My second year running the Massive Medal Half Marathon! Last year’s race went really well and as a huge medal fanatic, I just had to come back for another massive medal! This time I signed up for the Captains Challenge which is running the Massive Medal Half Marathon and then the CNU Alumni 5k for a whopping 16.2 miles!

It was very frigid out that morning. This was my first race this year that I ever ran in long sleeves and I am so glad I did because it sure felt like winter out there in the low 30s!

The morning of the race I felt very sick to my stomach. I woke up feeling nauseous and thought so hard about backing out. I could only eat one piece of toast for breakfast and was just barely able to keep it down. I normally eat two pieces of toast, but there was just no way I could eat more with how bad I was feeling that morning. I had never felt this sick before a race so I knew this couldn’t be good.

The start of the race was a bit of a walk from the parking garage. I arrived to the start around 6:40am to pick up my race packet and checked my bag. I kept jumping around to try to keep warm. I was shivering as can be out there. My head was spinning with thoughts of anxiety and worry. Not only could I barely eat that morning, but my side had been bothering me for some time. This was my last half marathon of the year and I so badly wanted to end it on a good note. I had to keep telling myself that I had a really good race season despite wanting to excel at them all. My inner perfectionist always tries to get the best of me, but I always try to remember that I am in control and that I am in charge of my own thoughts. So I played it cool, took a few deep breathes, “You got this Ashley”, and told myself to take it easy.

I started off at a nice easy pace hoping my body would feel better once I warmed up. The fresh cold air felt refreshing through my lungs. I recognized the course from last year as I ran through it. I could not believe a full year had already flown by since running this race.

After a few miles into the race I started to feel better. My positive thoughts transformed my body into a running machine and I felt unstoppable (Oh the power of positivity!).

According to my stats, my heart rate was jumping around all over the place! It definitely looks like I started the race too fast and you can see my jolt at the end when I began sprinting.

Results wise I was glad to have finished in under 2 hours and within the top 25% of females!

Now on to the 5k! I had a few minutes to collect myself, put my medal in my bag and walk around. The starting line was a good distance away on the other side of campus. The sun had started to come out some and the outside air temperature had warmed up to the early 40s, but it still felt pretty cold out. The 5k started at 9:45 am. My body had cooled down before the start of the race so it felt hard trying to get it going again. I drastically reduced my pace a whole minute slower compared to my half marathon race pace. My legs felt like jello when I started to run again and my goal for this race was just to run this 5k as a cool down jog and finish.

My heart rate was working much harder for this race even though I was running at a much slower pace. When I finished the race I was shocked to see that I finished 3rd in my division when I was barely even trying!

Three more medals to the collection! 16.2 mile Captain’s Challenge complete!