Well, I am writing this many weeks after I ran my race, but what a crazy experience it was. I have to admit that I didn't keep up with the blog as much as I hoped I would, but I simply ran out of time. The half marathon was such a great experience though, so I have to blog about it. Plus, it was what all this training was for.
The half was on October 4th in Brookhaven. David and I are friends with a couple that conveniently lives only a few blocks away from where the start line was located. Kelly and Scott were very gracious and let us stay with them the night before, so that I could avoid having to drive to the race. That was a great bonus considering the race started at 7:00 a.m.
Despite having woken up fairly early we were still running a little late. We underestimated how long it would take to walk there. I saw everyone already gathered at the start line. I felt nervous. People were packed in like sardines in the races corrals. People were already lined up according to their estimated finish time. I noticed that there were only limited places where you could jump in line because the sides of the corrals were barricaded. There was space next to the 1:50 time group to jump in line. Ok, so I knew that was pretty ambitious of me. In fact I knew I was in over my head, but I thought that I'd rather jump in with time group 1:50 then have to go all the way to the back and start with people who were going to walk/run the half.
This would be a good place to talk about my time goal. So they say that for your first half you should never set a time goal. They say your goal should be more realistic like, "to finish without walking" or something like that. Well, that was my goal at first, but then after all my training runs I thought, "oh come on, I know I will run the whole thing, so I should have a time goal." This probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal expect for the fact that I never time myself when doing my long runs. All I cared about was the mileage. So, for all i knew, I could have been running 11-12 minute miles the whole time. I found this online calculator where you can put in your most recent 10k time and it would estimate your Half Marathon time. Well, my last 10k time was a PR of 53 minutes and I used that number to estimate. It told me that my time would be about 1:58-1:59. I knew I'd be cutting it close. The more I read about it though the more I wanted to do it. I'd known several people to run half marathons, but few had run it under 2 hours. I knew that making it under 2 would be a huge accomplishment for my first half.
So I was committed. Anyhow, back to the story- so although I knew that the 1:50 time group would be too fast, I figured I'd stand at the start with them and then get to the right, slow down and fall back with my time group. Well, that is not the way that it went down. When the race started I was so nervous/excited that I just started running with that group of people and forgot all about slowing down. I honestly forgot that I'd started with people who had a faster pace than me. I even remember in the first mile or so thinking, dang, we are going pretty fast.
The first mile was crowded. I didn't even cross the actual start time until about two minutes on the official clock. I wasn't concerned about that though as they had given us crono tags to keep up with our personal race times. These time chips don't start until your foot cross the start line.
Another thing about the start- I was looking for my friend Matt. We had said that we'd meet up near the start and that he'd just call David and find me there. We tried to call him, but there was no answer. He'd injured his IT band earlier in training. He told me that he'd probably run this race slower than usual because of his injury and that we could run together for most of it. Although I was nervous about running with someone (especially someone that was faster than me), I knew it would keep me motivated. So I was kinda disappointed when I didn't see him at the start line.
During the first couple of miles I would try and look for him when people would pass me or I'd pass them, but I never found him. I finally gave up at about mile 5. I figured he was way ahead of me at that point.
The first thing I noticed about the race was that I wasn't feeling very good. My hip flexor has bothered me before when I don't stretch it properly before running. In my last couple of runs before the half I'd noticed that it was acting up a bit. As long as I stretched it before running though I could prevent it from causing me problems. Well, again, I was rushed at the start line, so I couldn't exactly get on the ground and do the ridiculous looking stretch that I knew I probably needed. At around mile 5 I felt the pain creeping up, but it wasn't awful. I figured I could just ignore it.
I knew David was going to be at Mile 6 and Mile 12, so I was looking forward to seeing him. Plus, he was going to give me my hand held water bottle. As I had been training with that thing on my longs runs, I really wanted it with me. I liked it because when using it I didn't have to worry about water stations. When I was feeling like I needed some water I had it right there with me. Also, these Cliff Shot Blocks I had to eat were much easier to get down with a big gulp of water.
Although I am usually all smiles for the camera - I was not feelin it at Mile 6. I just was on a mission to get that water bottle and pop some shot blocks for electrolytes. I was already feeling run down and that made me nervous as I had 6 more miles to go. I only managed a half smile and then grabbed my water bottle and took off. I did say thank you to Matt's GF, Penny who had made a sign for us, "Go Matt and Ashley - 13.1 Miles!" That was pretty awesome. I've secretly always wanted a sign or something fun like that :) I didn't even think to ask where Matt was because I figured he was way ahead of me and I didn't want to be discouraged.
