AZ Distance Classic Half Marathon 2013

Today was the day!  I woke up bright and early at 4:55am after a night of tossing and turning and not being able to shut my brain off.  Crap.  Top that off with the thermostat reading that it was 48F outside, and it wasn't even dawn yet.  Double crap.  Got ready, got picked up by my friend C, stood outside in the freezing wind (I literally went to the bathroom so that I could hide in the porta potty for more heat!), stretched, got lined up to run, and then had to listen to the blather of all the important race officials.  One cool thing was that when they started playing the national anthem, we all turned east toward the flag...and the sun chose that very moment to crest over the mountains.  The murmur through the crowd was AWESOME.  Then, wheelchair athletes are off!  Then...we're off!

C in the truck prior to us getting out and freezing our butts off, around 6am.

Pre-race yoga.  It was about the warmest place to be prior to sunrise.  

Look at aaaaalllll those medals!

My view while waiting for the gun to go off.  So many people!

Honestly, most of the race is a blur to me.  When your race is 13.1 miles, you start forgetting exactly what happened when.  However, just for my own posterity, I'm going to try to put down here what I do remember.

The start - hey, cool, there are pacers in this race!  They all had balloons tied to them with their intended finishing times.  I positioned myself just behind the 2:15 balloon, figured out who had the 2:30 balloon (so that I could try to stay ahead of them), and ran off to one side of the huge amount of people in order not to get tripped up.  Turning on my iShuffle, I had to laugh because Maroon 5's Payphone was the first song that came up - I was just telling my husband last night how weird it was that I find the song super motivating when I run.  There was just enough of a breeze in my face for the first few miles that, if I got too close behind the 2:15 pacer, her balloon would bounce off my head.  Lol!  So cold at first too - my feet and hands were frozen, but luckily they warmed up after just a mile (like I expected).  Also, as soon as the gun went off, I thought "wow, I have to pee."  Um...crap.  There were porta potties at every water station, I just thought "there's a line right now, I really can't wait and go," so I just kept bypassing them until I...just...lost the urge.  Hmm.

The hills were not as bad as people made them out to be.  Maybe it's just because I've been doing a lot harder hill training, but the gentle rolling hills were a bit challenging because they were longer, but they were totally do-able.  I saw a quote the other day that said "use hills as an opportunity to pass people," and boy did I do that!  So many people walking once they got to the hills.  The police presence to guide traffic and runners was phenomenal - I couldn't believe how many cops were out (but with 2000 people running, I guess you need a bit of crowd control!).  The people watching and cheering were great too!  I saw my friend C about a mile ahead of me when I was at mile 6 and she was at mile 7 (we passed each other since I was approaching the turnaround point and she had passed it already).   WAVE!  Lol.  I made it almost 5 miles before I felt any need to start hydrating, so my plan to super hydrate the past few days worked out awesome.

I didn't have to walk until mile 8.  8.  How awesome is that?  And even then, I got into the habit of slowing to a walk when I got to a water station, taking both Powerade (GROSS) and water, drinking it (while walking), throwing away the cups, and then going back to running.  The 20-30 second walking breaks every 2 miles really helped me feel like I could make it to the end of the race.  I did, however, take a walking break in the middle of nowhere just after mile 9 - it was uphill and I was getting fatigued.  I'd had an energy gel but it hadn't kicked in yet, so I was just...tired.  However, after that, I was able to just keep going.  Turning the corner for the final half mile of the race, I was actually able to sprint to the finish.  SPRINT.  Okay, sprinting after running 13 miles make me go from a 10:00/mile to a 8:00/mile, but still!  So pleased with that.  The girls, my MIL, and the husband were cheering for me and I saw them!  Made me happy.  Also, the very last song that came on my iShuffle as I came toward the finish line?  Maroon 5's Payphone, again.  Ha!  What a way to round out the race.

Look, I'm levitating!  I also beat every single one of these other runners to the finish line.  :D

Just noticing the girls and my MIL off to the side cheering.

I crossed the finish line with an official time of 2:12:43.  WOW.  My goal was to finish in less than 2:30, and I had secretly hoped I could finish closer to 2:10.  I did it!  Wow, I did it!  I can't believe I just ran 13.1 miles - I've never done that before!

***I would also like to note that the 2:15 pacer finished ahead of me.  See my time?  See the time the pacer was supposed to finish at?  I have some choice words for the ladies, because they finished probably a full 3 minutes ahead of me.  Why be a pacer if you're not going to keep the pace?!??***

As soon as I crossed the finish line and stopped moving, the pain set in.  My calves were on fire, my right knee was having problems bending, and my right hip was aching something fierce.  One lady pointed out the medical tent to me, but I figured I could just walk this off.  Collected some water, my medal, food, and exited out to find the family.  Found them as well as C and her family, and then I needed to walk.  After other races, I walk just to cool down.  Today, it was more of a if-I-stop-moving-I-feel-like-I'm-going-to-die feeling.  It was not. good.  Even walking, my calves still hurt really badly.  Stretching wasn't helping either.  I felt this rising panic that I was going to have some super painful cramps in a few minutes, which brought on nausea.  GREAT.  I don't know what did it (I'm leaning toward the banana I ate), but my muscles finally started to feel normal again after about 10-15 minutes.  Oh, thank goodness, I could finally sit and relax a bit.  The athletic tape I had wrapped around my big toe before the race to prevent my callus from rubbing in my shoe had created an opposite effect - a blister on the toe it rubbed against!  Crap.  Oh well, at least it didn't hurt.  With my knee and hip still hurting, it was walking with a limp on the menu!

It was about time for L to do her kids' race.  I finally figured out where she needed to get her registration stuff done about 2 minutes before the race started, and then we went to line up at the starting line.  She did the shortest distance - 1/4 mile - and did it with me, her friend B from preschool, and a slew of other kids.  As my husband puts it, L has no impetus to run fast.  She runs like she's out to smell the daisies at the park, not like zombies are after her to eat her brains.  Still, she enjoyed it, and she loved the medal she got for the effort.  (for the record, when we were halfway done, I could hear her panting.  Panting!  And she hadn't even gone that far or fast!  Lolololol)

Walking to the start line, L holds my hand and B's hand

Okay, L, now we have to RUN! Run after the other kids!

Me:  We're dead last, aren't we?  L:  Lalalalala, feel the wind in my hair!

Hey, L, focus, we need to finish the race - I know your Ng-Ng and sister are over there cheering for you, but FOCUS here!

Phew, after all that running, we need a water break!

L and I compare our medals.

Goofy L and I with our medals. 

It was a fun experience.  I realize now that a full marathon will never be on my plate, and that's totally okay.  A half marathon is about the maximum of my abilities, and I find it quite fun.  Now that I've done one, I have a few ideas now to better my next one in October.  I can't wait to start training for the next one!