Bowl of Berries

* 29 Run a half marathon-COMPLETED March 28, 2009

I didn’t think I would actually complete this goal but this past Saturday, Scottie and I both accomplished this fantastic feat!

The morning started off  early, 6am the alarm went off and I opened my eyes and my heart instantly started pumping fast.  It was almost like Christmas or Prom (for girls), you wait so long for one day…you prepare and plan and the morning of that event you just wake up excited.  I quietly crept downstairs so as to not wake up Mom and Dad.  I toasted up an english muffin, slathered it in almond butter and grabbed a banana and a glass of water.  I sat down and realized there is nothing on at 8am on Saturday monring.  After numerous infomercials I ended up on CNN where I became an expert on the floods in North Dakota.  At 6:45 I woke Mom and Dad up with cups and coffee and got ready.  I had packed up my gym bag with extra clothes, Larabars and my race number. At 7:15 we were out the door to pick up Scottie.  We were right on scheudle, or so I thought.  Somehow the drive to downtown took much longer then anticipated and as the clock crept closer to 8am, Scottie and I pnned our numbers on, adjusted our knee vraces and got ready to bolt out the car.  Mom and Dad parked the car and Scottie and I raced to the hotel to get our timing chip.  My hands were shaking because I was nervous, excited/ freaking out because we were going to be late!  We ran to the start line and I had just enough time for a porta-potty break and push our way into the crowd of people.  It was at this point that I realized I left my Shot Bloks in the car, I started to freak as I knew I would need that calorie boost about half way through.   I tried not to think about it and instead had to make a point to get some Gatorade at the water stations. No less then 2 minutes later the gun went off, thought it took up about 30 seconds to cross the starting line.

I was in such a state of excitement that I could literally feel the adrenaline pumping and my heart rate racing, and sure enough 1/2 mile into it I had a horrible side cramp.  Of all things to go wrong first, not my knees, it was a side stitch that got me.  So I knew I had to calm myself down and get into a good rythym.  I lost Scottie pretty quickly as we did the first couple miles downtown.  I saw Mom and Dad at about 1.5 miles and waved and smiled to them.  I think that was the end of the smiling for me until the end.

After leaving downtown we ran up Hillsborough Street, passing NC State then running near the fairgrounds, this is where I saw my firest mile marker, 6 miles down 7 more to go…not quite halfway.  I started to feel some blisters form which was not good but it wasn’t painful so I tried to block it out.  At mile 8 I hit a weird bliss state.  I got really happy and calm.  We were running througharound the Art Museum and there was a drum circle which really ampted me up.  Then came the evil hills.  About a mile’s worth of hills, I could have killed someone…but I channeled my inner cross country running and barreled up the hills.  I was not going to stop!  The miles after this were a bit of a blur.  I started bargaining in my head that the last 2 miles was simply a run from my house to Scottie’s house and that it woudl be no problem.  I started thinking about food and the massive breakfast I would have after the run, then I got all excited to see Mom and Dad at the finish lne and was trying to figure out how I would be at the finish.  Would I collapse, cry, keep running?  As I made the final turn I see Scottie, I looked for his finishing medal but he was without it, I almost started to cry as he told me he was waiting to finish with me.  This was our goal to finish and we were going to finish together.  I don’t want to think about how long he actually waited but I am so thankful he did.  The last 100 meters were the longest ever but I picked up speed somehow as we approached the finish.

The faces of utter relief

We finished at 2 hours and 20 minutes, 1094 and 1095 out of 1514 finishers.  The time didn’t matter to me I was just happy to be done.  My hips started to bother me near the end so that is something I need to research and work to strengthen.  I inhaled 3 orange slices, a banana and 1.5 Gatorades at the finish.  We met up with my Parents and Scottie’s Mom, who was apparently at the Art museum, but I totally missed her and her pom poms, I was in the zone I suppose.  We chatted for a bit before heading out to the Flying Biscuit for a delicious post race meal.

I was quite sore the rest of the afternoon, but I was able to walk around with Mom that afternoon and stay away for most of the night before crasshing at 10pm.  I soaked in hot salt water which really seemed to help the soreness.  I also need to reserach  and develop a post race plan so I can combat some of the sorness.  Sunday I was still tight but we walked to dogs for about 2 miles which helped alot.  Today I am almost back to normal and even started a new workout DVD this morning (more on that to come.)

Overall, I am beyond proud of our accomplishment.  It’s funny, I don’t really rememebr all of the pain I was in while running those last few miles and am already looking forward to the next race to train for.  Don’t they say childbirth is like that?  You forget all of the pain and focus on the reward?  I do think I will research training plans for a marathon this fall, I will need to decide soon because 26 miles is quite a challenge as compared to 13 miles,  both mentally and physically.  But I am in probably the best shape of my life and I want to keep it up!

Let this also be a lesson that you really can do whatever you want to if you put your mind to it.  Running it just as much mental as it is physical and you really have to believe that you can do it!

This entry was posted on Monday, March 30th, 2009 at 9:55 am and is filed under 101 List, Fitness. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.