this year my #42for42 and ran my first – and second – full marathons.

2015 – I decided early on to make this the #yearofthehalf and put full marathons to the side for the time being. We’re now a third of the way through the year. I’ve managed to squeeze in 3 half marathons so far. As of now, I have 5 more scheduled. Along with a few other, shorter distance races.

And now for my Thursday Triumph. Four years after running my first half, I ran the BMO Vancouver Half Marathon again. Here’s why I want to celebrate:

• I broke the 1 hour 45 minute mental barrier, which I really wanted to do
• With that PB race, I have officially improved my half marathon race time by 30 minutes
• My age category place: 85/426 – not top 10, to be sure, but at least top 100!
• I think I look a lot better at the finish line than I did in 2011!

I’m excited to see what the rest of this year brings. I’m not going to hold my breath for more PBs in upcoming races, but I’ll keep pushing myself to succeed. Also, 3 of the 5 upcoming halfs are TravelRuns (Ottawa; San Francisco; Laughlin, NV) – so I’ll have lots of stories to tell!

Thank you for celebrating this little triumph with me! And although I may be bragging a bit – I can’t deny that I’m proud of my progress – I share this story to encourage and inspire. We all have that potential in ourselves to become better. Believe in yourself!

Now it’s your turn! What’s your latest triumph? Is there a race time improvement you’re especially proud of? Please share!

And be sure to join next week’s Triumph Thursday!