What a busy week! I’ve wanted to report on my first ½ marathon, but this week I’ve been recovering from the worst charley horse in my left calf ever, working on the house with Shem, editing and taking pictures, and probably just wasting time or reading…I’ve been reading a lot and I actually am loving it! It’s amazing how much I love to read when we don’t have any favorite shows to watch anymore.
Okay, so the race. My training went relatively well except for getting sick 3 times (I think my sinus infection just didn’t go away) miscarrying another pregnancy, and just being extremely busy with work. My farthest distance that I ran was 10 miles and the longest right before my race was a weak 8 miles (post miscarriage…my body was tired). Needless to say the week before the race I was thinking how in the world can I finish 13.1 miles!? I was determined to finish though and that week I mentally thought about running 13.1 miles and finishing and I knew that I just needed to run 13.1 miles. Besides, it was only 3.1 miles farther than my longest run and there was no reason that I couldn’t finish it.
Well race day came along and I sprung out of bed, got dressed, ate my English muffin with peanut butter and banana, made my cytomax drink, and walked to meet my carpool at 6am. I was so excited and nervous all at the same time, but I was ready to finish no matter what it would take.
The start line was incredible to see with over 30 corrals of runners lining up, dropping off their bags in the trucks, and using the porta potties before the race began. I felt like I was in for a treat just to be running with all of those amazing people who have also worked really hard to get ready for the race. I also realized that getting that many people through the stat line takes a long time! I was in corral 16 and I didn’t get to the start line until 23 mins. after the 1st corral started.
Mile 1: I felt really good and I was keeping a good pace and stopped for water, then picked it up again.
Mile 2-5: I don’t remember really anything special happening except for climbing a bit and getting more cytomax and water. Although I do remember my stomach feeling really upset with all of the sugar in my system! I felt good though, my pace slowed to probably 11:30/ mile at 5 miles though.
Mile 7.5: I loved this part of the race because if was along Lake Washington and we got some GU! From here until mile 9 I ran and walked a little.
Mile 9: My ankles started to hurt at this point so I walked a bit and ran through the carpool tunnel into Seattle. It was so cool to run through that tunnel!
Mile 10-11: I was getting really excited to finish and I thought about seeing Shem, but every time I thought of him I would get so emotional and start to hyperventilate! I had to stop thinking about him in order to breathe properly. At this point we were still in the carpool lanes heading towards Qwest field and a lot of mile 11 was downhill so I kicked it into high gear and ran into the city.
Mile 12: Was through the city and the large crowds and it just wouldn’t end! I walked some up hills until we got to the overpass onto the viaduct then ran/jogged the viaduct until mile 13.
The last .2 miles on the straight away to the finish was hard because I felt like the finish was near, but I couldn’t see it, then I saw Shem and I sprinted my guts out until I finished!
I finished in 2:46 minutes which isn’t fast by any means, but I still did it. My goal was to finish and still love running in the end and I can honestly say that I’m ready for another race soon. I’m glad to see that my body can run long distances and in my next race I plan to push myself to the finish.
Oh, and I had the worst charley horse ever at the end of my race! I saw Shem, went to give him a hug, and then my left calf ceased up into the most painful contraction of muscle known to man! I had to bite Shem's arm (he had a fleece on) to prevent myself from wailing in pain for everyone to hear. I hope that I never get one of those again!
