Rock 'n Roll

My First Half Marathon

welcoming sunset the first night in town...and yes Lisa--it was a sun 'set' :)

I am always happy to visit my family in Phoenix during the winter, however this trip I was especially excited.  After training for months in freeeeezing temperatures--I was headed down to run my very first Half Marathon and it was going to be WARM, not to mention at a much lower altitude.

First on the agenda was a trip to the Expo to pick up our race packets and shop around for race memorabilia.  Then it was off to Bucca di Beppos for the requsite carbo-loading dinner

There were 5 of us from Chinle who ran this weekend--the four girls stuck to the half marathon, and Geoffrey was courageous enough to register for the full marathon.

Sam was nice enough to drive us all the way to the start line, so we didn't have to rely on a succession of various shuttles from the hotel to the finish line and from the finish line to the start. 

We had to be there pretty early--we probably got there about 6:45 (race start time was 8:30)

My Goal was to break 2 hours...and while I didn't quite make it I came very close--and by the end I definitely felt like I gave it all I had so I was very proud of myself. 

 

I stuck with my friend Lisa for the first 5 miles which kept my splits nice and low to start...but may also be why my legs couldn't move during the last five miles) ;)   Either way, I was very motivated running with her so I think my time only benefited from trying to stick with her.   I was starting to stress out after seeing my splits so low for so many miles in a row  (I only needed to stay under 9:09 minute/mile to break 2 hours ) so after mile 5 I eased up a bit and let my friend eventually get out of site. 

After relaxing for a mile or so I fully intended to pick up the pace again, waves of people kept passing me, and more than once I spotted someone and thought "okay--I am going to stick with this person"....and about 10 seconds later I would realize they too had passed me. 

My lungs felt great, my cardio training at high altitude worked great--it was just my legs.  Quads and calfs could barely keep going --so while I couldn't seem to go any faster, and later the splits revealed that yes I did actually keep slowing down, I never stopped.  (I stopped once during an 10 mile training run at about mile 8 and realized how hard it is to get going again once I stop--so I vowed not to stop at all during the second part of the race.) And while walking seemed nice at times, being done is what I was shooing for and I kept telling myself I would be done faster if I kept running  (okay--let's be honest I was at barely jogging pace at this point ha ha)

The last 2.1 miles dragged on...and on...and on...  and I was not the only one to think so.  Partly it was because the course curved a lot at the end, so you didn't have a visual on the actual finish line from very far away, and partly because there was one part in particular that tricked us into thinking we were at the finish line already, but probably still had a half mile to go.  And lastly, because I was familiar with the course, and when I hit 12 miles, I was thinking "we end at the stadium, and we are still very far away..."  when I eventually made it to the finish I had no juice left in me--even though I had always trained to have a sprint left for the last quarter mile. 

Here is me almost to the finish line,  The first time I saw Sam and Rachel--and I was so happy to see them cheering me on I felt it was definitely worthy of slowing down for a photo op.....or maybe becuase I was already going as slow as molasses, and my legs didn't seem to be going anywhere, I might as well smile and enjoy the moment of making it this far.  (especially to have it documented)

I Did it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!