Race Recap (warning it's long)!

As I type this, it's Sunday morning. One week and 50 minutes since the beginning of the Half Marathon and I'll be honest, I'm sad it's over. I ran my first Half Marathon five years ago; Caedmon was barely 9 months old. My time in 2006 was 2:32: and some odd seconds and Matt finished in 2:17:xx. Not bad considering our longest training run prior to the race was something like 7 or 8 miles.

I remember my first half marathon like it was yesterday. Cold, cold, cold and would you believe it started raining right as we began to cross the bridge that connects the OBX to Manteo. Nothing like cold, rain and wind smacking you in the face for the last 4'ish miles of the run. After I crossed the finish line I sat on the field and waited for my sister to finish. Once she crossed the finish line, I stood up and pure crap can't even begin to describe how I felt. Cold, uncontrollably shivering, nausea, cramping...you name it, I felt it. A few minutes later, a volunteer saw me dry heaving (yup, folks!) and that set off a ridiculous chain reaction despite the fact I said I was fine, over and over. Before I knew it I was being rolled on a gorney over the track, across the football field into the medic tent. Seriously, I'm fine. Just let me throw up in private people!!!

After a quick once over, they told me I had a body temperature of something like 96 degrees, gave me some gatorade and started to get me warmed up. I knew I was fine, I just needed to change out of my wet clothes, get warm, maybe puke some more and really - I just needed to go home.

Obviously, I recovered.

Fast forward to March 2010, I was going to run a local half marathon with two of my closest friends, Matt and a group from work. I trained for this race. I trained in the cold, the snow, the rain. I was ready, both mentally and physically. Two weeks before the run my doctor told me it wouldn't be a good idea for me to run that long distance as I would take the chance of get this - twisting an ovary. The procedure couldn't be moved because it was a very time sensitive procedure. So I bowed out. All that training, wasted. Watching and cheering for Matt and my friends as they crossed the finish line that day was pure torture. I knew I could have run that course, I wanted to run 13.1, but I had to follow doctor's orders. I did run another local 10 miler about a month later. It was the worst 10 miles of my life. I hated every minute of that run and  I'll never do it again. Ever!

To say that this Half Marathon has been a long time coming would be an understatement. I was no longer 9 months postpartum; I have been back in the gym for over three years. I'm a good 10 lbs lighter than I was in 2006 (having babies back to back lessens the appeal to lose it all before gaining it right back). I knew I was ready for this.

The race started at 7am; we arrived shortly after 6:30 and waited and waited. They set the runners off in waves; so we had to wait over 10 minutes before it was our turn to start. Matt ran with me the first mile mostly to keep him from starting out too fast (I could have been insulted, but it was nice having him by my side for a few minutes). Once we passed the first mile flag, he was a ghost.

I quickly settled into a nice rhythm. My breathing was good; my pace was comfortable. I wasn't too cold or too hot. Around mile two I started thinking about my last race and how awesome it was to cross the finish line knowing my Dad was there, waiting for his three daughters (we all three ran the half in 2006 while my Mom watched the kids at back at the beach house). You know how it is, something about having your Mom and/or your Dad around makes everything just a little bit better?!

So mile two...I really started missing my parents. I wanted them there when I crossed. I even thought to myself, maybe they'll surprise me. It's only about a three hour drive - maybe they got up at 4am and will be waiting for me. Haha! I don't know if it was the chill in the air or the wind, but I'm pretty sure I had tears in my eyes just thinking about how they wouldn't be there when I crossed. I decided that next year they would be there, no matter what. In fact any half I run in the future they will be waiting at the finish line for me!

This took up a few miles of my time. Someone once said you can sort through the biggest of problems within the first few miles and they weren't joking! The miles began to fly by. I knew from the elapsed time on my ipod that I was a steady 10:30 mile, I was okay with this. I didn't want to push myself too hard in the beginning and have nothing during the last couple miles. Around mile three I remember tossing my gloves and after that I got lost in the miles. I got a nice surprise at Mile 7 when I thought it would be the Mile 6 flag. It was as if I got a free mile; it was a great boost!!

I ran. I ran the whole time with the exception of a few 10-15 second stops to sip a little water; no gatorade for me...it's always too sugary and kills my stomach when I'm running. I did have some shot blocks that I took at miles 4, 8, and 12. I had trained with these and I'm not sure if that helped me have a good recovery or if it was the G2...more on that in a minute. Anyway - so the shot blocks, water and my ipod were my friends as the miles flew by. Literally it felt like the miles were flying by; everytime I looked up it was as if the mile marker flag was just ahead. Awesome!

The bridge...the bridge was nothing. Head down, one foot in front of the other, breath, relax, and let my legs carry me. Before I knew it I was at the top of the bridge. I was in the home stretch.

During the last half mile, I took my ear buds out. I wanted to be in the moment. I wanted to hear the shouts of encouragement and the ringing cow bells of the spectators. I wanted to take every second of that last bit in. As I turned the last corner I glanced at the time clock at the finish line...2:29:34. WTF! How in the world did I do this in almost 2:30. My freaking goal was 2:20. To say I was disappointed was an understatement. Then I decided... like hell if I'm going to go over 2:30, so I kicked it up, balls to the wall, and ran like my life depended on it. I was not going to let that clock beat me anymore than it already had.

As I crossed the finish line, and I'm being handed water, G2, my medal, and whatever else they were giving me, I remembered the wave start. I remembered we were practically the last group to be set off. That time on the clock was the gun time, from the first wave. We waited for close to 12 minutes before our start. I did the math, and redid the math. You would think 2:30 minus 12 minutes would be easy, but in that moment it wasn't. My offical time was 2:18:12. Matt finished in just over 1:57.

The best part was I had the best recovery...no puking, no cramping, just some general achey knees, hips and arches. I had two blisters but nothing that I could complain about. I'm not sure if the shot blocks helped give my body what it needed during the consistent two hours of running or if it was the G2 at the end. Either way, I couldn't have been more satisifed with my recovery - a far cry from my training runs and my first Half Marathon.

Now I wonder why I waited five years to run another Half. I have plans to do at least one a year and continue running the local, small road races just to keep myself going.   If you wonder why I'm always wearing the same shirt in the race pictures I post, it's because this is my lucky shirt. Whenever I run it, training run or race, I have really good runs. Silly I know, but I'm not going to play around on race day and go changing it up!

 

PS. Yes I'm too cheap to buy the proofs for $15/each. So Screen shot and Paint are my friends. Get over it. ;)

PPS. I have to wrap my ears when it's cold; otherwise I get the worst pain inside my ears.

PPPS. There is finish line video TriDuo sent yesterday; however, I can't get it to play on my laptop. I'll try the desktop when I get enough motivation to get off the couch.;)