21km

So last weekend I made a goal a reality.  When I first started the couch to 5km program in late 2012 my only goal was to be able to run 5km, once I achieved that I wondered how much harder it would be to do 10km, now that I had run a few of them I decided if I could do 10 then I could do 20!  Our bodies are amazing machines and I wanted to see just how far I could make it go, it had already given and nourished two healthy boys and taken me to many places throughout the world where I punished both my liver and legs hiking at altitude and riding down the most dangerous road in Bolivia.

So I signed up, paid money to put myself through pain all for the gain of a cheap medal and free t-shirt, but also the knowledge that I could run a half marathon, 21km without stopping just because I decided to.  That of course isn't to discount the 9 weeks of training that I put in to get me to that finish line, in so many ways those weeks were the hard ones, constantly pushing yourself to get out there, complete the program, there isn't anyone on the sideline cheering for you at 6am on a wet Tuesday while two kids whinge at the idea of going for a run, but we did it and there I was at 2 hours and 8 minutes crossing the line with my family cheering me on.

This particular course is 2 laps and we had been warned about traffic jams so decided I would head in earlier on my own and Han and the boys would come with my dad and sister an hour or so later so they wouldn't be hanging around the whole time.  The traffic ended up non existent so my entire family, including my mum and her partner were there when I started.  That first lap I felt really good, and spotting them as I came around the corner was amazing, I got a bit chocked up looking at my amazing family all standing there late on a Sunday night just to see me run and support me.  Their love and cheers really spurred me on through some of the harder km's yet to come during lap two, especially when my water bottle ran out and my music stopped with only a few km's to go.

As you can imagine, crossing that line felt huge, I had done it, I could finally stop running and have a big drink of water, I could tell my family just how amazing they were for helping me achieve it and I could pick up that cheap medal and t-shirt to remind me that no matter what, anyone can achieve what they want if they put their mind to it and commit.