Something to work on!

My half-marathon memories...

I didn't sleep much on Friday night. We had to be at Mapleton City park at 5:15am to catch a bus to ride up Hobble Creek Canyon to the starting line...for the record, 5:15am is later than I normally get up, so it wasn't that bad! I was more worried about IBS, or as we call it in our family "Strong Bowel Syndrome". I have heard horror stories about runners that would sit, stand, squat right off the side of the road to "relieve" themselves. I'm sure this happens in marathons, but I'll just say that even though we tried not to stand down wind from the port-a-potties, it didn't matter because people weren't only using the port-a-potties. Anything with enough foliage to hide in was used. Gross! So because I was so nervous of being at mile 7 and being miserable with a growly stomache...etc...I took 2 Imodium tablets and didn't even care that they expired in 2003. I know, TMI! But hey, it worked!

I was so glad that Will was doing this with me. He had had some muscle spasms in his calf two days before and he hobbles out of bed every morning because he has plantar fasciitis, which is SUPER painful (from wearing combat boots all day, every day and especially on the 30 mile TREK we did in July) and wasn't going to run - but for me, he did it even though it was pretty much a walk in the park for him! He's used to marching a much longer distance WITH 65 pounds of gear...and a gun. Our motto: bloody stumps!

I felt REALLY good until mile 8 when my left hip started to hurt with every step. I would pull off the side of the road and do hula-hoop moves to try to stretch it out. It would work for a while and then I'd have to stop and do it again. Mile 10 - hey, it's only a 5k, right! Will pushed me on as I squirted 2 energy gel packs into my mouth. I honestly thought that I was having a heart attack. My heart had more energy than my hips, unfortunately. Mile 12 - I set a goal out-loud to Will that I wasn't going to stop until we finished. 1.1 miles to finish. People who had already finished the race (almost an hour before :( ) were running back along the race course and some of them were cheering the still-running runners on. Two finishers ran with Will and I for a while and tried to distract me from thinking that I needed to stop, by telling jokes.

no fault of the picture taker - THANKS ASHLEY, but why in the world did I think it was okay to go out into public like this? Honestly!!

Final corner, Will made sure that I was ahead of him. He completely fell on his sword to make sure I looked good and respectable. I love him! I looked up to see my time and saw that I was a lot further behind than I thought. I had set a goal before to finish before 2 hours and 30 minutes thinking that I could waaaay beat that time. The time that it takes some runners to run a FULL marathon. Yeah, run fat girl, run! But I thought for sure that I could finish in around 2 hours. The time said 2:26:59 when I looked at it. My WORST fear was to finish last, but I had managed not to do that. This is the e-mail I got with all my race details:

Congratulations on finishing the Hobble Creek Half Marathon on August 22, 2009. For your records, the weather that day was warm and beautiful.

There were 155 finishers in the Female 35 to 39 age group and 1100 finishers in the race.

Your overall finish place was 961 (lets see...1100 minus 961 is...) and your age group finish place was 143. (my sister Jill took #18 in our age group - 50 minutes before I finished - try being a sister to THAT!) Your overall finish percentile was 87 while your age group percentile was 92. Your time of 2:27:01.6 gave you a 11:05 pace per mile.

I actually just found out that my REAL time was 2:25:09.8 because it took almost 2 minutes for me and Will to walk to the starting line where the timer chip we wore on our shoes started OUR clock. So, I'll take off every second I can!

Again, my goal was not to finish last and do it before 2 hours and 30 minutes. So why am I now thinking that what I accomplished was not good enough? Every time I take a step down a stair and feel the horrible pain in my hips and legs, I'm proud of myself because I did it. I wouldn't call it "fun", but it helped give me the boost of self-confidence that I needed - for that afternoon, anyway. It's still so hard not to compare myself with others around me.

Last year - sky diving. This year - half marathon. Next year - I think I want to go to Hawaii!


Thanks to my best friend, Will for being by my side in all the things I try to take on. He's my biggest fan and I can't imagine accomplishing anything without his nonjudgmental, uplifting, who cares how much I jiggle, support.