Canberra Half Marathon
I was feeling kind of nervous going into the Canberra Half (a good consultant lists things in three’s!):
I’d gotten a cold the week prior and was short on rest
My legs had been feeling quite tired the past two weeks, and they felt quite lethargic during my easy runs
This was my first (second, counting the Thanksgiving Turkey Trot) race since the NYC marathon, and even though multiple doctors had reassured me I was fine, fear still occasionally lurked in the back of my mind (I know, I still have yet to write about this). I’d be racing a half marathon and had been doing long runs to prepare, both of which are probably not my physician’s favorite distance for me.
But I’d decided to sign up for this half last minute (six weeks in advance - lol) for several important reasons:
To get back into a rhythm of running again. Having a goal was helpful for me to get back into running, especially after taking two months off while traveling.
To remind myself of why I love to run. There were some recent runs where I felt unmotivated and resentful because I was associating running with losing weight and my body shape—two things I definitely do NOT want to associate with an activity I love—and had completely forgotten how only a few months ago I’d been told I’d never be able to run again and the absolute devastation of that. I’ve always enjoyed racing because I feel so alive while running with other people who feel similar joy and awe—there’s this beautiful sense of togetherness and community.
Because I’m nervous what June will hold. My next MRI appointment is in two months, and I’m nervous as to what it’ll show—maybe there will be no change and I’ll be in the all clear, or maybe the scan will show something and I’ll be told to cut down on my running. This race was an opportunity to get to race at least one more time with a free mind.
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This race was awesome.
I felt good. Really good. Despite having a terrible easy run two days before, the race felt amazing. My legs felt strong. My breath came smoothly. My running felt effortless. I felt good.
There were so many moments of joy and awe and wonder—of looking up at the clear blue sky and marveling that I get to run, tears coming to my eyes at the sheer amazement of it; of feeling my breath flow steadily through my nose while my lungs easily pumping oxygen throughout my body; of being aware of the steady pounding of my feet on the pavement, legs full of strength as they took my body forward, one mile at a time. There were so many moments of just marveling: I can’t believe that I get to do this. I am so incredibly grateful.
Throughout the race I kept on reminding myself, “why am I here?”. The answer would sometimes change (see above for why I signed up), but the most frequent response was: because I can. Because I can run now. Because I have the ability to run. Because I am so fortunate to be able to do something I love.
There were some parts of the race that were just “fine”: the tiny amount of (pretty homogeneous) spectators (well, it’s hard to beat the energy of the New York Marathon), the inefficiency of the water stations (again, hard to beat the efficiency of the New York Marathon), the monotonous triple out-and-back route (not every city has five boroughs)—but hey, it’s hard for any race to live up to New York 😅. But hey, that’s not why I was there.
It felt so good to trust my body, to lean in and tune in, running at a pace that felt comfortable and effortless, despite that pace being a whole lot faster than expected or planned. And that’s what this whole journey of the past several months has really been about: learning to trust my body again after being made to question my own experience with my health.
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Oh, and some wins?
I’ve run half-marathons on four out of the seven continents. Australia (Canberra) in 2025; Asia (Hong Kong) in 2014; Europe (Copenhagen) in 2013; and North America (USA) in 2013, 2012, and 2011. A dream of mine when I was in university was to run a half on every continent (yes, races do exist on Antarctica but only for the marathon and 10K distances - plus there’s the whole question of if it’s detrimental to the environment, which is 110% a yes, so this might change to all the inhabitable continents), and this event confirmed that the half is my favorite distance to race.
I ran a 1:41:24 (!!), which comes to an average 7:44 min per mile pace over 13.1 miles. I ran faster with each mile, starting off the first mile at 8:41 pace, and ending the last mile at 7:19 pace (the last 200 meters were at 6:30 pace). This is my fastest half-marathon since DC in 2013, when I ran a 1:30:30 (homegirl was 19 at the time, fresh out of varsity/club and very capable of running an average of 6:55 pace).
I proved to myself that I still got this 💪.
