Half Marathon - A Recap

2:10:00.

That's what I wrote on James's Doodle Pro yesterday. That was what I was going to visualize during the half marathon. I kept saying (publicly) that my goal was 2:15:00. And Greg and I worked out a pace average (around 10:18) to get to that goal.

But honestly, I wanted to go faster and I hoped I could.

So...

We got up and out the door today at 5:20 a.m. When my alarm went off at 4:45 a.m., I had probably slept 3-4 hours of bad sleep, accompanied by two Nate wakings. It was a relief to have the alarm go off and get things going. I'd packed the entire house in two small bags so Greg would have anything/everything he'd need for the time I'd be running. Food, clothes, dvds, toys, games, etc.

The alarm went off and then again after I'd hit snooze. I heard a noise outside. Thunder? No, can't be. Supposed to be lovely, only 10% chance of rain.

Um. Yeah.

Major storm. Pouring down rain. Now, I didn't plan and didn't have a wind breaker or a hat. Nor does my iPod do well in the rain. Bear all this in mind (along with the clogged duct in my left "girl" and the lack of sleep).

On the drive up, the boys were great. Awake but not fussy. The traffic was awful to get to the Naval Stadium in Annapolis. I had to pee EXTREMELY BADLY. I ended up putting on a long sleeved cotton race shirt and Greg's hat and jumping out of the car with just 15 minutes to spare until race start (traffic was that bad, even though we were there pretty early). I get to the bathroom line. When I say it was 200 people long, I mean, it was 200 people long. I have no idea why it took so long or what people were doing in the port-a-potties (pooping? doing lines of coke? placing bets with their bookies?) but at 6:58 a.m. I decided to say screw it and I got in race line. The need to pee was strong, but I just decided to ignore it until the first water stop, where there would be potties.

I didn't have the iPod with the playlist I'd worked so hard on. But I refused to let that upset me or get me down. I carried my old Rio and programmed in radio stations (plus it has some music on it - "Bridget Jones's Diary" soundtrack and the Best of Tom Jones. No joke).

Race started on time at 7 a.m. It took me a while to get to the start line (2 minutes?) so my first mile pace was 11 minutes or so. Or more, actually. I wasn't sure if the timing chip would time me from 7 a.m. or from the actual starting point.

I felt really calm and stayed true to my slower pace even while being passed a lot. After 2 miles, we approached the Naval Academy Bridge. No joke, it's tall, and long, and high. It sucked but it was early on so it was okay. I kept up the 10-10:30 pace for the first 5 miles, at which point I decided to go with the crowd a bit more. I felt strong. But I was nervous about sputtering out at the 10 mile point.

Luckily, miles 4-11 were on a lovely trail (the B&A) and it was flat, woodsy, and just slightly rainy. By 8 a.m., the 5 radio stations that were broadcasting sermons had switched to music, so I could stop listening to "She's A Lady" again and again. The trail was great. The rain was still there but less so. By that point I'd tied the long sleeved shirt around my waist. I wish I could have thrown the hat away but Greg wouldn't have liked that.

It was on the trail that I really started to pick up my pace. I play mind games with myself and kept on doing the math. Because of the slow first mile, I told myself I had to make up the deficit of those two minutes (that I was slow for the 2:10:00 final). So I started running 10 minute miles, then 9:45s, etc.

I got to 10 miles and felt....great. Strong. No pain, no shortness of breath. So I kept it up. The miles on the B&A trail are "out and back". So once you turn around and go back to the highway, it's all downhill to the finish line (except for a little, gradual incline right before mile 13). So my mile 11 was ridiculous at 8:47.

Mile 12 was hard. I'll admit it. I had pushed it and was TI-RED. But I was running below a 10 minute pace still, somehow. So I kept it up. And then some guy said there was only 3/10s of a mile left and I just perked up. I started really picking up my pace, then I saw my sweet family cheering me on (they'd spent the 2 hours playing "camp" in the back of the car), and then I really kicked it in the last 10th of a mile and sprinted to the finish. My final time: 2:06:29. My overall finish was 415 out of 1104 women runners. So top 50th percent.

In the end, I exceeded my goal by 9 minutes, finished in the top 50th, and felt strong. And it was raining and I didn't have my iPod. Somehow I pulled it out.

I might not be the fastest out there, but I run my own race. And that's the important thing. And I have a lot of support from family and friends (Lauren and Mollie came out today with their families and I was thrilled to see them). Life is good. I feel good. Is there a marathon in my future?

p.s. The sun came out at mile 12. I was actually grateful it didn't come out before but I would have loved to have heard a bit of Beyonce during the run. :)