Half Marathon Recap

03Sep11

I finished my first half marathon today! Started training in May, half training started in June while I was in Greece.

Pre-race: Couldn’t sleep, not surprising. Woke up right at my first alarm at 5am. (I set 6..) Ate a small breakfast, drank water, got ready, Sharayah and Kat picked me up, made it downtown. Stretched. Nervousness. AHH.

Start-Mile 1 – 2: Easy, litte hot, nothing ridiculous or worth mentioning happened.

Mile 2 – 4: Josh (Skillman) showed up around mile 2.5! It felt great having him there for support. Saw Sharayah and Kat around mile 3, then Josh again around mile 4. Still feeling good. Kept my 4/1 interval going.

Mile 4 – 6: Kept my 4/1 interval. People were cheering still. Knee felt okay.

Mile 7 – 8: My lower back started to hurt. We turned onto 38th street to run into the sun. No bueno. Feeling rough. Instead of water, I grabbed Gatorade.

Mile 8 – 10.5: Feeling super rough. Lost my interval. Walked quite a bit. Tried to run when I could. There was hardly anybody out on this section of the course so it was super hard to keep motivated.

Mile 10.5 – 12: At this point, I was walking mostly. Running when my calves didn’t feel like they were 10 tons. Around 12th Street (11.5), I started to cry. I was hitting a super bad mental block. I was frustrated that I had lost my interval and wasn’t running much. There was a woman who I caught up to and asked if I could walk with her and she said sure, made sure I was okay, then told me that we’d make it and I could cry tears of joy when I crossed the finish line. We decided at mile 12 we’d run.

Mile 12: Saw Sharayah, Kat..and Tyler and Josh (VB)! I really felt good seeing them, but was still having trouble getting back into a good interval. I walked all of East Street and finishers were walking the course back telling us that “just around the corner was the finish.”

Mile 12.75 –  13 (.1):  Once I turned onto Market Street, I queued up Judas and took off running. I’m pretty sure I’ve never been THAT glad that to see a finish line. Josh (VB) was slightly before the finish line and was yelling for me. I was so excited to cross that damn finish line, but I didn’t cry. I got my medal, a rose, water, fruit, my finisher picture. Tyler bought me roses!

Post race: Got a beer (which, if you know me, is super surprising) and liked it (more surprising). Managed to wait 2 hours and get a free massage. My knee is thanking me, sort of. Three of us got Subway then we headed back. Now that I’ve typed this (so I don’t forget) I’m going to take a nap!

Results:
Unofficial (AKA my heart rate monitor): 3:03:11
Official: 3:04:47.2, 14min/mile pace, 1079 out of 1469.

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Tags: half marathon, indianapolis, running