I'm not sure what's more surprising, that I ran a half marathon today, or that I woke up BEFORE 6:00 a.m. to do it.
I am NOT a morning person.
I was pretty nervous about this race, I had completely come to terms with the fact that I would probably finish last (I am NOT fast), I could deal with finishing last.
What I was afraid of though, was finishing last by like half an hour. I really did not want that to happen.
While I am not, and wasn't fast, I'm really happy with the race that I ran.
I was guessing that I would come in around 2 hours and 30 minutes.
I was hoping that I would come in around 2 hours and 27 minutes.
But I ended up finishing in 2 hours, seventeen minutes and fifty something seconds- basically 2:18.
I was really pleased with that especially because there were some HILLS. They warn you about that in the race brochure, but you can't really appreciate that there are hills until you are running them. Also, I painstakingly map all of my training runs to be as flat as possible.
What with the nervousness, and this being my first race, we ended up getting there too early. Registration was open and everything, but it took about one minute, and then I had oh, about an hour and a half until the bus to the starting line was supposed to leave.
Here is my loving support crew, killing time until mommy would finally let them leave (they had a busy day full of soccer to get to.)
It feels like it might be worth noting here that it seemed like almost everyone else knew everyone else, and absolutely everybody else knew at least SOMEbody else, so once these guys left I was alone, alone, alone. Not so much the funnest part.
What follows is a compelling photographic essay of my run, taken with my phone as I went. Didn't want to get bored, right? Even though that might seem like what I'm trying to do to you right now.
This was meant to be a picture of cows that I ran by, but I was too slow getting my camera out, or maybe I just ran too fast! So I filled in the blank to give you a better idea of what I saw.
One of the many hills.
I also want to mention that the three people just in front of me here were good and behind me at the end of the race. Yay.
Another hill, sigh. I tried to make it easier to tell how big it was. You're welcome
In the spirit of full disclosure I will tell you that after running SEVERAL of them, I started to walk the hills.
Same story.
Okay, that line might be a
slight exaggeration, but this hill was the killer, and thankfully it was the last big 'un.
More animals, the fun of a country run.
I was so happy to see mile 7, because I knew that it meant the worst was behind me.
Mile 8. I tried to get a picture of it and I failed, but I really remember this mile marker because somehow in the last mile I had gotten ahead of myself and thought that this would be mile 9. D'oh.
Mile 10!
So excited to be getting closer!
Time to have another energy gel.
Yum.
Or not so much with the yum.
You'll just have to take my word for it that it was mile ten. What can I say? Taking pictures while running might just not be my forte.
Running over a pretty river, and being really careful not to drop my phone.
By the by, it rained (albeit lightly) pretty much the entire time.
Wet feet.
Mile 11!
The reason you can make this one out so clearly is because I was walking at this point, it was toward the top of a hill. Not a gigantic hill, but still a hill, and I was tired.
When I got to the top of this hill it was really hard for me to make myself start running again, and the only way I could get myself to go was to promise myself another walking break after I ran 2,100 more steps (1,000 for each mile and 100 for the last tenth, obviously:) Yes, those are the kinds of things elite athletes like myself contemplate in times like these.
Oh, just me?
Mile 12!
I had somehow made it from the top of that hill, all the way to mile 12 without walking, yay!
I hit my 2,100 steps somewhere between 12 and 13 and though it was
really difficult, I managed to convince myself to keep on running the rest of the way.
Boy was I glad to be done!
I'm not sure what I was thinking signing up for the Goofy Challenge, because I am oh so BEAT!
Oh, and did I mention I'm signed up for a full marathon on June 4th? I'm pretty sure there will be walking aplenty.
Meanwhile, Jordan had been the one doing the real hard work all morning. He had to take all three girls to soccer.
A soggy, MUDDY field, for two hours straight, and an Adelaide to keep warm and entertained the entire time.
They came straight from that muddy soccer field to pick me up, and I was a bit surprised when I opened the van door and laid eyes on my silly crew:
I'm not sure if you can tell or not (more phone pictures) but Rue and Tillie had been SO covered in mud from their games that they were now nearly in the buff.
And Adelaide was
completely covered in snacks.
Once the Handi-snacks ran dry she was in a BIG temper, and yelled at us all until she just wore her little self out.
And then we were home! You might have heard me mention that I "won" my division. I'm kind of embarrassed about putting that out there because while I'm so happy with the race that I ran, and am proud that I was able to do it, I am
well aware of how slow that I was. I really am 97% sure that I was the ONLY one in my division, so I just happened to fall face first into the one and only possible situation in which I will ever "place".
Scary, unshowered, UNphotogenic Lisa, in all her glory, do NOT stare directly at it.
Moving quickly on,
I would like to thank the Academy... and by Academy I obviously mean Jordan, for being so great about doing what needed to be done so that I could run today, and Jerilee! I never would have made myself do this if I wasn't so inspired by you!
And thank you everyone so much for all the encouragement, it really did help and it made me feel so special:)
Here are some official numbers...
Race Time: 2:17:53
18th out of 29 women
51st out of 68 runners
They didn't list the ages in the official results, so I can't officially say I was the only woman 24-29, but I'm pretty darn sure:)
I can't help it, I'm completely obsessed with these little chicks.
