Half Marathon... CHECK!
I did it!! I completed my first half marathon!! Not as fast as I would have liked to, but I finished it upright and strong... and I learned a lot! I can officially check it off of my bucket list!
Just days before the big event I got a text from my training buddy with an update on a knee injury she had been trying to work through.
Me: "How's your knee?"
Her: "You don't want to know."
I knew then I had better start mentally preparing myself to run this race by myself. I watched her push through the pain our entire 11 mile run and had my doubts then, but as the days progressed I knew that my friend was suffering and the idea of 13.1 miles of that much pain was just not realistic. We would have our chance to run together again next year, but this year I'd be hitting the trails solo while hearing her in my head at the start of the race, "Pace yourself!! Don't take off like a bullet right away or you'll never make it. We've worked on this, you can do it!"
What an insanely wonderful, emotional and fun weekend though! My best friend and I decided early on that we were going to make an entire weekend out of it and experience all of the events. Three of us got into town on Friday, early evening, and checked into the hotel. We were planning to meet up with other runners in our little group as the weekend progressed. About a month before the race we started a Facebook group called Whistlestop or BUST and invited friends we knew would be running one of the four races that day. It was awesome to have a support group that final month and to see how everyone finished the races that day!
Anyway, we started our weekend of fun by heading down to enjoy the pasta feed and pick up our racing packets. The minute they handed me that manilla envelope I could feel the butterflies start a flight of insanity in my stomach and chest. It was really happening! No going back now. We spent Friday evening enjoying great company, a couple of drinks, some relaxation and a whole lot of laughs! I think it would be safe to say that we were all a bit slap happy from sheer excitement and nervousness.
Race day started shortly after 5am. I would have to say that this may have been the first time ever that I was happy and ready to wake up that early in the morning. Shuttle buses were running from 6-7am for the half marathon and from 6:30-7:30am for the 10Kers. We settled on an inbetween time and I jumped out of the car full of 10K participants and headed toward my bus stop to a bunch of good lucks and other supportive comments once we pulled into the parking lot. I think that was the only time I really felt lonely. It was kind of intimidating walking up to that bus knowing that there was no going back once I got on it! And I will say that the ride to the race start point had to have been a solid 40 miles... okay, maybe it just felt that way. But it felt like it took forever to get there!
Eventually I started seeing familiar faces stepping off of the buses that arrived after mine. My ex-husband and his buddy stopped and chatted and asked me if I was ready to go. Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be I guess. Nothing I can change now! My sister-in-law, brother (broken wrist, full arm cast and all) and their friend were next to arrive. While the ladies went to stand in the ungodly long lines for the port-a-potties, I hung out with my brother talking race strategies and nonesense. Then he looks at me and says, "Will you do me a favor?" The look on his face had me puzzled. Kind of an embarrassed look. I said sure although I guess the answer made me giggle. He came back with, "Will you tie my shoes?" :) Okay, of course I did it, but I will say that after tying size 7-10 toddler shoes most days, it was quite awkward tying his shoes. When I hear, "Could you please double knot them? If they come untied while we're running, I'm screwed!" I started laughing out loud. Funny enough, this took my attention off my nerves enough to be able to calm down, get rid of the sick feeling in my stomach and really feel ready to do this.
I ran into a few more friends, one of which I actually ended up lining up at the starting line with. With all those people, almost 1,500 racers, I was shocked I was running into people I knew but had no idea were partcipating! Before we knew it, the race had begun and we were off. I kept my running buddy's tips at the front of my mind and really tried to pace myself. I was actually doing a pretty good job and managed to maintain a pretty decent average pace for the first 7 miles. I was running consistently and walking through the water stations. I was very happy with my progress, could feel some aches and pains, but was very upbeat and had high hopes. Plus, who couldn't love running when surrounded by this... (sorry it's a bit blurry, the only downfall of the day was the misting rain, but was pretty dark and overcast the entire run which is fine by me!)
