Long time, no blog. I've been busy...
This post will contain a recounting of my first half marathon experience, nothing less, maybe a little more. Soon to come: a training update, a report on the 2011 Hilly Hundred, and more Kenda, Alex, dog park, running, life, Christmas decorating, ect...
Saturday was race day. It was chilly, dark, and crowded at the start. I had imagined what a few thousand people would be like, but experiencing it is something else. I lost my friend before the race even started. I was walking up and down the sidewalk looking for her about 5 minutes before the start only to realize that there were metal barricades between the sidewalks and the race participants..."uhhh, I need to be over there?" Without giving away all the embarrassing details, I made it into the corral. Metal barricades, pfffft!
The "Go" was totally lame. It was literally like this: "on your mark, get set, GOOOOOO!" I was like, what are we, 4 years old? Anyways, then came the shuffle to the actual start line (when there are thousands of people, you can't just take off). I just walked, others oddly jogged - I was ready though. My plan was a slow first mile. I did not want to get carried away and blow it on a quick first mile. This was easier than I expected, I would have had to bob and weave in order to run faster, which would have wasted energy...running along with everyone put me at 7:55 for my first mile, that worked, I would have even taken slower. Overall, my main goal was to break 1:45. In my heart of hearts, I wanted to average under 8 minutes per mile.
Miles 2-4 are a blur. They went by so. fast. The only detail to spell out is this: S. T. R. A. W. Straw. Read it and remember it if you are planning on running a long distance race.
**Let me tell a quick prefacing story: Friday night we went to Alex's parents house for dinner - Ellen made me fettuccine alfredo, my favorite. I planned on spending the night since they live about 5 minutes away from the start line. I had forgotten to pick up a straw, so I asked them if they had one. I received a couple confused looks and then the inevitable, "what do you need a straw for?" I explained and Bob went to a coffee shop around the corner and picked up muffins for breakfast and an assortment of straws - all shapes and sizes. I love them so much!**
A single straw cut in half made my race better. Hold a straw with you and at water stations, drinking is cake. I learned this from a fellow Bedfordite (I'm telling you, that place is crawling with high class endurance athletes - I saw 3 of them while running on Saturday!) At the first water station I took water (the 2nd station) I did not have my straw out of my pocket - so I took the cup, continued moving, and tried to drink. I sputtered, coughed, and coughed, and threw the cup, and coughed...sigh. Then I got my straw out and thought to myself, "I am going to hold this dang thing the entire race." Needless to say, after that I was well hydrated :) NOTE: cut the straw in half so its easier to hold and carry the other half with you - I dropped my straw at one point, but had the other half in my pocket so I was ok for the rest of the race.
Mile 2: 8:04
Mile 3: 7:46
Mile 4: 7:51
Miles 5-9 were slightly different for me. I really felt myself getting into a groove. I thought about holding my pace, about relaxing my upper body, about my stride, and about the pain that was creeping into my knee. Now, I believe myself to have a higher than normal pain tolerance, but who wants to run on a pained knee for 9 miles. It was tolerable, I was holding on easily - feeling strong.
Mile 5: 7:55
Mile 6: 7:48
Mile 7: 7:47
Mile 8: 7:51
Mile 9: 7:53
Then it happened. My dang feet gave up on me. By that I mean I developed blisters I could feel at each and every foot strike. Terrible. I'll spare you the gory details, but seriously, I mangled my feet. It is something I wasn't expecting at all. I worried about my knees, lungs, cramping, and ability to keep going, but not my feet. In all honesty, I developed this issue during mile 9, but at mile 10 I was really feeling it. I have never been more uncomfortable running in all my life. I prayed for them to hold out for the duration of the race. Looking back, I will take it as a blessing. When I run my first marathon and I am at mile 22, my quads will be screaming. I will be thinking (hopefully) at least the skin on the bottom of my feet is still intact (sorry to any queasy readers). I really will think that, its a fact. And the bonus: I wasn't even feeling my knee pain anymore, just my feet.
So, with every step being a struggle, I was faced with one of my biggest worries...this little voice in the back of my head started in: "you could just stop and adjust your shoes, maybe that would help," "you could walk a few steps, it might help,"you could stop, you don't want to injure yourself." NO - I'll keep going, thank you for your concern.
Mile 10: 7:59
Mile 11: 8:08
The end. Just kidding! Mile 12 took the longest to get to. I thought I was never going to get to the mile marker. It was here that the rest of my body really started feeling the implications of running this far. As I passed mile 11, 12, ect I was able to say to myself..."hey! you have never ran this far at once before!" It was exciting, and as every stride was painful, excitement was what I needed. But, as I was saying, the rest of my body...my abdomen was getting tired and my pace was accordion-ing, I wanted to be done. BUT. A very large and important BUT. But I was enjoying it immensely. Stupid feet.
Mile 12: 8:13
At this point I was thinking about what I was going to be thinking later in the day when I thought back on the race - ya follow? I knew I had to give it all I had. Everything. Leave it out there - or I'd beat myself up. I was doing good, I could meet my goal. I felt ok physically. AHHH if my feet didn't feel like they might fall off I could kick. But no, I was stuck feeling every. single. painful. step. Its a blessing, Jenna, a blessing...*through clenched teeth*
Mile 13: 8:06
I had managed to pick it up slightly. I was ready to be done.
Then I saw it, the finish. Yes.
Final time: 1:45:35
If it wasn't for my dang feet, under 1:45 would have been easy. EASY. So now, I have to figure out what happened and how to avoid it next time. I learned an unbelievable amount about racing, running, and myself during this race. Straws are clutch for proper hydration. Not training much during the month leading up to a big race is something I will regret. I will always wonder how quick my debut half marathon could have been - if only I had ran more consistent in October. And most importantly, I learned that I will never give up during a race. Ever. Maybe I already knew that though.
The end of the race was blissful. I will never take one of those aluminum blanket things, no way. There was so much food and all I wanted was water - I was not even a tiny bit hungry. There were a lot of people. I wanted my medal. I wanted to get to my husband. I wanted to leave the crowd. I wanted to sit!
All in all, I had a great time. I am already pushing up my next half marathon to about 2 months from now. I want to do this for real and see what I'm capable of. It is exciting. The only problem: right now I can hardly walk...
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