we do not do things because they are easy...


/ #teamprier crosses the finish line /

... we do them because they are hard!
this is my husband's favourite quote from neil degrasse tyson and it was certainly the motto of my marathon journey - a journey i honestly NEVER thought i would be on. i spent a good deal of it worried that i wouldn't be able to finish, but i plugged through and had the support of my always-enthusiastic husband.

i was most worried about having issues with my right hip flexor so i nipped it in the bud and went to physio to learn some good stretches and exercises. i also had some serious issues with my toes going numb in new shoes!

/ a serious collection of sneakers /

early in the year, i ran a few short races - and i just COULD NOT picture doing more than one loop of the park, let alone 3+...

/ scotland 10k run /

while we got a lot of weird looks, reuben and i even managed to get some training in during our turkey tour.

/ hike from kayakoy /

i used to only have a half marathon as my running goal so i signed up of the brooklyn half. little did i know i would be running half marathons nearly every weekend for several months!

/ first half - check! /

training on vacation wasn't super fun, but it actually gave us a great opportunity to see a bit more of a new city.

/ found my maiden name on a run in savannah /

running around central park may have gotten a little old after a while, but really the views are spectacular.

/ an evening run around the reservoir /

my worst run during all of training was actually the 18 mile tune-up race - 3 loops of central park! ouch. i made it to mile 17 and ended up having to hobble through the last mile with serious hip and joint pain. i was feeling really nervous that i wouldn't be able to get the mileage in after this run!

/ bacon and ibuprofen solve everything /

thankfully a couple weeks later, when we embarked on our 20-miler with our friend and fellow marathoner, kat, i was feeling SO MUCH better. i'm not going to lie; it hurt. but it didn't hurt in a way that made me wonder if i was doing some serious damage.

/ 20-miler through brooklyn and manhattan /

our trio named ourselves the fresh bitches after all of the really fresh runners that passed us by during training - the runners that we so desperately wanted to be!

/ getting psyched at the nyc marathon expo /

something else that helped psych us up - nz winning the rugby world cup the day before the marathon!

/ supporting the all blacks /

and just a little runspiration i put together:

/ my nyc marathon inspiration treasury list on etsy /

yeah, the night before i was feeling a little nervous, kinda like this:

/ giant river otter at the melbourne museum /

but alas, it was finally time to get pumped up while staring down the start line:

/ lots of nervous energy at play here! /

fast forward through an awesome start over the verrazano-narows bridge, feeling amazing through brooklyn with lots of cheers, spotting friends in queens, slogging over the queensboro bridge, hearing the roar of the manhattan crowd that included M&D, starting to feel the pain in harlem, making an effort to dance in the bronx, crossing bridge number 5 back into manhattan, really feeling the pain while climbing the looooong 5th avenue hill, getting a bit teary for the last few miles through central park, and finally crossing the finish line while hand-in-hand with my hubby. 

/ managed to squeak out a smile just past the finish line /

it was certainly amazing to cross that finish line, if only we didn't have to hobble another mile or two to get out of the park and back up to catch the crosstown bus home! ouch!

/ waiting for the bus home /

even better than crossing the finish line was EATING ALL OF THE THINGS afterwards:

/ pretty much ate that by myself /

and added bonus, we got our names in the new york times!

/ probably the only time i'll see my name in the times /

what a journey... i can't believe i managed to make it through but so happy to have that achievement under my belt. now on to the next adventure!

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