*Note: I was waiting to post this so I could include pictures...but due to technical difficulties, they will follow shortly.*
I can't believe I did it and DIDN'T die.
Some may remember that I signed up for a half marathon. Perhaps I did it because a part of me will always envy my older sister Laura and want to try to be just like her, or perhaps I wanted a challenge, but either way, I was really regretting my choice a month ago. Summer months in Utah proved to be WAY hotter than the Bay Area. Like, it never gets 'cool' here...not even in the morning. So my running outside kind of came to a halt, but I still maintained my cardio machine/gym workout 4-5 times per week. I was confident that I was aerobically trained, but I wasn't sure if my joints would keep up.
The night before..I about had a panic attack. I had a headache all day because of high blood pressure and was so scared. What if I get dehydrated? What if I get the trots? What if I just can't do it anymore and have to sit on the side of the road and people point and laugh?? A couple weeks before the race I had decided I just wouldn't do it, but then a few days before, I changed my mind because if I didn't...I would be someone who just gave up on things because of fear, and I don't want to be that person. I figured there is no fail in trying, only failure in not trying at all.
Morning of the race, Austin picked me up and took me to the race. The race started at the bottom of a place called East Canyon and Austin pointed to a big mountain and told me that that is the first 4 miles I'd be running up. LOL. "No seriously...that is the race." WHAAAAAA??? I knew there was an incline...but this??? That is what a 5-8% incline looks like??
Those first 4 miles were brutal. I varied between speed walking and running and eventually got up the mountain greeted by the first water station. My mouth was already parch. Mile 4-9 were relatively 'easy' and enjoyable. It twisted through Emigration Canyon which was green and gorgeous with cool, crisp air and lovely houses every once and awhile. The last two water stations were at 6 and 9 but had no caloric beverages or food. And yes, you read that right...there were only THREE water stations in the whole thing!! I think they were trying to make it more challenging.
At mile 10, I find Austin snapping pictures of me. Awww man I look like crap....but yayyy at least I will remember this!! I signaled that I was thirsty and luckily he got my water bottle and ran beside me for a bit giving me water. I think I would've died.
At mile 11 and 12, I was having an internal fight with my body to try to force it to keep going forward. It miraculously kept going and eventually, I was at the end. I was kind of by myself in finishing so people were cheering just for me crossed the finish line dramatically with my arms fist pumping the air yelling YAYYYYY THANK YOU!! OH man....that feeling of finishing and all of the feelings during the race were pretty awesome. In some ways, I am glad I didn't train as much cause it showed me how awesome the human body is when you make it do something. I finished at 2 hours and 30 minutes, so not a great time at all but the point is I FINISHED. And now I feel SO motivated to keep running because now 5 miles seems like nothing compared to what my body is able to do.
I felt pretty fantastic afterwards, but then I ate a celebratory meal and took a nap and my muscles decided to shrivel. After RICE-ing my legs (esp my left knee) and dosing myself with naproxen, I started feeling okay again but still walked with a huge limp. I worked 12 hours on Sunday and 15 hours on Monday and I think it has helped to keep my muscles moving because I'm not that sore anymore.
In conclusion, I DEFINITELY want to do this again. Now I have a baseline and know I CAN do it, and I want to try to do a half marathon in 2 hours and 10 minutes...maybe even break 2 hours one day. Who knows. But I do know that if I can do it with minimal run training (my max was 7 miles), anyone can do it if they put their mind to it!
2 comments:
Yay poops! I'm glad you're not too crippled... going down stairs was kind of agonizing for the first couple days afterwards for me. And Sarah and I were talking about how when we're in Tahoe, we should run the route we used to ride on bikes, from the condos to Tahoe City (Google Maps tells me it's about 9 miles). And then have brunch!
I remember when Andrew did the run to Tahoe City and I thought it was just CRAZY! But then we thought that riding bikes that far was pretty awesome in those days. Ah, how times have changed.
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