Anyhow, up a hill and then it was onto mile 7. At this point my hip flexor is starting to kill me. I knew that I needed to just stop and stretch, but my time goal was in the back of my mind. I pushed myself just a little further and decided I couldn't take it anymore - not for 5 miles at least... I jumped out of the race and sat down in the grass to stretch.
I jumped back in the race about 30 seconds later and although I felt somewhat better I knew that it was too late. If I am experiencing pain already its usually impossible to "stretch it out." Should have just stretch prior to the race! UGH! At this point I was feeling defeated. I decided that I wasn't going to make my time goal and that I should just re-adjust my goal to "run this race without stopping....(again)." Just when I had wrapped my mind around this idea and just began to accept it, who comes running up to me from behind and taps me on the shoulder? MATT!
He's like, "hey, what's up?" - Not really out of breath or anything and with no ipod to take his mind off the fact that we are subjecting ourselves to this craziness. I was so happy to see him! Oh my goodness I just cannot explain it. He told me that he'd been late to the start line too and that he was forced to start in the very back. He'd manage to get through all of those people and then he found me! I told him that I was hurting and that I had to stop and stretch. He told me not to worry about it and that he'd run with me for awhile.
Matt is a pretty funny guy, but the fact that he got me to actually laugh a good number of times during the race (yes, that's right, LAUGH while running 13 miles) is amazing. I manage to have "broken" conversation with him here and there between breaths -not really talking about anything significant, just comments here and there as we ran. One comment I specifically remember is laughing about all the "sport beans" dropped along the course. Every time we'd see them we'd point them out and laugh while thinking about the poor guy who'd dropped all of these everywhere. Matt was keeping a good pace and I felt like I was definitely being pushed, like that there was no way I'd be keeping up with that pace if I was running the race by myself. I kept truckin along. All the sudden I realized we were on mile 10. I looked at my watch and thought, "oh my - i might actually make this under 2 hours." I tried not to think about that though and just continued to focus on pushing through.
I missed mile marker 11 because I was so out of it. I think it was the fact that I was trying to ignore the mix of pains in my hip and now knee. I tried my best just to make occasional convo with Matt and to blast my music and just forget about it all. After Matt told me were about half a mile away from Mile 12, I told him to go on and speed up if he wanted. I knew he was holding back for me because he knew I was in some serious pain at this point. He gave me a thumbs up and headed out. I watched him as he climbed the last hill of the course and disappeared in front of me.
I started thinking - "just get to mile 12" I knew that I would see David and my mom again there. I thought that if I saw them it would give me enough motivation to push on through that last mile. Over the hill and and I could see them in the distance. I felt like I was going to cry. I was feeling so emotional and so completely exhausted. As I got closer they could tell I wasn't feeling good. They waived and told me good job. I looked at my mom and said "this hurts so bad" with tears starting to form in my eyes. She said, "i know hun, but you can do it - you're almost there." She was right. I only had a mile. I could do it.
I looked at my watch again. I had about 9 minutes to get to the finish line and make it under 2 hours. I knew I was going to be cutting it close. I picked up my pace a little. I got closer and closer to Oglethorpe University (where the race began and ended). I knew the finish line was getting so close. Near the gates of the University I could hear yelling and cheering for the finishers. I could hear the announcer calling out the finishing times. I looked at my watch. I had about 2 and a half minutes before the 2 hour mark.
GO GO GO!!! I had to pick it up. I was haulin it and felt like I was flying past people around me. Meanwhile the course is winding around the university and I'm thinking, "where is the damn finish line???" I headed down and around a corner, nope- not there, couldn't be too much further. Up an incline (yes, an incline right at the finish line - blah!) and another corner and there it was- the finish line! I heard people yelling and I was so excited. I could see the clock - it had just started at 1:59. I continued all out sprinting to the finish. Crossed the line and looked at my watch for the last time 1:59:19. OH MY WORD. I did it. I couldn't believe it. I did it!
Eyes filled up with tears and I was full of emotion. Looked around for my husband. Where is David? I scanned the crowd - back and forth - back and forth. I forgot that I was still in line and manage to get my banana, water and bagel. I looked down and somehow in the excitement of it all they had given me my finishers medal and put it around my neck. I must have been delirious at that point. I still couldn't find my family. There were people everywhere. I sat on the ground and started refueling. I took a second to just by myself- to be proud of myself.
After a few minutes I saw my mom and David walking up to me. I ran to David and hugged him. I could tell he was so proud. Proud and cold. (it ended up being a pretty chilly and overcast day). I think the best part was when we were walking to the car - he said, "I can't believe you just ran 13 miles this morning. That's incredible." It was pretty incredible. I think I had a permanent smile on my face for the rest of the day which I spent sleeping, lounging, eating and just relaxing....It was the most accomplished I'd felt in awhile.
