(Blog written Saturday, May 2, after the race)
It's official! This morning, in High Point, NC, I finished my first half-marathon! What an experience. I'm so glad that Kelly was there to share this experience with me: we had a good time.
We got to High Point yesterday around 5 or so and checked into our hotel, the High Point Hotel. The great news is that, without really realizing I'd done it, the hotel I'd booked for us was a block away from the race start/finish, which took a huge stress off of us knowing that we were so close to where we needed to be. In fact, we could see the finish area from our hotel window!
After a nice carbolicious pasta dinner, we headed back to get ready for the morning and get a good night's sleep. Knowing that our alarm would sound at 5 a.m., we managed to turn the lights off at 9:30 (halfway through a good episode of “What Not to Wear”).
After some confusion figuring out how to turn off the hotel’s alarm (hey, it was early), we ate good breakfasts (bagels and coffee!) then headed down to the start/finish area to pick up our race packets. That's when it really hit me what we were about to do. There were many runners picking up their packets (which included our race number and a timing chip that we tied to our shoes), and there was a great buzz in the air.
Pinning on my racing number bib felt pretty official (#1537). (Although, I do have to say, it was slightly disconcerting to write on the back of my bib my name, allergies, weight and emergency contact in the event of the worst-case scenario.) In addition to our numbers and timing chips, we also got goody bags with shirts, hats, pain medications, and a few other fun running knick-knacks.
Around 6:40 or so, Kelly and I dropped our bags off back in our hotel room, used the restroom one last time, then headed down to the start line! There were at least 1,000 people running the marathon or half-marathon (which started at the same time and ran together for the first 7-8 miles). Kelly and I agreed before the race to run at our own paces, so within the first quarter mile or so we had split.
At first, I worried about other runners--who was passing me? Who was I passing? I tried hard not to let others influence my pace, since I knew slow and steady would be my best option. I absolutely refused to let myself look behind me to see who was there: I didn’t want the race to be about anyone else but me.
Very quickly, though, I realized that running is the great equalizer. It's amazing. I got passed by women who weighed probably 50 pounds more than me, by men and women who were 30-40 years older than me. I passed men and women my age or younger who looked really muscular and fit. In running, appearances mean nothing. Age, gender, apparent fitness--these are all completely inaccurate predictors of pace.
Once I realized that, it was much easier for me to settle down and enjoy the race. The first half of the race, I felt amazing and strong, and I maintained a good pace--about a 10- or 11-minute mile. The course was pretty hilly, but I was impressed (if I may so myself) at my body's ability to power up most of the hills at a good pace.
We had a lot of support throughout the race from volunteers, police and locals, all of whom cheered us on as we ran past. At one house, the residents had a hose shooting a stream of water into the road for us to run through (which I loved), and on one steep hill a truck blared "Eye of the Tiger" for us as we ran past. The encouragement definitely helped.
The second half of the race, particularly around miles 8-10 were the hardest. Mentally, I started questioning myself. My breathing felt very strong, but my legs started to tire. Toward the end of the run, my calves felt ridiculously tight, and I ended up walking much more than I had the first half. (The first half, I probably walked 3-4 minutes total.) It was only when I saw the marathon 23 mile sign (our 10 mile marker) that I began to feel like I could get through this.
The greatest moments of the race came in the last half-mile. When our hotel came into sight, I gained a whole new surge of energy. In front of our hotel, Kelly was waiting to grab a picture of me. As I turned the last corner of the race, a huge crowd was waiting to cheer runners on to the finish. To be honest, I'm not sure how many.
My eyes were focused on one thing, and one thing only: the "Finish" sign hanging in front of me. I began to sprint. As I drew the near the finish line, the emotion of it all hit me, and I began to choke up and my eyes filled with tears at my sense of accomplishment. I could hardly breathe and had to force myself to gulp in air. A joyous feeling I don’t think I’ll ever forget.
I finished. I crossed the line at about 2 hours and 25 minutes. Not a record-breaking time by any stretch, but it was a good pace: 11:18 minutes/mile, much better than the pace I'd trained at.
As expected, I felt very sore when I'd finished. Right past the finish line, volunteers placed medals over our heads (shaped like armchairs in honor of the furniture industry in High Point). The organizers had water, oranges, bananas and breads waiting for us so that we could replenish our fluids and nutrients. Kelly and I met up and stretched for a little bit before grabbing "lunch" (at 9:45 am)--Subway sandwiches, cheese and cookies.
Amazingly, not too long after we ate, we started seeing marathoners coming in--less than 3 hours after the start. (Somehow I don't think I'll ever reach that level of running, but it's certainly inspiring.) We chatted with another runner who also finished the half-marathon and had previously run marathons. I do think a marathon is on the horizon for me (it is, after all, on My Life List). But I’m going to get a few more half-marathons under my belt first.
First and foremost, I’m just going to relax and really enjoy running. I’m going to have fun running hills and doing sprints and other non-long-distance runs to build up my pace. I’ll keep up long runs on the weekends, but instead of the 8-10 mile range, I’ll focus on the 5-7 mile range. It’s going to be fabulous.
So, here I am, having completed my first half-marathon. Very sore and tight, getting ready to soak in a lavender mineral salt bath and take a nap soon... very soon. For now, I’m just going to sit here and re-live those last 30 seconds: the feeling like I was flying across the pavement, the finish line banner beckoning to me, the crowd cheering, and the joy of completing a challenge.
