Half a marathon

On Sunday I ran my first half marathon.  I participated in a half marathon training class from January - March.  And I did the 5k training from October to December.  So in honesty I'd been training since October.  My longest run of 2016 was 6mi.  I hit 12mi a few weeks ago.  Sunday 13.1.  The 12 mile run felt like more of an accomplishment, to a certain extent.  I really felt like the effort I put forth in that training run was the most deserving of a medal.

But I got a medal yesterday.  So I guess it's even.

Except for a few long runs, I ran by myself, listening to music.  I have my own special brand of crazy and if I run with people my brain does things like this ... "am I going too slow?  Do they want to go slower?  Faster? Do I look stupid running?  Am I talking about stupid things?  Do they think my breathing is too fast?  Because I feel like I'm dying.  Am I dying?  How is my heart rate? [checks watch] it's okay.  I'm not dying.  Are my legs dying?  Are their legs dying?  Maybe I'm going to fast? What's our pace?  10:30?  That's about normal for me.  What if they are sub-10s?  Maybe I should slow down?  Should I speed up?  I can't speed up.  I feel like I'm dying.  Am I dying?  What's my heart rate again?  What mile are we at?  We turn at 56min.  How long has it been?  12min.  Dear God."

Even yesterday.  The group gives me anxiety.  Some guy yelled at me for cutting him off.  I smiled but in my head (ten minutes later because that's how I roll) I screamed you are in corral 9 buck-o!  Aint like you're winning trophies at this thing!  But of course I did not.  And I shook it off and ran my race.  I figured out how to move within the crowd pretty well.  I felt great crossing the bridge (pictured) and it was super fun running downtown.  When I hit the hill after mile 8 I was in a good stride and the hill blew it up.  And that was when I really started feeling the humidity and drinking all the water.

Brings me to a rant ... it should be required to carry a water bottle at races.  The amount of trash generated by the water stands made my stomach hurt.  There is no need for that excessive waste.  And people are absolute slobs.  I dropped the teeny corner of my fuel packet and I stopped to pick it up because I refuse to be counted as one of those slobs.  As I tell my children emphatically ... we do not liter.  That is a despicable, lazy way to be.  For shame!  Instead of giving out t-shirts the race packet give away should be water bottle with a carrier or something.

 I saw Lewis and the kids at mile 10 and that was very welcome.  It got to be sad at that point because I really needed the distraction of someone to run with.  They wanted me to stop but as I said after my quick hug to Lewis ... if I stop I won't keep going.  I can not stop.

So I kept going.  And at that point I kept saying to myself ... 5k.  5k.  Just 5k.  I can do 5k in my sleep.  5k.  Than after mile 11.  Two more miles.  Twenty minutes.  Twenty minutes.  Almost done.  Almost done.

And my feet started to hurt.  I felt my feet.  The last mile I felt every foot fall.  My shoes have seen 400 miles.  I feel they may need to be retired.  But why Stacy?  Many people think shoes should last longer!  Yes, you would be right.  However.  I have noticed pain in my left calf.  Not pain, pain.  But ... like I feel it.  And it means I have to focus more on my posture, etc.

Also ... the new Ravenna's come in purple.  And ya'll.  They are so pretty.

I wanted to finish the race under 2:30.  I really did.  But it wasn't meant to be.  I crossed the finish line the clock was 2:47.  I was slightly defeated.  But my friends had been tracking me on the tracker and were sending encouraging texts and had actually texted out my results.  I finished at 2:34 when you account for my corral.  So not too shabby.  I would have been happier if I had gone faster.

And I got even more discouraged when I saw the winners times.  The winning female was 1:19.  She is literally twice as fast as me.  I am type A enough to want to do the things that I do, well.  But I will never be that fast.  And I have to be okay with that.  Only 10% of the running population even finishes a half marathon, and I need to be able to take pride in that.

But there is no way I won't strive to PR a half in the coming months.  Me and some new kicks are going to get there, slowly but surely.  One mile at a time.  Running my intervals.

So many people don't like them.  Another friend ran it as her first half, and she was determined to run the whole thing.  She did.  And she finished behind me.  I don't see how but she did.  I'm not trying to get injured.  I ran this one at a 5:1.  Running 5 minutes, walking 1.  I did have to stop and use the restrooms and I did stop and fill up my water bottle three times.  It was so humid.