My official finish time was 2:52. Not great, but hey... I was upright and finished strong!! I am a runner! Sure, other people killed my time. My sister-in-law got a personal best in this race with a 2:09 finish (my bro just a second behind her since he was her support and pacer). I'm so proud of her! That is amazing!!!! Other girls in our Whistlestop or BUST group also completed the half with amazing times. It's hard not to compare... but they had all done this before. I finished!! I'm proud! My 10K friends also did awesome! Two of them completed their longest race ever! It was just an overall amazing goal-achieving weekend. And the few 5Kers we were supporting had good runs/walks as well. One of them took 1st in her age group! I had an amazing support system standing at that finish line cheering me on! What a wonderful feeling to hear your name announced as you're coming to the finish line and to hear all those people screaming, clapping and telling you you're there, you did it!
By that evening and even the next day it all felt so surreal. Sure, I was sore as hell and my body was reminding me that I did, in fact, run a long distance... but at the same time I was almost in denial that it had actually happened. All that training and POOF it was over! LOL Needless to say I'm ready to try again next year. I will beat that time and finish stronger! That's the competitive nature in my shining like a beacon.
Two days post-race, my quads still scream when I walk down stairs, I feel like a camel that can't get enough water, and the memories of the past weekend keep flashing through my head making me smile. It was an amazing experience all the way around. Someone asked me about five minutes after I crossed the finish line, feeling quite wobbly after abruptly stopping a constant forward motion after almost three hours and feeling pain in every joint from the waist down, if I wanted to do it again next year. Without missing a beat... "HELL YEAH!"
Just days before the big event I got a text from my training buddy with an update on a knee injury she had been trying to work through.
Me: "How's your knee?"
Her: "You don't want to know."
I knew then I had better start mentally preparing myself to run this race by myself. I watched her push through the pain our entire 11 mile run and had my doubts then, but as the days progressed I knew that my friend was suffering and the idea of 13.1 miles of that much pain was just not realistic. We would have our chance to run together again next year, but this year I'd be hitting the trails solo while hearing her in my head at the start of the race, "Pace yourself!! Don't take off like a bullet right away or you'll never make it. We've worked on this, you can do it!"
What an insanely wonderful, emotional and fun weekend though! My best friend and I decided early on that we were going to make an entire weekend out of it and experience all of the events. Three of us got into town on Friday, early evening, and checked into the hotel. We were planning to meet up with other runners in our little group as the weekend progressed. About a month before the race we started a Facebook group called Whistlestop or BUST and invited friends we knew would be running one of the four races that day. It was awesome to have a support group that final month and to see how everyone finished the races that day!
Anyway, we started our weekend of fun by heading down to enjoy the pasta feed and pick up our racing packets. The minute they handed me that manilla envelope I could feel the butterflies start a flight of insanity in my stomach and chest. It was really happening! No going back now. We spent Friday evening enjoying great company, a couple of drinks, some relaxation and a whole lot of laughs! I think it would be safe to say that we were all a bit slap happy from sheer excitement and nervousness.
Race day started shortly after 5am. I would have to say that this may have been the first time ever that I was happy and ready to wake up that early in the morning. Shuttle buses were running from 6-7am for the half marathon and from 6:30-7:30am for the 10Kers. We settled on an inbetween time and I jumped out of the car full of 10K participants and headed toward my bus stop to a bunch of good lucks and other supportive comments once we pulled into the parking lot. I think that was the only time I really felt lonely. It was kind of intimidating walking up to that bus knowing that there was no going back once I got on it! And I will say that the ride to the race start point had to have been a solid 40 miles... okay, maybe it just felt that way. But it felt like it took forever to get there!
