Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Half-y Feet

Mission: Accomplished! (and the famous pink triple jogger!)
After several months of training, the morning of October 16th carried a lot of firsts for me. It was my first time running a half with a training partner (actually running it with them and not just training with them), my first time trying the Galloway Method in a race, and my first time running a half-marathon without the assistance of an iPod. J and his sister ran the race as well, with awesome times, and it was fun to have she and her husband stay with us for the weekend. (The wine consumed the night before may not have been the best idea, though.)

It was perfect running weather, starting out with rain that reduced to a drizzle by the starting gun, then further reduced to light mists for the remainder of the race. The course was great, the conversation better and the companionship that pushed me to a PR was the best.

It wasn't all rosy, though, there was a point about 6.5 miles in that I thought; oh, lawd, what did I get myself into again? Maybe I'm not cut out to run this distance afterall! Then, a few more strides and a deep breath and I was fine, but running without music was both a relief and a serious challenge for me. E is a great running conversationalist, so I've grown accustomed to running without it, or else I'd have been begging for a little Cake with some White Stripes thrown in around mile 7.

We chugged up the hill on Kendall, the only 'real' hill on the course and after that I knew we were home free. Once we rounded the park, and were within sight and sound of the finish line I felt invigorated, as I always do, and had that tickle in the back of my brain saying maybe I could have pushed it a little harder in certain points. I looked at the clock as I was coming in the last stretch and my heart sank; 3:09?! How did that happen? I thought for sure I was great on time and that I was going to PR! Then I realized my error as the clock on the left hand side caught my eye and I realized that the marathoners had a fifteen minute head start on us. Wahoo! Under 2:55; Goal Achieved!

E worked so hard in training, often pushing a triple jogger while I pushed my double, and that hard work paid off. I know in my bones that she could have busted out and sped ahead, but she set out to finish with me (or just really likes the interval timer on my garmin, ha!) and  stuck with me until the last block where we broke off and she was almost 20 seconds ahead when we crossed the finish line.

Although my knees were a little achy the next morning, I wasn't any more sore than I've been after other training runs, and it made me see that I could be pushing myself harder on race days. I know that consistent attendance at bootcamp is helping me a lot, and I'm now registered through January.

Next up is Vegas and I'll get to run with Pam, Jill and the girls again for the first time in over a year; I'm giddy with the thought. I would love to PR there, and think that with their encouragement, and that of Cheap Trick of course, I'll rock the 'Strip at Night' on December Fourth.
Yep, that's Jill! (My own personal WWJD on my fridge motivation montage :))
This weekend Pam and co. are running their second full marathon, the Marine Corps Marathon in DC, and I can't WAIT to cheer them on virtually, as their splits will post in real-time to Facebook. Send good thoughts their way. Although, I'm sure they'll have plenty of their own good thoughts as actual hottie Marines will be manning each water station. Hoo-ah!

2 comments:

  1. awesome post. Just awesome.

    I've also had that, "wait, I thought I ran faster...."/fooled by the clock moment before. It's so devastating in the moment, but it makes the official time That Much Better!

    Congrats!
    (and I ran the Marine Corp sponsored 17.75K 2 years ago... hottie marines Galore. Hellz the to YEAH! Congrats & Happy Racing to your MCM peeps!)

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  2. Congrats on finishing the race! That's so impressive! And so glad you'll be doing project life next year. It's a lot of fun. You will be so glad you did!

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