Yoga, Run, Party

I ran my first half marathon at the end of my first and only season running cross country, during the October of my senior year of high school. I remember wearing that finisher’s medal (in the form of a Tiffany&Co necklace) to school every single day for the rest of the year with obnoxious pride. To me, it was my little reminder that I could do exactly what I put my mind to.

Yet, somewhere along the line, I took that necklace off. Tarnished and worn, I just didn’t love it anymore. Then college came, and the confident and determined girl that crossed the finish line of the Nike Women’s Half Marathon in San Francisco despite a decently painful hip injury fell into the jewelry bag in the back of my drawer along with it.

I traded my life in my encouraging small town for a fast paced and competitive environment of a top university that had the tendency to remind me that my hard work won’t always pay off in ways that are immediately observable. Surely, this wild life change was not without its many new excitements and perks and taught me about who I am and who I want to be in this life (along with teaching me who and what I don’t want to be).

Abandoning my ideas about who I was and who I wanted to be left me lost, and albeit, I am still in search of concrete direction. At some point, I no longer had tangible goals to pull me forward, and as somebody who thrives under the condition of a constant purpose, I knew that I needed something. So, I signed up to run another half marathon: the Lululemon Seawheeze half marathon in Vancouver, BC.

After getting into the race on the second round of lottery draws, I was ready to join 10,000 runners in the streets of Vancouver to yoga, run, party in what was touted as the most fun half marathon in the world.

A few months and as much training as I could manage later, I was not disappointed. I mean, look at this view:

Running next to the same wonderful running partner from my first half marathon and being cheered on at every colorful cheering station, I felt no shortage of love from this running community. From a spin class, to drag queens, cheerleaders, a band, a karaoke bar, and more, each cheering station was more fun than the last, effectively distracting me from my aching legs.

By the time we made it to our seventh mile, we realized that we might actually be able to set personal records, despite an admitted lack of training. At the eighth mile, we decided to go for it.

I will admit that 13.1 miles is quite a distance when you’ve spent significantly more time in the library than out running, but the feeling of crossing the finish line was better than I ever could have predicted. Yes, I had done this before, but this finish was different.

We were able to overcome a lack of training, a lack of preparation, and a general lack of belief in ourselves, and the pouring rain (yeah, that’s right, it poured rain the entire time) to finish the 21.1 km course with a time better than our time of 2015 Nike Women’s Half Marathon. This is all despite training for months before that half marathon years ago as compared to the limited training this time around.

There was something about whole experience, from getting into the race through the lottery system to running past the many cheering stations and finally running the longest 13th mile of my life, that moved me to tears as I crossed the finish line.

I had proven to myself once again that I could do whatever I put my mind to. Now, it was time for the party (and the yoga in the pouring rain).

I used to think that the best thing to do after a large race was to eat and nap. I now know that the best way to celebrate is to eat, nap, eat again, and then attend a yoga and music festival featuring some of the world’s biggest EDM artists.

While at first, I thought dancing to the music of Diplo would only make me more tired and fatigued than I already was, I couldn’t have been more wrong. I ended the night simultaneously more energized than I could have ever imagined. My smile is just now starting to fade, but the vivid memories of this event are not.

You see, three years ago, I did a thing, and five days ago, I did that thing again. If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I am getting a lot of mileage out of doing that thing (13.1 miles worth, if you want to be exact). Now you know why.