First Half Marathon!

WE DID IT!! Rock N Roll, VA Beach Half Marathon, 9/2/12

Nearly 9 months ago my dear friend Aly and I agreed to run our first half marathon. Both of us were never runners and never really enjoyed it. But I decided this year that I was going to stop telling myself that I can't run and instead commit to, train for, and finish a half marathon. I enlisted Aly in this crazy journey and couldn't be happier that I did.

It's strange to think it's over. Not long ago it seemed so far away and so intimidating. And it was. We had plenty of time to train and boy was it intimidating all the way through the finish! It's a weird feeling to have spent so much time preparing for something and in just a few short hours it's over. It was also nerve racking to have trained so much and yet feel completely unprepared and petrified as we stood waiting at the start. Sure am glad we stuck to it - what an amazing way to spend our Labor Day weekend!

There we were, 5am wakeup call. I remember hearing Nate say it was "GO TIME" and I immediately thought I was going to cry. I truly was surprised by how nervous I was. But relunctly we got ready. I'm happy we laid out everything that we would need to get ready the night before. Mostly helped me because when I'm nervous and don't know what to do I tend to walk in circles, unable to focus or find anything. So having nothing to search in a bag for, bibs already pinned on our shirts, and everything else all laid out and ready to go really helped. Nate said we looked like race warriors, and we sure were trying to feel that way!

We had to catch a short shuttle ride to the start line. Walked outside, already 78 degrees before sunrise. Awesome. The walk to the shuttle didn't help our nerves. We got to see the set up of all the water stations and police shutting down the streets. Felt like we were on death row loading that bus!

Yes, I stole some pics from the website - so half of the pics below will have the watermarks. Better than paying for them! Here we were heading to our corral, yes, still in the dark as it was just before 6am.

We opted for the last corral - #20. We were not focused on a finish time, just to finish the stinkin thing so last batch we were. Walking all the way to the back, still in the dark, also didn't help the nerves. Felt like we were all lemmings following each other to the edge of the cliff.

Got to the back where there was little crowding, did our warm up, and tried not to bolt back to the hotel. Nate and Odus were amazing (I'm sure I'll say that 1,248,982 more times) and tried to keep us calm as we waited for the start. "You got this", "Go into Beast mode" were repeated over and over for us. Posing for pictures and goofing around definitely helped too...

As the sun started to come up we realized how hot it was about to get. Mid-80's and high humidity would be our running weather. So Odus, the EMT, said to keep checking our foreheads. "If at any point you find yourself not sweating, you're severely dehydrated and need to stop running and get fluids immediately." He made it perfectly clear that finishing the race is NOT more important and if we didn't listen to our bodies and keep checking for our sweating ability, we could be in some serious trouble. It was a "yes sir" moment as we knew he was serious and concerned. Later we would find out that Odus should've had that pep talk with many other runners...

Then they called us into our corrals. Oh man, it's starting! They announced that there were over 16,000 runners there. Hmmm, it did look like quite the sea of people ahead of us!

Taking in the sunrise and focusing (aka, having a moment of silence as the reality of the situation set in while still contemplating bolting it back to the hotel)...

 
Conversation during those moments before the start....

 

Aly: "Why the hell did you talk me into this again?"

Pretty sure this is a reassuring smile that I offered which said both "I have no fricken clue" and "why did you LET me talk us into this?"

One bad detail about being the last corral - you have to wait for each corral to start and slowly inch closer to the start line as they do. It's like the beginning of a REALLY high roller coaster, slowly making your way to the top of the first big drop. Every move makes you more nervous for the impending doom!

Start line

We were off! Miles 1-3 are always difficult for me as I try to find my groove and get my mind in check. Luckily, Nate and Odus showed up at miles 2 & 3 to cheer us on (and snap some pretty funny pics) which made those miles easier. Finding us in the sea of people must've been tiring!

Don't judge...

After seeing them twice within the first two miles, we told them to keep it up and be there for every mile!

We were lucky to have the guys not only to cheer us on and snap some pics of us in action, but also to snap some pics of other things going on in the run...

 Rock 'N Roll! Live bands every few miles made this race rockin & tons of fun!!

 Some of the costumes were great and crazy to think people ran with flags, etc.

 Yes, PF Changs team ran with this the entire way!

Heroes of the run - volunteers at the water stations. This is a surprisingly difficult job and means the WORLD to those running. Pretty sure I told each one that I loved them.

 And then there were even more heroes with hoses. Heaven. Running up to them we just wanted to yell "HIT ME" but they didn't need to be told and soaked us - huge relief from the awful heat!

Miles 3-12 were a long out and back so the guys couldn't make it out there on foot as they would risk missing the finish. So for miles 3-12 we were on our own. We were in our groove miles 3-6 and were protected from the sun by a mix of clouds and shade. Our biggest obstacle - this annoying family of three who were run/walking the race and we could NOT get away from. They would start running, pass us by almost running into us and then a minute later, dead stop directly in front of us to walk. We had a hard time running past them and when we finally got around them, boom they'd run again. For the life of us we could not get away from them. We were hot, sweaty, and ready to kill them!

But were finally were able to get away and shortly after mile 7 Aly was feeling a sharp pain in her foot. She tried to keep tough and keep going but we decided it was best to check it out so we stopped as she realized she had a huge blister on her toe. We were soaked head to toe in sweat and water from those glorious hoses, which did risk blisters as we ran with wet shoes. Decision point - pop or not pop it? Find a medical station or not? She's a champ, so she decided popping it would alleviate the pain so she could keep going, and she did exactly that. ROCK star!

