***Written October 7, 2019… the day after the race.****

I did it.

I completed my first half marathon. It was one of the most challenging things I have ever done in my life, but I did it. And I’m very sore today.

I’m sure my race day experience isn’t the most interesting story in the world. In fact, it’s probably pretty similar to a lot of first half marathon stories, but this is my blog and it’s my story, and I’m so excited to be able to share it with you today.

The Day Before…

All of the articles that I read, and training plans I looked over in preparation to train for this half marathon said that the week before the race should have very light workouts and you should rest up the day before the race. Well, then the day before the race, Drew (who very kindly did the half marathon with me, more of how awesome he later) suggested that we do a light two mile run that day.

I told him that I thought we should rest before the race, and then he said that in high school his cross-country team always did a light two mile run the day before a race. Since I have never participated in a race of this length, I reluctantly agreed. I figured two miles wouldn’t be that bad.

Except we couldn’t even run the full two miles. I was starting to get really nervous about how we were supposed to run 13.1 miles the next day when we were in such poor running shape the day before the race. We’d already paid to participate and had picked up our packets, so we didn’t consider dropping out.

Instead we just decided that slow and steady would be our pace.

Race Day

I’m sure the 5 a.m. alarm came far too soon for Drew, but not for me. I had already woken up from my second dream about running the half marathon at 4:45 a.m., so by the time 5 a.m. hit I was ready to get out of bed.

I honestly don’t remember exactly what happened. I think I got dressed and then ate half of a plain bagel with some peanut butter that Drew made for me. Then we finished getting ready and headed out.

I drove us the 15-minute drive to the race location. And then I sort of got lost looking for the parking garage we were going to park in. We eventually found it after turning around a few times and driving past it three times, but we got there. Then we followed all of the other participants down to the start line.

It was a pretty neat experience. There were a ton of people there and there were different booths set up. Some people were stretching, and others were doing warm-up runs. There was music playing, and overall it was just a fun atmosphere.

After walking around for about a half hour, Drew and I also did some warm-up stretches and a very short warm-up jog. Then people started lining up at the start line.

Since we decided that we were going to take it slow, we lined up with the slowest pace group – 14-minute mile. Drew pointed out the three-hour pacer and told me that our goal was to stay with her throughout the race.

I was feeling pretty good about everything that morning, and then when 7:30 a.m. hit and the announcer said “Go!” I suddenly realized I had just committed to running for three hours. I had a moment of panic, but it quickly faded. And then we started moving.

There were thousands of people participating in the race, and since we were in the back of the pack it took a good three minutes before we crossed the start line. I had the biggest smile on my face. I couldn’t believe I was actually running a half marathon!

As the pack started to break up, Drew and I ended up comfortably passing the 3-hour pacer. Then after a little while we ended up pacing the 2:50 pacer. I never saw the 2:40 pacer, so we weren’t going too crazy.

The race was going well. Drew had to tell me slow down a few times though, because I was really trying to break lose a couple of time. I just felt really good.

We passed the 5K mark and were still doing pretty well. Drew told me that he wanted to take a quick walking break once we hit the four-mile mark, and I agreed. We both thought there was going to be a water station there, but there wasn’t. We then assumed it was at the 4.5-mile mark and he said that we could keep going until we hit it. Turns out, the station wasn’t until 4.75 miles, so shout out to Drew for running almost a mile longer than he originally planned.

At this point, we took a quick walking break and I removed my outer most layer, then shortly after we started running again. Right after we started running, we heard sirens, and then a firetruck came up and had to drive down the race path. So, we took another brief walking break just until the truck was able to pass us. This was my first time seeing an emergency vehicle try to drive down a street in the middle of the race, and it was as hectic as you might imagine it would be.

Drew and I kept going. At about six miles, I started telling myself (and Drew, but I don’t think he cared) “We’re doing great. We’re having fun. We like this.” I was honestly saying this to convince it to myself, because I was starting to get tired.

