ahh, the 1/2 marathon

Where do I even begin? After 16 weeks of training, 100's of miles and hill after hill, my training is over. It has been 6 days since the 1/2 and I have not been out running. I planned to run Thurs but that plan failed. So I have decided a wk off is good. I will attempt my first run tomorrow and enjoy one more day of pure laziness bliss. This AM was GREAT as it was the first Saturday in 4 months where I did not have to carbo load (which I did carbo load anyway, but I don't think Mexican & chips & salsa counts as GOOD carbo loading, ha) the night before or get up at the butt crack of dawn. NICE.

But honestly, I cannot believe all of the training for the VA Beach Rock N Roll Half Marathon is over! And it is so hard to believe I actually finished the race without walking. It was an amazing experience. I am so proud of all of my Janes girls and of myself. I am so glad new friendships have been formed and that we all got through it.

The race was Sunday, September 6th. We left for VA Beach on Friday to get a head start on the wknd. We went to the expo first and got our race #'s & goodie bags. I (along w/ my running partner)had for some weird reason been assigned corral 23 with an estimated finish time of 2:55. UMM, NO, that would not cut it. I mean I know I am slow but I finished the 1/2 marathon in May WALKING probably 30+ % of it in 2:48. I was not going to stand for a 2:55 corral. So runnig buddy & I moved to corral 19, the 2:30 corral. I KNEW I would not do 2:30, but I knew I would be close. So that corral worked for us. Friday night we went to a yummy dinner and had the last of the bad for you food and drink till Sunday.

Susan & Em at Friday night dinner

We spent Saturday at the beach and went to a pasta dinner on Saturday night with the Janes. Many of them were staying in a nice beach house, but some of us were staying w/ hubbies. So we went and ate at 6 and were leaving by 7:30pm. After some obsessive checking (mostly on my part I think) of bags & gear & shoes & socks and race #'s ect, Em & were in bed by 10 and she was zonked out not too soon after that. Hubbies rolled in about midnight waking us up a bit, but it wasn't too bad. Then the lovely wake up call came 20 mins early at 4:50am. YIKES. But we got up, got our peanut butter english muffins etc ready and headed out the door at 5:40. Hubbies shuttled us and Susan & her hubbie to the race and then went off to do their thing for a while. We were able to get some potty time in (hundreds of port o potties but we STILL had to wait 10 mins) and find the Janes and get in some stretches.

Em at 5:45 am ready to go!

The race began at 7am, but since it was a staggered start, based on what corral you were in, we didn't start until 7:31 ish. And 7:35 I realized I had to pee. OOPS. I think it was nerves, beacuse soon I didn't have to go anymore. It was so exciting and hard to believe we were actually DOING THIS. For the first 2 miles my same pace Janes girls were together, then my partner bailed on us after mile 2...and she's OFF! HA But there were 4 of us who were pretty much together the whole time...if not a few feet ahead or behind one another. I did not take my fuel belt and therefore did not have 4 water bottles. Only the one in my hand held. I was stressed about it but it ended up being fine. At water stops I topped of my bottle and drank from the cups. There was water every 2 miles or less so it was fine. And also every mile or so there was a band and/or cheerleaders. So there was never really a dull moment. Or time to think about what you were doing.

Honestly I can say the race was not hard. Not at all. There was never a point where I was in pain, or thought I needed to quit, or was dying. And as I told hubbie...I think the 10k Freedom Run in June was WORSE than this 13.1 miles. Weird huh??!! But it's true. This race was pretty much flat, aside from a bridge we had to go over twice. There were great crowds & entertainment. Even someone dressed in a full on Woody from Toy Story costume was runnig the whole race. There were hoses and misters to run through and lots of good people watching. The lady in front of me at one point in the cut off short jean shorts was, um...INTERESTING.

The hardest part for me was around mile 10 or so. I was about to go back over the bridge when Proud To Be An American by Lee Greenwood was blaring through some speakers. That song ALWAYS gets me!! There were flags everywhere and I was about to tackle the bridge and I just lost it. And when I lose it or I am about to cry while running I start to hyperventilate. Not good. So I tried to compose myself and take deep breaths - but it was hard. Somehow I made it up and over the bridge and then kicked it in gear. My last 3 miles were my fastest I think. STRANGE!

At about 11.5 miles I saw hubbie and some other friends hubbies. That was great and really helped push me to the end. Now, I know I said the race was not hard...but honestly, the last .5 miles was a little sucky. Not b/c I was dying but b/c we were wondering where the heck the finish line was. The last bit of the race was on the boardwalk and it seemed to go on forever. And the finish was no where in sight!! But then, there it was in all its glory. And hubbie & other hubbies were there too. Because of how the last part of the course looped around, they were able to cut from 11.5 to 13.1 in 2 minutes by cutting between some hotels. So that made it nicee.

mile 11.5

13 miles, almost done

that's me waving (in the white to the right coming) into the finish

My finish time was 2:34:31. I was very happy with that. I beat 2:35 and that was my goal. :) (2:30 would have been AWESOME, but hey, I can shoot for that down the road). As we came throught he shoot (and the shoot was probably .25 miles long and went on FOREVER) we got ice cold water, then Cytomax (like Gatorade), then an ice cold towel (YES!) then a popsicle, then some rice cake thingies (weird), then a goodie bag...then...as we stepped onto the beach, we got a free Miller Genuine Draft 64 (new beer, only 64 calories). I am not an MGD fan but it was good at that moment. We reconnected with hubbies & Janes and had a major photo shoot on the beach. It was amazing and such a wonderful experience.

So what's next? HOPEFULLY I can run a 10k scheduled for Sept 26...and the Women's Only 5k for breast cancer on Oct 3rd. But for now I just relax one more day and enjoy all I have accomplished.
And as Em's cool new shirt says: 13.1? Been there Done That!!