Eventually I started seeing familiar faces stepping off of the buses that arrived after mine. My ex-husband and his buddy stopped and chatted and asked me if I was ready to go. Yeah, as ready as I'll ever be I guess. Nothing I can change now! My sister-in-law, brother (broken wrist, full arm cast and all) and their friend were next to arrive. While the ladies went to stand in the ungodly long lines for the port-a-potties, I hung out with my brother talking race strategies and nonesense. Then he looks at me and says, "Will you do me a favor?" The look on his face had me puzzled. Kind of an embarrassed look. I said sure although I guess the answer made me giggle. He came back with, "Will you tie my shoes?" :) Okay, of course I did it, but I will say that after tying size 7-10 toddler shoes most days, it was quite awkward tying his shoes. When I hear, "Could you please double knot them? If they come untied while we're running, I'm screwed!" I started laughing out loud. Funny enough, this took my attention off my nerves enough to be able to calm down, get rid of the sick feeling in my stomach and really feel ready to do this.
I ran into a few more friends, one of which I actually ended up lining up at the starting line with. With all those people, almost 1,500 racers, I was shocked I was running into people I knew but had no idea were partcipating! Before we knew it, the race had begun and we were off. I kept my running buddy's tips at the front of my mind and really tried to pace myself. I was actually doing a pretty good job and managed to maintain a pretty decent average pace for the first 7 miles. I was running consistently and walking through the water stations. I was very happy with my progress, could feel some aches and pains, but was very upbeat and had high hopes. Plus, who couldn't love running when surrounded by this... (sorry it's a bit blurry, the only downfall of the day was the misting rain, but was pretty dark and overcast the entire run which is fine by me!)
Miles 8 & 9 are always my struggling points and I had a pretty significant slow down, more walking and the aches and pains were really settling in. My average pace dropped and I couldn't ever really recover back to that point. Miles 8-10 were a solid 1 minute slower than my normal average pace - even my training pace for that distance. At 11 I really thought my knees were not going to allow me to finish. Walking hurt, running hurt... I was determined to make it through but knew that walking was probably my best option. So, I walked longer periods with short bursts of jogging. The last mile and a half was probably the most painful and longest mile and a half I have ever run in my life! If my running buddies had not come out to pick me up and dust me off for the final 1/4 mile I'm not sure when I would have finished. I was mentally and physically exhausted. But I finished strong... back at my regular race pace. And that tells me that next year I can do better... I had it in me, I just couldn't pull it out of myself. I'll have to work on that!!
The best racing friends a girl could ever ask for!!
My official finish time was 2:52. Not great, but hey... I was upright and finished strong!! I am a runner! Sure, other people killed my time. My sister-in-law got a personal best in this race with a 2:09 finish (my bro just a second behind her since he was her support and pacer). I'm so proud of her! That is amazing!!!! Other girls in our Whistlestop or BUST group also completed the half with amazing times. It's hard not to compare... but they had all done this before. I finished!! I'm proud! My 10K friends also did awesome! Two of them completed their longest race ever! It was just an overall amazing goal-achieving weekend. And the few 5Kers we were supporting had good runs/walks as well. One of them took 1st in her age group! I had an amazing support system standing at that finish line cheering me on! What a wonderful feeling to hear your name announced as you're coming to the finish line and to hear all those people screaming, clapping and telling you you're there, you did it!
By that evening and even the next day it all felt so surreal. Sure, I was sore as hell and my body was reminding me that I did, in fact, run a long distance... but at the same time I was almost in denial that it had actually happened. All that training and POOF it was over! LOL Needless to say I'm ready to try again next year. I will beat that time and finish stronger! That's the competitive nature in my shining like a beacon.
Two days post-race, my quads still scream when I walk down stairs, I feel like a camel that can't get enough water, and the memories of the past weekend keep flashing through my head making me smile. It was an amazing experience all the way around. Someone asked me about five minutes after I crossed the finish line, feeling quite wobbly after abruptly stopping a constant forward motion after almost three hours and feeling pain in every joint from the waist down, if I wanted to do it again next year. Without missing a beat... "HELL YEAH!"
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