The morning of 5/7 almost didn't seem real. I had missed so many other races this year that I truly felt that a lightening bolt would probably strike me dead the night before the race. However, I was still alive and well on the morning of my half marathon. Until the night before, I had originally thought I'd be traveling alone because my parents left the night before to go to Disney World. I have to admit I was really nervous about driving to the race by myself, and my step brother stepped up and said he'd go with me. I was really happy about this.
I had to wake up at 5am on Saturday morning. I broke the "don't change anything on race day rule" about 5 minutes after I'd been awake. I stayed at my mom's house since that's where my step brother is staying while he's out of school. She doesn't have the foods that I'd been eating on my training runs, so I just had to wing it. The only thing I could find in the kitchen were some sandwhich thins (only 100 calories!) and peanut butter. I ate that and drank a small cup of water knowing that I'd be starving way before the race even started. On our way out we stopped at a gas station and I picked up a Clif bar, and some coffee which I'd never had before! I figured I'd take the chance. I knew I needed to eat more, or I'd crash halfway through the race.
Traffic getting off the exit in Frederick was pretty congested. I was a little worried that we might not get parked and visit the potty's before the race started, and naturally my nerves were going crazy! We finally got parked and headed up to hit the pottys. I was impressed that I only stood in line for about 5 minutes. I still had about 30 minutes to kill and just walked around taking everything in. This was my first big race event like there and there was almost 7,000 people there. At about 7:15 I started making my way over to where the race was lining up. I said my goodbyes to my brother and went over to find my spot. I placed myself beside 2:40 pace group even though my goal was 2:45 I figured this might be a nice place to start. I was surprised at how slow the start of the race was. They counted down and.. I'm still standing here. Okay.. eventually I was walking but it took about 3.5 minutes just to get to the start line. I picked up my feet and started running. I was nervous, and excited. I knew the task ahead of me would not be as easy as I was hoping because I was extremely undertrained. The sea of people ahead of me was amazing!! All these people here with ONE goal in mind.. to finish 13.1 miles running, walking, or crawling. The first mile went by uneventfully and I hung right behind the pace group. At the very first water stop at mile1, I passed the pace group. They were already walking and I just didn't want to be walking this soon. I ran the rest of my race by myself.. and by that I mean just running along with different groups of people not really sticking by anyone. Around mile 3 or 4 I heard another runner ask a guy with a Garmin what pace he was at, and when he said "11:30" I was pretty happy. By mile 6 I still felt fantastic, perhaps even overly optimistic! I kept thinking "If the next 6 miles go as well as the first 6, this will be a breeze!" And probably within the next mile is when I started going down hill. I had yet to walk, and I'd been filing up on water and gatorade when I got my chances, but I was starting to feel it in my legs. I had also forgotten my sunglasses, or a hat so the last 6 miles were horrible. I was squinting and it really made my face hurt. In mile 10 there was a pretty big hill leading into a development and this is where I first walked. I was beating myself up mentally because I didn't want to walk at all. From here on out there was a fair amount of walking. I was hot, my legs were cramping, my face hurt, and my feet hurt. I was ready to be finished. At mile 12 or so I heard a spectator say "Just up around the next turn and you're done!" I was so thankful to hear those words, but they didn't mention that the "turn" was nearly a mile away. When I finally turned that turn I saw the untrained runners worst nightmare… A HUGE hill in the LAST mile of the race. I blurted out some obscenities and decided that I had to keep moving up that hill or I'd never start running again. Almost everyone was walking. I passed on a few words of encouragement to others as I wish others had done to me, and pushed on. Once I hit the track I found speed in those legs I would have never believed. I was flying by everyone… passed atleast 7 people. I heard my brother yelling at the sidelines and threw my hand out to wave. I glanced at the clock as I was going across the mat. It read "2:40:??" I was thrilled!! 5 minutes faster than my goal! I could hardly believe it. I threw my hands in the air and stumbled over to get my finishers medal and picture taken. I was so glad to be done running, but I felt SO stinkin' proud of myself for what I'd accomplished.
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