“I run for fun”

That, above, is my 26.2 necklace I’m wearing today!  [Sorry for the blurry picture!]

A race recap is in order.

PRE-RACE:  I was feeling nervous about the race during the two week taper, when I reduced my mileage and forgot all about how I had been training for 3.5 months.  Amazing how a little taper can do that, right?  I started to question whether I should run the full.  Instead of visualizing myself run 26.2 miles, I visualized myself filling out forms to do the half marathon, including the night before the race and the morning of.   I was not injured.  I had completed my training to a T.  I just didn’t, truly believe I could complete the full and was anxious as hell.

My awesome husband, Mark, woke up shortly after I did – I got up at 4:25 because I couldn’t sleep any longer – my alarm was set for 4:45.  It says a lot about a man who doesn’t run himself that he will get up before the crack of dawn and wait around for over 4 hours for me to finish “running for fun” as he calls it.  I showered, and drank a lot of water.  Then I had my usual toast with PB&J, and we were out the door.  We parked at about a quarter after 6 I think.  We also brought Ada, who could not believe there was a distance she couldn’t tackle, and that there was a race that didn’t allow dogs in it.

The race had a good amount of potties and I didn’t have to wait in line too long.  That was a problem at the Lewis & Clark marathon last fall – when I waited for 40 minutes and barely made it to the start in time.

RACE TIME: There was an impressive amount of half-marathoners and I was surrounded by half first-timers at the start.  I felt pretty lonely – and felt that way for the next 10 miles.  I kept looking around, trying to find a marathoner to stalk pace with, but couldn’t find any!  I did see my husband and Ada at mile 1, and he told me he would be at mile 5, but I think he was on the opposite side of the street that I was.  He got a few pictures – rest assured I look awful – and I will post them later!

The course is known for being hilly.  I could definitely see that – but it didn’t bother me too much until later in the course.  The first 10 miles was mainly dodging inexperienced half marathoners that didn’t realize there was an entire road and it was not necessary to step right in front of people.  I also had a interesting experience at approximately 3 miles when I used the porta potty.  The latch didn’t close, but since there is a line everyone watching was aware of this, until, apparently, I was mid-pee.  Hold the door handle for dear life if you ever have this problem.

I had 6 shot blocks (3 at mile 14, 3 at mile 18 – trying to avoid “the wall“) and lots of water & gatorade.

I felt pretty good until those last 6 miles.  It was getting pretty warm - 75+ degrees.   I started implementing a Galloway-esque method of walking for a minute every mile at about mile 20.  It was hard not to walk at times.  A lot of runners started walking uphill and it made it mentally harder to not give in to the hill and walk, and instead to plod slowly by.  So I kept giving in, especially more towards the end.  I kept telling myself around mile 20 that if I got to mile 23 I was going to finish and that kept me going at times.  After that it’s just a 3.2 mile run, right?

My garmin was off for maybe 2/3 of the race – or the race was off for 2/3 of it.  I had an additional 1/3 of a mile clocked for most of the race, and at the end my garmin told me I had run 26.56 miles.  Honestly, I trust my garmin more than the race people – sorry, but it’s true. Do they make charms for 26.56?

Anyway, my official time was 4:45, not great, but about what I expected.  Based on a pace calculator off my 20 miler, I was expected to finish 26.2 in 4:40.  As long as I beat Katie Holmes’ time, I’m ok.

I have to say, the volunteers and spectators rocked.  There was virtually no music on the course, but the spectators shouting my name and telling me I looked great when I know I did not, and to keep going, made me happy.  And I think it helped me to smile back at the volunteers and to thank them because it made me feel better.

TODAY:  It’s one day post-race and my legs feel pretty sore.  Kind of like I had a really hard leg workout, which is exactly what happened- but really not any worse than my challenging long runs.  I waddle a little when I get up.  But I’m feeling pretty good other than that! 

I wanted to get this update out there but I’m at work and my lunch break is long over!  Pictures to follow …