Sorry this post has taken so long to write. I have been so tired after getting home because of the half. As most of you know, my Dad and I ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon on Sunday, May 2nd. This was the weekend after the Derby Mini Marathon so needless to say, I didn’t have high expectations. I had taken it pretty easy the whole week while I recovered from the mini.
After all the fun on Saturday, we headed to bed. I slept terribly. I estimate that I got probably 4 hours of sleep because I couldn’t fall asleep AND I woke up 2 hours (3am) before my alarm went off! I know that I did not get restful sleep for the time that I was asleep. I tried to sleep for the extra 2 hours but I knew it was useless. I’ve never had that much trouble sleeping before a race.
Once we did get up, our worst fears came true. It was raining hard and we even saw lightening. But, we paid for the race and we had come to finish it together so we decided we were going to do it regardless of how miserable it would be!
Getting our oink on!
Because of the bad weather, Dad came prepared with trash bags. We knew that they couldn’t keep us totally dry but I appreciated them keeping me warm and dry until the start line.
We finally left and walked over the bridge (same bridge that we would be running over later) and experienced all the fun of lightning and ran. I felt like I was walking in puddles! Totally not fun!
After 1.1 miles, we arrived at the start line with about 22,000 other people. We hopped into the corrals wherever we could get in. Dad set a goal time of 2:40 for us to finish. Since my personal best the week before was 2:46, I told him that I didn’t think that was realistic for me. But we had our goal in mind (my goal was just to finish).
Right before the start, thunder clapped and everyone cheered. Kind of a neat start to the race. Then we were off. My feet were soaked but I was really excited about running this race with my Dad. Now, I am not a good runner. I have a very hard time motivating myself and I have to work hard to run as much as I do in these races. With that being said, I thought we had a great start. I ran the first 4 miles or so and then had to stop to walk up a giant bridge. That’s really good for me. Dad is a much better/faster runner than me so I tried to run as much as possible so that he wouldn’t get frustrated.
Shortly after the bridge, we hit our first water stop. It was a complete bottleneck! We finally got through and I was disappointed to taste the water and gatorade. They had a weird metallic taste to them. I also remembered that somehow in the mess of all the rain and everything, I didn’t stretch at all before I started the race. This is not good for my bad foot so I had to stop and stretch after I drank my water.
We continued on into the park and all of the steep hills. I was obviously not prepared and it showed in the pain that I had in my foot (different from my normal injury) and the trouble I had walking up them. I thought when I started to experience all this pain that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race. With it only being mile 7ish I thought I was through. In fact, I almost started crying I was in so much pain!
After we got through all the hills, it was literally all downhill from there. I started to run (I had walked the vast majority of 2-3 miles with the pain in my foot) and found it much easier after getting through the hills. I still had to stop and walk much more than Dad wanted to but he was determined to stick with me. We split from the marathoners and we realized that we were at the top of a hill. I ran down almost all of that hill (despite the toll it was taking on my knees) and was thankful to see mile 9 and 10. Needless to say, the last 3 were really rough. Dad made me run almost the entire last mile. I was in so much pain (leg pain came back around mile 12) and didn’t think I could make it. I could literally see the finish line less than 0.1 of a mile and I kept yelling to Dad “I can’t do this” and “Don’t leave me!” but I successfully ran to the finish line! I was never so happy to be done with a race!
(Taken the day before)
Dad and I finished 1 second apart. Dad was 2:55:58 and I was 2:55:59. That is an awesome time considering what I have put my body through the last 2 weeks, not having a good night sleep, and having water logged feet (only 1 blister!).
Showing off our Medals!
This is a shot of the front and back of the medal. How awesome is that!
Thanks for bearing with me as I got through all the gory details of the soggy run! 2 down 1 to go! Can’t wait to do the Geist Half on May 22nd. That will make 3 half marathons in 30 days!
