This weekend, many of us from WARC traveled to Brookings for the half marathon and marathon! We’ve been training together for a few months now and today we put our hard work to the test.

Most of us had goals in mind, but it was warmer than we are used to, so it was a tough race! My goal was to break 2 hours, and I was keeping on pace until about mile 8 and then I hit a wall. My legs didn’t want to go fast anymore, my chest started hurting, and I just didn’t want to do it anymore!! I saw the 2 hour pacer slipping further and further away and even though it was disappointing, my new goal became just to finish. I came pretty close to wanting to quit around mile 10. Those last two miles were the warmest and felt like they want on FOREVER. My mom caught up to me around then though, and even though she ended up running ahead of me, she told me I looked good and to keep going. She was struggling too, but she reminded me we were almost done and it’ll feel better once we’re finished.

I had half a mile left and I saw Jen W standing on the corner, cheering for me. She told me I was doing great and almost done and I told her I felt like I was dying haha! But just like when I saw my mom, it was great to see a friendly face cheering you on.

I crossed the finish line at exactly 2:05, so five minutes shy of my goal. Although it wasn’t what I was aiming for, it was still 2 minutes faster than my last in person half, so I’m still happy with it! I got my medal, and walked back along the finish line to cheer the rest of WARC in. A couple others were struggling to get their goal times too, but together, we were able to push each other on to the finish!

We don’t let anyone finish alone!! Everyone has those races that don’t go as we planned, but the people pushing you on makes a world of difference. Running may be an individual sport, but it takes a village to make it fun!

The actual run today hurt and kind of sucked, but I had so much fun making memories with my WARC family. AND I get to do it all again two weeks from now! Time to recover for a day or two and then get ready for another half. Hoping this one will hurt less!

Until next time! 🙂

Megan Reiffenberger