The half was on October 4th in Brookhaven. David and I are friends with a couple that conveniently lives only a few blocks away from where the start line was located. Kelly and Scott were very gracious and let us stay with them the night before, so that I could avoid having to drive to the race. That was a great bonus considering the race started at 7:00 a.m.
Despite having woken up fairly early we were still running a little late. We underestimated how long it would take to walk there. I saw everyone already gathered at the start line. I felt nervous. People were packed in like sardines in the races corrals. People were already lined up according to their estimated finish time. I noticed that there were only limited places where you could jump in line because the sides of the corrals were barricaded. There was space next to the 1:50 time group to jump in line. Ok, so I knew that was pretty ambitious of me. In fact I knew I was in over my head, but I thought that I'd rather jump in with time group 1:50 then have to go all the way to the back and start with people who were going to walk/run the half.
This would be a good place to talk about my time goal. So they say that for your first half you should never set a time goal. They say your goal should be more realistic like, "to finish without walking" or something like that. Well, that was my goal at first, but then after all my training runs I thought, "oh come on, I know I will run the whole thing, so I should have a time goal." This probably wouldn't have been that big of a deal expect for the fact that I never time myself when doing my long runs. All I cared about was the mileage. So, for all i knew, I could have been running 11-12 minute miles the whole time. I found this online calculator where you can put in your most recent 10k time and it would estimate your Half Marathon time. Well, my last 10k time was a PR of 53 minutes and I used that number to estimate. It told me that my time would be about 1:58-1:59. I knew I'd be cutting it close. The more I read about it though the more I wanted to do it. I'd known several people to run half marathons, but few had run it under 2 hours. I knew that making it under 2 would be a huge accomplishment for my first half.
So I was committed. Anyhow, back to the story- so although I knew that the 1:50 time group would be too fast, I figured I'd stand at the start with them and then get to the right, slow down and fall back with my time group. Well, that is not the way that it went down. When the race started I was so nervous/excited that I just started running with that group of people and forgot all about slowing down. I honestly forgot that I'd started with people who had a faster pace than me. I even remember in the first mile or so thinking, dang, we are going pretty fast.
The first mile was crowded. I didn't even cross the actual start time until about two minutes on the official clock. I wasn't concerned about that though as they had given us crono tags to keep up with our personal race times. These time chips don't start until your foot cross the start line.
Another thing about the start- I was looking for my friend Matt. We had said that we'd meet up near the start and that he'd just call David and find me there. We tried to call him, but there was no answer. He'd injured his IT band earlier in training. He told me that he'd probably run this race slower than usual because of his injury and that we could run together for most of it. Although I was nervous about running with someone (especially someone that was faster than me), I knew it would keep me motivated. So I was kinda disappointed when I didn't see him at the start line.
During the first couple of miles I would try and look for him when people would pass me or I'd pass them, but I never found him. I finally gave up at about mile 5. I figured he was way ahead of me at that point.
The first thing I noticed about the race was that I wasn't feeling very good. My hip flexor has bothered me before when I don't stretch it properly before running. In my last couple of runs before the half I'd noticed that it was acting up a bit. As long as I stretched it before running though I could prevent it from causing me problems. Well, again, I was rushed at the start line, so I couldn't exactly get on the ground and do the ridiculous looking stretch that I knew I probably needed. At around mile 5 I felt the pain creeping up, but it wasn't awful. I figured I could just ignore it.
I knew David was going to be at Mile 6 and Mile 12, so I was looking forward to seeing him. Plus, he was going to give me my hand held water bottle. As I had been training with that thing on my longs runs, I really wanted it with me. I liked it because when using it I didn't have to worry about water stations. When I was feeling like I needed some water I had it right there with me. Also, these Cliff Shot Blocks I had to eat were much easier to get down with a big gulp of water.
Although I am usually all smiles for the camera - I was not feelin it at Mile 6. I just was on a mission to get that water bottle and pop some shot blocks for electrolytes. I was already feeling run down and that made me nervous as I had 6 more miles to go. I only managed a half smile and then grabbed my water bottle and took off. I did say thank you to Matt's GF, Penny who had made a sign for us, "Go Matt and Ashley - 13.1 Miles!" That was pretty awesome. I've secretly always wanted a sign or something fun like that :) I didn't even think to ask where Matt was because I figured he was way ahead of me and I didn't want to be discouraged.
Anyhow, up a hill and then it was onto mile 7. At this point my hip flexor is starting to kill me. I knew that I needed to just stop and stretch, but my time goal was in the back of my mind. I pushed myself just a little further and decided I couldn't take it anymore - not for 5 miles at least... I jumped out of the race and sat down in the grass to stretch.
