Half-Marathon...the Aftermath

Done!

2 hours, 55 minutes, 28 seconds.

Not a world record, not last either.

I'll take it.

I got to run with my friend Chrisy.  This is her 9th or 10th 1/2 marathon.  She considered this a training run because in January she is taking the Disney Goofy Challenge.  That is a 1/2 on Saturday, and a full Marathon on Sunday.  (She's goofy)  We also ran with Angie.  But she took off after mile 2 and finished about 15 minutes ahead of us. (Show off)

The first 7 miles were great.  We were doing a good pace that would have us finishing the race in under 2:45, but there were lots of hills.  Hills suck the life out of you.  Also, I had to pee.  At that point, I would have rather peed my pants than stop to use a porta potty.  Plus, there were lines.  But again, hills suck the life out of you and trying to not think about having to go to the bathroom only makes you think about going to the bathroom.  It also became clear that our pace had slowed, and 2:45 wasn't going to happen.

Around mile 9, I got some Gatorade and found a bunch of port a potties with no lines.  I haven't had Gatorade in years because I think it's gross.  But it tasted wonderful, and helped my get through the next few miles.  But there were still more hills.  Stupid freeking hills.

Around mile 11, I was struggling again.  Nothing was hurting, but I had a problem keeping 1 foot going in front of the other.  I did a lot more walking than I wanted to.

Around mile 12, I was determined to run all the way in to the end, but it was a lot harder than I wanted it to be.  More walking.  Except when I saw the race photographers.  I didn't want to have any pictures of me walking.  But we did run in across the finish line.  I was glad to be done, but I felt like I had to puke.  But I didn't.

After you finish,they give you your medal.  (YAY!)  Then water, Gatorade, chocolate milk, and a bunch of different food.  Too much food actually.  I couldn't hold it all in my hands, so I had to carry it in my shirt.

We met up with Angie and our friend Crystal.  Crystal wasn't running the race, but she was on hand to be our cheering section.  She did the entire route on her bike with a "quiver" full of funny posters, stopping ahead of us to ring her cowbell, shake her pom poms and scream her head off as we went by.  She's awesome!

We made our way back to the van, drove back to the hotel, showered, napped and then head to The Melting Pot to recoup all those calories we left on the race course.  Our friends Noel and Becca met us there too.  It was awesome.  We quite possibly might have been on the verge of being kicked out...not quite sure.  We definitely had a blast, and laughed a TON.  Fondue is fun...provided they give you enough dippy bits.

Back to my hotel room, all alone this time.  Iced my foot, coated my legs in Bio-Freeze, and fell asleep.

Will I do it again?  I'm saying no.  I feel really good running up to about 6 miles.  Anything beyond that is just too hard.  6.2 miles is a 10k, and is the distance you run in an Olympic length Triathlon. So I'm 95% sure that a 10k will be the longest distance I run from now on.  But I will confess, I'm easily manipulated, and I really like getting medals.  So who knows...

Now, I need to leave this quiet, clutter free sanctuary that is the Residence Inn St. Louis and head back to Richmond.  I'm going back to my children, who probably didn't realize I was gone because their Dad spoils them when I'm not there.  I'm going back to my husband, who while baffled by my desire to do a 1/2 Marathon in the first place, has been incredibly encouraging and supportive.

Can't wait to get home.  But I enjoyed this while I was here.

I could NEVER do that...

It is 3:00am, and I'm sitting here wide awake in a hotel room in St. Louis.  I can't sleep, and I'm supposed to get up in an hour to eat a bagel anyway.

At around 6:30am, I plan on leaving this hotel room and finding my way to Market St.  I'll need to squirm my way into Corral 17.  That's where they keep the slow people.

At around 7:15ish, I will cross the start line at the Rock N' Roll St. Louis 1/2 Marathon.

I will "run" for 13.1 miles.

I'm hoping that around 10:00ish I will cross thye finish line.

I'm hoping that by 11:00ish I am back in the hotel room, taking a shower, and after coating my hamstrings with BioFreeze, taking a nap.

As I was getting ready to leave for this trip, I had a lot of people say to me "I could NEVER do that!"  I totally get where they are coming from.  I have said the same thing too.

Actually, I worded it more like "I hate running with a passion that can't be described with the English language!"  I thought those that ran those 1/2 Marathon things were masochists, idiots, weirdos...

Well here I am.  I am a masochist.  I am an idiot.  I am a weirdo.  And it turns out, anyone can be.

I am a slow runner.  In technical terms, I MIGHT be called a jogger.  I'm pretty slow.  But I get out there and do it.

Starting to run is one of the hardest things I ever have done.  Simply because it isn't something that you can just jump in and start doing.  It takes time.  It takes patience.  It takes baby steps.

Back in January of this year, I couldn't run more than 200 yards without stopping.  But I kept at it.  A little at a time.  Small improvements.  Longer distances.  Fewer walk breaks.  And here I am.  Timing chip on my shoe, race bib all ready to go.

I will never be an elite athlete.  It is unlikely that I will ever win a race.  But I have accomplished something even more important.  I have surprised and amazed myself.  I have broke through the self-imposed limitations that I have had for myself for decades.  I have accomplished something that I never thought possible, even if I don't make my goal time today.  And I now impart on you a well known cliche...

If I can do it, YOU can do it.

Seriously...have you seen me?  It's true!!

I hear a lot of talk about people's bucket lists.  I think we should also work on our "I could NEVER" lists.  Because saying "I could NEVER..." is sort of like saying "I'm not good enough to..."

Turns out, that's just a load of crap.

I'm not saying that you need to get up and start running half marathons for the rest of your life.  They are brutal.  This will be my last.  But there are other things that we tell our selves that we will never be able to do.  Some are realistic..I'll never win a gold medal at the Olympics.  But others are just on the other side of the limitations that we set for ourselves.  It could be running, or doing a triathlon, or going back to school, or trying out for a part in a play, or singing in public, or any of a million things that we think we could never do.

I'm going to go eat my bagel now, and try and get a little more sleep.

What's on your "I could NEVER..." list?

SPINNING AND SPINNING!

Turns out it doesn't matter if you live in civilization or in the sticks.  Life has a way of spinning out of control and catching you unawares...

You might get a part time job (I did)

You might be training for a 1/2 marathon (I am)

You might have mountains of laundry to do (I do)

You might have piles of paperwork stacking up around you (I do)

You might be frustrated by lots of working out, and little to no weight lost (I am)

You might have children that continually leave their crap everywhere (I do...times 4)

You might get yelled at because you started a new blog and then never post anything in it (I have)

You might have organized a really awesome craft table for yourself and never find time to use it. (Me again)

You might have vacuumed the same corner every other day for 6 weeks and still haven't managed to bend over and pick up the Lego piece that no-one else seems to notice. (Guilty)

You might have 14 half written blog posts in your head but decide not to type them out because they are either about someone specific, something specific, training for a half-marathon or whining about the world at large (Uh-huh)

You might have a fancy DVR and On-Demand cable, but still not manage to be able to catch up on your TV shows because of all of the laundry, working out, lack of typing, multiple part time jobs, messy children, piles of paper and total lack of motivation. (What?  I was taking a nap and you are rambling again)

That is all...

Back to spinning.