Whoohoooo!!!

I FINISHED!!!!!

A very cool run. My friend Lily ran with me the whole way which was really cool of her since I know she wasn’t really getting much of a run. I think she took one stride to my two and I don’t think she ever broke a sweat.

It was a little confusing at the beginning for me because it wasn’t clear if the half marathoners turn around at 6.5 miles of if they just go to the main turn around and find a way back. We turned around at 6.5 miles.

The start line was about .1 miles from the finish so we passed it on the way out and figured out that we had to turn around and head back. The funny part about it (well, not funny at the time) was that I realized we would need to come back up that giant hill at the start (named Martian Madness). I think the hills at the park were a…well…walk in the park compared to this one. For those of us who don’t run much, it was a big hill. If it was winter, and icy, you wouldn’t want to be on this hill. If you were running back in a Marathon, this hill would not be a welcome sight.

I am so glad I did my last two long runs in the park. There’s no way to compare running through streets, over muddy puddles, through muddy patches of grass, and up and down hills, with running on a track or treadmill. Need to make a special note for future training.

I brought my radio but never even turned it on because Lily and I blabbed the whole way. It was good, it took my mind off the running and helped me watch my pace.

Speaking of pace, I had meant to keep a 10:00 pace. And we did ok going out. I think we were about 10:05, then the last 5 miles, I noticed we were making better and better time (and it was uphill), after the second 9:30 mile I realized my partner was pushing up the speed. Very sneaky, but it ended up ok in the end. We actually never even slowed on the big hill, which came and went before I knew it.

I never even got to have a gummy shark, even though I had them in my pocket. I brought two power gels and had one at mile 8 or so. I have a hard time remembering where we were. I had meant to eat the vanilla one but grabbed the strawberry/banana instead. This one has caffeine which I guess is good to keep the energy up but bad for the bladder. No worries though. I had my water consumption under control and didn’t need a break.

We had water or gatorade at every stop and did a short walk through them. Its hard to drink from those cups and walk. I tried to alternate gatorade with water so I didn’t get too much of either. I was surprised to see all the cups on the ground. The people working there were very nice. I think one table had bananas but I thought that it might be a bad idea to break from training and eat one. Probably not needed anyway.

Funniest part of the run was going under this bridge where the sidewalk had crumbled. The asphalt was floating on a cushion of mud and when you stepped on it the whole thing sunk down. Everyone in front of us screamed. Lily ran over it on purpose going back.

There were some clothes strewn along the path occasionally. Gloves and some shirts. I wore my running shirt and cotton shorts. No gloves. No need to do any disrobing. The weather was cold at the start so it was a perfect temperature for the run. The sun peeked out a little during the race but stayed away for the rest.

At some point I passed Christian from the V-board. He looked like a yellow blur on the other side of the road. I think I could run that fast as soon as they could perfect leg transplants. I have stubby legs. I should be 6′2″ but my legs are too short. We were trying to figure out when he might have finished. It was kind of funny in a way to still be running knowing he was done and gone from the race.

At 10 miles I passed a threshhold for the longest distance I had ever run. I noticed that I felt a hell of alot better than the last time I ran 10 miles. That was the point that I was sure I would finish. I knew how I felt at the 10 mile long run, and I felt great compared to that. Maybe it was my running shirt :) A little after that it dawned on me that there was less than three miles to go. It seemed like such a tiny distance (ok, the hill was yet to come but it was small).

Best part of the run was seeing the white finishers tent in the distance (the second best was seeing the guy at the turn around who told us to turn around and go back). We picked the pace up alot in that last .1 miles. Wanted to have a good strong finish :D.

Folks come and take your champion chip from you and they hand you a medal. Red ribbons for 1/2 marathon and black for full.

Unofficial time was 2:10:50 (or close to that, I accidentally reset my watch while eating).

My wife and son were there to cheer me on somewhere around 5 miles, and we saw them going out and back. I missed her at the finish line. She had asked someone at the signup table where we would finish so she could film it. The guy told her “Right back here.” When nobody was showing up at that location, she headed out to find the right spot and I missed her by about 5 minutes we figured. No problem, she was right where I needed her most, during mid run! Heck, at the end, its over, I can fall over dead and I don’t need a push. I can’t wait to see the video.

The finisher’s tent had blueberry muffins and bananas and water and gatorade. We ate and drank a bit and then headed out.

My left shin hurts as does my right hip. Although, the right hip doesn’t hurt as much now as it did last week. We’ll see about tomorrow :) I was surprised at my left shin hurting. I have had any trouble with it except for this past week when I wasn’t running. How very odd. In general, the shins didn’t hurt during the run, just after I stopped. My hip hurt the last 5 miles. I was worried it would get so bad I couldn’t run, but it kind of hit a max for pain and just hung there.

I ate tons of food and drank alot on the way home. I did my 20 minute cold water bath too. Funny how it feels so good now. It used to be so miserable and now its very refreshing, like jumping in a cool pool after a hot day in the sun.

Today is my first day of recovery training (maybe tomorrow is). The marathon recovery is 4 weeks and being a novice, I may take the 4 weeks for a 1/2 marathon. Then I have 6 weeks (I think) until the marathon training starts. Did I mention I registered for Chicago? Did it months ago. How’s that for optimism.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 27th, 2004 at 2:50 pm and is filed under Races, Running. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.