I jumped back in the race about 30 seconds later and although I felt somewhat better I knew that it was too late. If I am experiencing pain already its usually impossible to "stretch it out." Should have just stretch prior to the race! UGH! At this point I was feeling defeated. I decided that I wasn't going to make my time goal and that I should just re-adjust my goal to "run this race without stopping....(again)." Just when I had wrapped my mind around this idea and just began to accept it, who comes running up to me from behind and taps me on the shoulder? MATT!
He's like, "hey, what's up?" - Not really out of breath or anything and with no ipod to take his mind off the fact that we are subjecting ourselves to this craziness. I was so happy to see him! Oh my goodness I just cannot explain it. He told me that he'd been late to the start line too and that he was forced to start in the very back. He'd manage to get through all of those people and then he found me! I told him that I was hurting and that I had to stop and stretch. He told me not to worry about it and that he'd run with me for awhile.
Matt is a pretty funny guy, but the fact that he got me to actually laugh a good number of times during the race (yes, that's right, LAUGH while running 13 miles) is amazing. I manage to have "broken" conversation with him here and there between breaths -not really talking about anything significant, just comments here and there as we ran. One comment I specifically remember is laughing about all the "sport beans" dropped along the course. Every time we'd see them we'd point them out and laugh while thinking about the poor guy who'd dropped all of these everywhere. Matt was keeping a good pace and I felt like I was definitely being pushed, like that there was no way I'd be keeping up with that pace if I was running the race by myself. I kept truckin along. All the sudden I realized we were on mile 10. I looked at my watch and thought, "oh my - i might actually make this under 2 hours." I tried not to think about that though and just continued to focus on pushing through.
I missed mile marker 11 because I was so out of it. I think it was the fact that I was trying to ignore the mix of pains in my hip and now knee. I tried my best just to make occasional convo with Matt and to blast my music and just forget about it all. After Matt told me were about half a mile away from Mile 12, I told him to go on and speed up if he wanted. I knew he was holding back for me because he knew I was in some serious pain at this point. He gave me a thumbs up and headed out. I watched him as he climbed the last hill of the course and disappeared in front of me.
I started thinking - "just get to mile 12" I knew that I would see David and my mom again there. I thought that if I saw them it would give me enough motivation to push on through that last mile. Over the hill and and I could see them in the distance. I felt like I was going to cry. I was feeling so emotional and so completely exhausted. As I got closer they could tell I wasn't feeling good. They waived and told me good job. I looked at my mom and said "this hurts so bad" with tears starting to form in my eyes. She said, "i know hun, but you can do it - you're almost there." She was right. I only had a mile. I could do it.
I looked at my watch again. I had about 9 minutes to get to the finish line and make it under 2 hours. I knew I was going to be cutting it close. I picked up my pace a little. I got closer and closer to Oglethorpe University (where the race began and ended). I knew the finish line was getting so close. Near the gates of the University I could hear yelling and cheering for the finishers. I could hear the announcer calling out the finishing times. I looked at my watch. I had about 2 and a half minutes before the 2 hour mark.
GO GO GO!!! I had to pick it up. I was haulin it and felt like I was flying past people around me. Meanwhile the course is winding around the university and I'm thinking, "where is the damn finish line???" I headed down and around a corner, nope- not there, couldn't be too much further. Up an incline (yes, an incline right at the finish line - blah!) and another corner and there it was- the finish line! I heard people yelling and I was so excited. I could see the clock - it had just started at 1:59. I continued all out sprinting to the finish. Crossed the line and looked at my watch for the last time 1:59:19. OH MY WORD. I did it. I couldn't believe it. I did it!
Eyes filled up with tears and I was full of emotion. Looked around for my husband. Where is David? I scanned the crowd - back and forth - back and forth. I forgot that I was still in line and manage to get my banana, water and bagel. I looked down and somehow in the excitement of it all they had given me my finishers medal and put it around my neck. I must have been delirious at that point. I still couldn't find my family. There were people everywhere. I sat on the ground and started refueling. I took a second to just by myself- to be proud of myself.
After a few minutes I saw my mom and David walking up to me. I ran to David and hugged him. I could tell he was so proud. Proud and cold. (it ended up being a pretty chilly and overcast day). I think the best part was when we were walking to the car - he said, "I can't believe you just ran 13 miles this morning. That's incredible." It was pretty incredible. I think I had a permanent smile on my face for the rest of the day which I spent sleeping, lounging, eating and just relaxing....It was the most accomplished I'd felt in awhile.
Wow, huge shout out to me! I don't think I realized how miserable you were during that race. Glad I helped.
ReplyDelete-Matt