Race Report !

So I'm still tired. Ugh!

I guess that's what happens when you run 13.1 miles. WOO HOO!! I feel great (other than being tired) and so happy to report NO lingering injuries.

The day started off cool, and at the last minute I decided to throw on a jacket. Fortunately, we dodged the rain that was in the forecast earlier in the week. And NO WIND!! Thankfully, very thankfully. Anyway, I didn't realize that prior to the race there would be such a long line for the port-o-potty, so that's a lesson learned that I'll remember next time. I finally got into my corral "T" way, way, way in the back and waited for the race to start. Since there are so many participants, it took me over 20 minutes to get up to the start line. I made friends with a girl easily 10-15 years younger than me, who was also doing her first 1/2 marathon. We have a similar pace so we stayed together for the first 5 miles of the race, and just chatted away while trying to avoid all the WALKERS who were oblivious. I mean no harm to walkers. But the walkers are supposed to stay to the right of the course, and apparently none of them are aware of this rule. Makes it very diffucult on such a crowded course.

Anyway, it didn't take long for me to get a little warm with that jacket on, so I made my first scheduled stop at 5.6 miles right before entering the Speedway. Little water, little energy gel, and I'm on my way. I had whipped my jacket off about a mile before that. Well, I really didn't want to just throw it on the side of the road, and I really didn't want to carry it the rest of the race, or tie it around my waist, so I handed it to a spectator waiting with her baby. She looked at me like I was crazy, and maybe she just threw it away. But darn it, that was one of my favorite running jackets!!

We ran down a ramp through a tunnel to enter the Speedway and everyone started yelling because this is pretty exciting. The screams were echoing through the tunnel. Very cool. Actually the first part of the track was pretty long and boring, and my young friend is too far in front of me now to catch up with her. I hope she did well, but I suspect she finished the race strong. Now with no one to talk to, and a long boring track to look at, things get a little tougher. But eventually, I rounded the last turn and saw the grandstand which was so exciting, and definitely one of the highlights of the race.

Coming out of the track, I only had about another mile before my next scheduled stop at 9.9 miles. Somewhere in through there one of the bars was cooking ribs. I definitely do NOT want to smell any kind of smell, but especially food, when I'm running. It makes me nauseous. Anyway, little water, little energy gel, oh, yes more water please, and I'm on my way again. Feeling okay, but now entering the last 3 miles of the race, a distance I've never attempted. Mile 11 is okay, a little tired, but hanging in there. At this point, I'm checking my watch, trying to calculate my finish time. I'm thinking, wow, if I wasn't so darn tired, I could really push it and have a really great finish time!

Somewhere around this point, I grab water and down it on the run, I'm a little delirious so I don't fully remember. Mile 12 is kinda crappy, and it's at this point I try to recall all the advice that was or wasn't give to me before the race. I'm really trying to psych myself up/in/out whatever. I'm also cursing the man who designed my training program (though 2 days later I declare he's a saint!). I'm thinking how stupid I am for buying in to the bullshit that you can run 10 miles in training, and then turn around and run 13.1 the next week at the race. It's a lie!! Don't believe it!! I'm so naive!

But then, suddenly... I only have a mile left. Wow. I had turned the corner (uh, literally. The course really does turn right before the last mile) and was on the last straight-away. Fatigue is strong now. The last mile was seriously brutal. I honestly thought a couple of times that I might have to stop and walk. But being the stubborn person that I am, I thought of how hard I worked to get there. And there was no way in heck I was going to walk the last 1/2 mile!! I ran as fast as I could to the finish, but there was no sprinting like I do in the 5K races. No, I didn't have anything left in the tank. And I'm grateful for that. I left it all on the road Saturday. I laid it out there and did the best I possibly could. No regrets.

When I first started training for this, I thought it would take me 2 hours 45 minutes to finish. As I started training, I thought I MIGHT be able to make it in 2:30. So my final finish time of 2:21:16 is beyond what I could have expected at the beginning of all this.

Post Race: Well, Saturday afternoon, I did not nap, but I did lay on the couch and I think I became permanently glued to the cushions. I've never been so physically tired in my life. I had some muscle soreness on Sunday, and few odd aches & pains, but today I feel much better, and I am hoping to run again in a couple of days. I have a couple of shorter races picked out for this summer, and then I'm back in training again in late July for my next BIG race in October, another 1/2 marathon!!

Gotta run!