At the halfway point, there was a DJ and that really helped pump me up. Then at the water station at 7.25 miles, they also had GU gels. I hadn’t ever tried any sort of race food like a GU gel before, but I was excited to try it. I had a vanilla been flavored one. It basically tasted like a grainy, vanilla syrup. It was fine for being at the halfway point in the race, but it wasn’t life changing.

Also, at this point in the race, I started to notice I was feeling tight. Especially when we would slow down to walk or speed back up to run. At least for me, the second half of the race was much more difficult than the first.

There were only two major hills that we had to run up in the race. The first happened in the first half mile of the race, and honestly everyone was still so packed at this point that we had to basically walk up it. The second hill was at about 10.5 miles. It was a long hill too.

However, the most amazing spectators in the entire world were standing at base of the hill right before we started going up the hill. They were handing out little oranges, soft pretzel bites, and the most perfect two-bite cut-up bananas. Those two bites of banana I had right before going up that hill were life changing!

Also, at this point in the race Drew was really getting tired of me. I was just trying to be really positive and motivational, and Drew’s attitude was much more like, “This sucks; let’s finish.” So, we were clashing a little bit, but we both agreed we needed a walking break after we got to the top of the hill.

Then we hit mile 11, and I’m sure we took a few walking breaks between mile 11 and mile 12, but I don’t remember exactly what happened in this point of the race. My legs felt so tired, and I just wanted to be done.

Right after the 12-mile mark, there was a long straight stretch, which was really mentally difficult for me to deal with at this point, because I could see so far ahead, but I couldn’t see the finish line yet.

At about 12.5 miles, I asked Drew if we could walk. In the most non-judgmental way he responded by saying, “You sure?”

And then I said, “Nope, I’ve got this.” And continued running.

Oh, quick note, after mile 9 or so, Drew and I started calling our runs “hobbles,” because that is what it felt like we were doing.

Anyway, we got through that straight stretch, turned the corner, ran down the hill that we ran up in the beginning, and went around the final corner and then ran (and jumped) across the finish line.

We finished with a time of 2:44:40, and an average pace of 12:34 minutes/mile. If you know me, then you should know that I was PUMPED when I saw that our average pace was literally one, two, three, four.

After the Race

So, obviously, we crossed the finish line and we got our medals and bottles of water. Then we went and grabbed a bag of chips, granola bar, banana, and chocolate milk. We stretched and hugged and texted my mom to convince her that we weren’t pranking her – we actually did the entire half marathon.

We hung out at the race for a while. My legs felt super dead, and I’m sure Drew’s did too. Walking uphill to get back to the car later was not super fun.

When we got back to Drew’s apartment, we stretched some more and then took turns showering. After I finished my shower, Drew was half asleep on the couch. Then when I came back out of the bathroom after drying my hair, he had moved to his bed where he was knocked out.

I was starving, so I made some mac and cheese, and then I tried to nap too, but I had the hardest time falling asleep which is really unlike me. I just couldn’t stop thinking about the race. I am really proud of myself for doing the race and I am super-duper thankful that Drew decided to do the race with me. Without him, I definitely would’ve started out too fast and would’ve burnt out way too early. I also would’ve walked when I was less than 0.6 miles from the finish line.

Next Steps

I loved participating in the half marathon! I am really excited to doing one again in the future, but this time actually training for it so I can try to get a new PR.

Also, after we finished the race, I thought about how the marathoners had to do that whole thing over again one more time and I died a little bit inside for them. I still have the goal to run a marathon, but I think I’m going to get a few more half marathons under my belt before I attempt to go any further. In fact, I don’t think I’ll have the time to commit to training for a full marathon until I finish optometry school. So, stay tuned. In approximately four years I might be back with a marathon edition of Running Start.

Wrap-Up

I cannot say thank you enough to anyone and everyone who has been keeping up with my blog as I completed this journey. I know I wasn’t always the best about posting, and not all of my posts were that great, but they helped me get to where I am now and that was really my only reason for starting the blog in the first place.

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