Half Marathon...

So I have run a few races in my day. Maxing out at 3.1 miles. Those I have to train for. When I train for those I run a mile and a half or two miles and that is hard for me. I like to sign up for races to keep me motivated and keep me training and in shape, but one thing I have learned of myself is signing up for a race does not mean I will train for it, but I will run it anyway and want to die.
Truth be told, I hate running. I want to love it. I want to be one of those people that goes running every day. That can just run for miles and feel ok. I actually dream about it. I dream about running and not being tired. Strange?
When I'm awake though, I dread it.
I did the dirty dash 5k in June and it was really hard for me. Granted I was sick, but I'm pretty sure I used that as more of an excuse to how poorly I did than it actually was. After that race the friends I ran with asked if I wanted to sign up for the 10k in Sept. AIN'T NO WAY! I had no desire. I hear friends doing ragnar, no desire. I hear people training for marathons and half marathons, FER SHER no desire. Running just wasn't my cup 'o tea.
Last week my sister emailed me, as she does on a pretty regular basis, and told me she was thinking about doing a half marathon in October and wanted to know if I would like to do it with her. She had been training for a couple of weeks and said I could catch up relatively quickly. Something perked in me. Some sort of desire. There was more fear and deep down I felt like I could talk to her about it, but I wouldn't actually do it. I could talk all positively, but when it came down to register for it I wouldn't do it. So I started talking about it. Looking into it. She emailed me her training schedule, and in order to be on track with her I was going to have to run 4 miles on Saturday. HA 4 miles, if someone were to ask me to run a 5k I wouldn't do it, knowing I wasn't capable. So I figured I'd shoot for two and work my way up.
I went to the gym on Saturday for my first day of training. After about a mile I was feeling really good. I knew I could do two but would shoot for 3. After 2 miles I still felt really good... shockingly. To the point that I had a giddy little grin on my face. I was going to do three, maybe shoot for 4. How great would it be if I was already on pace with Jennie. If I ran 4 it would be further than I had ever run before. I hit 3 miles, nothing is stopping me now. At about 3.5 miles my right ankle started to hurt a bit, but I'm stubborn, I knew I wouldn't let that stop me. I had to get to 4 at this point. I was a little worried that I would injure myself on day one of training, but I had to finish. I was preparing in my mind getting a bag of ice for my ankle when I went home and having it be all swollen. 3.75 Now it was getting hard. 3.76 "Really just one hundredth of a mile" 3.77 "This is taking forever." I watched every hundredth of a mile for the last quarter mile, but I finished. 4 miles, 46 minutes even and I was just floating. My ankle was fine. I was all kinds of embarrassingly sweaty (note to self don't wear a tank top that will show the boob sweat) but I was feeling so good. I ran 4 miles on day one. I can TOTALLY run 13 after 3 months of training. Turns out, running is VERY psychological I was talking myself out of running before. NOW I'm excited for the half. I registered on Monday, did my second day of training 3 miles, felt like a breeze (ish not totally breezy but easier than it has ever been before).
Jennie and I talk on each day of training and discuss our pace and everything, having her run this with me is going to really help me, and I am so excited to do this together.
We are going to own this race.