Mile 7.5-11 the sun came out as we reached a huge field/army barracks of some sort which offered no shade. We were in the middle of a situation we dreaded during the miles we dreaded. Hot, humid and no way around it. People were dropping like flies, either vomitting, passing out, or being taken away by EMS. It was like a scene out of a horror movie - bodies laying around nearly every half mile, either getting treatment or waiting for help. Odus' warning of not pushing our bodies and checking ourselves for dehydration played through our heads. God, please get us through this without ending up on a stretcher!

Mile 8 brought us a gu station but orange was the flavor I grabbed and I almost lost it. It was disgusting! But I knew I needed it so coughing and gagging almost interrupted the run, but we powered through. At the water station right after the gu, this guy went out of his way, came right to me with water saying "I got you, I got you. Here you go, need more? Do NOT give up, keep going!" Must've looked pretty bad at that point :(

Some other pics stolen from the website...

Mile 11-13.1 exhausted and in pain. Both of us have trouble with our right knees and by mile 11 we were feeling it and the heat. Just before mile 12 you have to go up a hill, over a bridge. Not nice, pretty evil actually. At that point Aly's knee was really hurting her and we slowed it down to a fast walk up the hill to be sure we could finish the last mile running.

About half way up the hill I noticed this tall guy ahead of us on the sidewalk. Hmmm, he looks a lot like Jonathan. I must be seeing things. Wait, he has a Ragnar Relay t-shirt on (which is a race that Jonathan had done), is it really him? So I yelled out and sure enough, it was Jonathan! He looked like he just got busted and clearly was trying to stay in-incognito but I was so excited he was there as a surprise and support! He told us Nate and Odus were at the other side of the bridge (mile 12) and he ran up here to be able to give them a head's up when we were coming. So cute!

He started running with us and gave us a pep talk to help us focus for the finish. Then he ran off to meet us down the other side of the bridge. Nate snapped a couple pics of him coming down the hill, looking like a champ whizzing by the others - they probably wanted to kill him for looking so fresh at the end of a half ;)

Aly and I regrouped (aka, went into "beast mode") and started running up the last half of the hill. Coming down the hill we could see the guys and were so happy. Having spectators in general cheering you on is amazing and were what got us through miles 3-11, but there's something about your family/friends being spectators that is priceless and emotional. You can see the pride written all over their faces and feeding off their excitement and belief that you can do it is what you need to make it through.

Then I saw this little girl standing next to the guys, screaming and jumping. It was Andelyn! She came with Jonathan to surprise us and cheer us on that last mile! I had to swallow hard as it made me want to cry. Such a great surprise and at the perfect moment when we wanted to fall apart.

We were ready for the home stretch!

Quick videos of hitting mile 12 and seeing the guys and Andi!

If you couldn't tell from the video, Aly's right knee was giving her some serious trouble, making the last mile miserable for her. But, like the champ she is, she ran through it as we finished the last mile along the boardwalk. 

Waiting for us at the finish, Andi and Jonathan had some fun jumping into the course and taking in what it would be like to be finishing the race :)

The finish line is always so close yet so far away. When we got to the quarter mile we wanted it over with and started "sprinting" (looked more like a desperate and very challenged attempt at running I'm sure). The screaming of the crowd made us want to finish strong and gave it all that we had left. 

As we were steps from the finish line, we reached for each others' hand and we crossed hand in hand with our arms raised yelling "WE DID IT!!"

Steps after we stopped running my knee gave and I nearly fell, but caught myself and started hobbling along. A medic wanted me to come with her, but I knew it was just a little expected pain and wanted chocolate milk more. So we hobbled along, got our medals, teared up a little putting them on, then hobbled over to the edge where our amazing group was waiting for us. 

 Looking HOTT

 High five, we did it!

I couldn't have done this without this girl! Precious moment before we both started crying.

And yes, we are so lucky Odus caught these moments on camera too! We pulled apart before the shoulder shake sobs started :)

After pulling it together, we continued down the boardwalk for our medals and "official" finish photos. 

This picture says it all - Aly's face shows our excitement that it's over and that we made it and my face shows our exhaustion!

Mmmm, chocolate milk!

 The bling outside our room!

Some say as soon as you finish a half marathon you'll know if you ever want to do a full marathon. Welp, my answer is N-O! I'm a firm believer in never saying never, but I could not imagine doing a full marathon and my appreciation for those that do just increased astronomically. I do have a new love for a half marathon and fully intend to do another one and now I feel like I now know a few things I would change...

1. Hair is going in a secure braid. The rats nest that took two days (and a migrane) to untangle cannot happen again. Heat, constant motion for 3 hours, and water are the worse ingredients for my hair!

2. Body glide. Don't ask - just use it.

3. Use more refueling options, like energy beans, etc. No orange gu!

4. Eat a little more the morning of. I have stomach issues sometimes during long runs, so I was worried and avoided eating too much beforehand. But I learned I shorted myself and ended up starving after mile 4.

5. Can never get too much training! I would've felt more comfortable if I had spent a little more time running longer runs in my training.

6. Avoid a summer race! Had the temperature been 10 degrees cooler, it would've been a completely different experience.

7. Calm down and enjoy! I spent too much time and energy wasted on worrying.

All in all, I am so happy we did this. Aly is an amazing friend and to have her by my side through this journey was priceless. Endless advise from my friends helped me keep my mistakes to a minimal. Nate's unconditional support through my training and all the way through those 13 miles gave me the strength I needed.

Looking forward to the next one! :)