Halloween Half Marathon

For the past few months I've been training for my first half marathon.  I chose the Halloween half on October 29th because it sounded fun and I liked the idea of doing a downhill run (what did I know).  I trained by adding a mile a week starting at 6 miles.  It was challenging but mostly because it was hard to always find the time for the longer runs.  Running at 5 am wasn't my favorite thing.

My friend Kelly decided to run the half with me and started training (with only 6 weeks until the race!) with her neighbor Kim and her sister in law Tricia.  I joined them for some of their longer runs on Saturday mornings.  

Friday night we got together to drive the course, have dinner, and pick up our packets.  The line was crazy long and that was my first glimpse at how many people would be running the race.  I started feeling really nervous.

The morning of the race we were supposed to meet at the University Mall and catch a bus up to Aspen Grove where the race would start.  I decided the night before to go up a little earlier with my neighbor Kristen who was also running the race.  We got up to Aspen Grove at 6 am. They were supposed to have a heated tent where we could all hang out until the race started but when we got off the bus it was dark and there was no one to show us where to go. It was below freezing. The crowd eventually made it's way along a dark path that did indeed lead to a tent but it was not very warm. My friend and I huddled in her blanket until a few more thousand people showed up and the tent got warm.

 

Kelly, Kim and Tricia showed up about 30 min. later along with my brother Adam.  I started feeling more excited and even more nervous.  Kelly had bought wings for us to wear and brought face paint.  I was a little hesitant about wearing face paint myself since I could just picture it smearing all over the place half way through the run but I didn't mind helping them out with theirs.  I did get a little eye shadow.  Next year I'll try to get more into the spirit of the race.  I was too nervous to think about being silly this time.  My longest run so far was only 11 miles and I had been feeling a little under the weather all week.  I honestly didn't know what to expect.

I did batwings for Tricia that I think turned out pretty well.

There were about 4,000 people total that ran in the race. They had two groups, one started at 9:00 am and the slower group started at 9:20 am. We were in the 9:20 group. The first 4.5 miles flew by. I could tell it was hard on my legs but we were going so fast downhill and I felt pretty good so I didn't worry about it. My calves were tight but I thought I could run through it. The next 8 some miles after the steep hill were brutal but I managed to run the whole thing without stopping. I had some Gu and some Hammer water while I kept running. I stopped to walk once but a lady behind me asked me to keep going because she was following me. That was just the motivation I needed to keep chugging along. I was very tired by mile 11 but tried to mentally overcome it.  Around mile 12 Ryan called and asked if I was about 5 min. away. I almost lost it and tried not to cry while I managed to squeak out that I was maybe 15 min. away. As I was coming around the last turn and saw Ryan and the kids I felt like all the tears I was holding back would come bursting forth. I was exhausted, hungry, and my legs felt like jello. That was the longest part of the whole race. There were so many people crowding the finish line and I just wanted it to be over.

When I finally made it across the finish line I was afraid to even walk because I thought I would collapse. And I was starving! I grabbed a handful of oranges and then I saw the kids and my sister in law Joy (who also ran the race) and I lost it. She hugged me while I cried and cried.  I felt so overwhelmed physically and emotionally.  After a few minutes the adrenaline kicked back in and I started to feel better.  

My friends came in about 5 min. after I did. They have a tendency to stop for water breaks and I was afraid if I stopped I would never get going again. I kept thinking they would catch up to me because they're pretty fast but they didn't.  

The strangest part was that I kept looking for Adam at the finish line. He and I ran together for the first mile and then he took off. He looked like he was feeling great and I thought for sure he was going to finish way before me. When he came limping up after the race I was really worried but it turned out he just had sore muscles like I did. I guess he got stuck at the bathroom. It was fun having him there, though, and even better to have someone to commiserate with on Sunday when I felt like my legs were two big bruises with feet attached.

It was a pretty cool race and especially fun to see all the funny costumes people ran in. Maybe I can get better at these long runs and do this again next year without feeling like I'm going to die.  I finished with a time of 2:21.  I figured with my typical pace I would finish around 2:30 but hoped the downhill would make me faster.  I guess it did.  But it also blew out all my muscles.  I couldn't walk for three days.