Post race report from #638

The morning after the day before.....here's the good, the bad, and the ugly from yesterday's half marathon. Some of this will be stream of consciousness, so bear with me....I'm also including a map of the route. So follow along....

My three goals for the race:
1. Finish
2. Do not be last.
3. Finish in less than 3:30.

Pre-race
I was nervous and excited. Ready to get up and go.

Finally decided what to wear. At the last minute added a jacket. Glad I did that.

Gauge almost ate my timing chip. Horrors! I would have had to carry him the whole 13.1 so I could be timed.

We got there about 6:45am and there were already tons of people there. There were some serious runners there. Running around all over the parking lot. We saw Mike F., a fellow GPD'er with Jodi. He was running the 5k. It was cold. Even tho it was 46, it felt much cooler.

Trip to porta-potty. Hate that "oh I've gotta pee, oh no I don't" feeling. Nerves.

Jodi and I went to find the GPD officer who would be driving the tail car. It was Officer Mac S. I turned around so he could get familiar with my backside in case he was tailing me there at the end. I told him to be nice.

Here came the U of M ROTC group. One guy was carrying a HUGE stuffed Tiger. Oh dear. That's what I almost had to do with Gauge.


Start & Miles 1-3
Time to head to our meeting spot to meet George and the other RNR'ers. Jessica & Nicole were there. They were talking about what intervals we wanted to run. Finally decided to just go at our own pace. (Good decision since I never saw them again after the start of the race.) Everybody quieted down for the National Anthem. And then the whole mob of people just started moving. All at once. It was a little bizarre. We were at the 'front of the back'. All I could think of was the scene from the Lion King where Simba is trying to outrun the buffalo stampede. We crossed the mat at the start line and Jodi took off. He cut to the right to go around somebody and then I saw him ahead turning the corner. Bye Jodi.

You could hear talking and such. But you could also just hear running. Feet running. It was kind of neat. I could also hear the ROTC group chanting or singing or whatever you call it that they do. They actually had boots on.....ouch.

Running along. Feeling ok. No pain. Yea for that. I did see Ty & Trenton (my bro-in-law and nephew) on Kimbrough going to church. I waved like a crazy woman - I think he saw me.

A few neighborhood people in their front yards clapping or encouraging or just staring.

5k'ers turned off at this point. Not really a temptation here. I couldn't decide if I felt like I was some kind of super woman or stupid woman for continuing on. Undecided at this point. But I went straight ahead on the half-marathon route.

Most of this leg was up Kimbrough. HUGE hill between Farmington and Dogwood. I walked it thank you.

Miles 4-6
This leg took us from Dogwood to Forest Hill Irene to Wolf River Blvd. At this point, I wasn't last. I was certain there were people behind me. There were 2 girls that were doing a nice run/walk interval too and I was kind of pacing myself with them a little. I was compelled to stay ahead of them. (I believe I ended up finishing between them actually.)

Somewhere about mile 4, a casual Sunday jogger and his 17 year old golden retriever passed me. Nice boost to the ego there.

Up ahead is a water stop - the second one I believe. It was being manned by Diana, a co-worker, and her family. Some personalized cheers, a quick cup of water. Off again.

When we got on Wolf River, there were people who had made the turn and were headed back. I started looking for Jodi. I saw him at about the 5 mile mark. This was about the 8 mile mark for him. We met in the median and gave a quick "Howareyoudoingiamsoproudofyougoodjobiloveyou" and kept going.

Also passing me on the left, I saw Joseph W. ( a guy from church) "Hey Joseph! Good job!" and then I saw fellow RNR'er Wes. Quick wave to him too.

A little gel at this point. Who knows if it helped or not. To be honest, I didn't notice a difference, but I"ll play along.

Almost to the half way point. Hooray! This was at Houston High School. George had stopped off for a pit stop and I saw the water station (those people had become my best friends I tell you - how how glad I was so see the water stations!! I think I told all of them that I loved them.). I thought how odd it was that they set the water stop just in the drive rather than along the street, but whatever. So I trot over, get my water, thank the kids, tell them I love them, and turn back around and head out down Wolf River. At this point, George is hollering for me and pointing to the water station. I thought he was pointing out that tricky hidden water station. What a good coach - concerned with my hydration. "I got it, thanks!" and I kept on running. He *keeps* hollering my name. And this time, so do all the kids at the water station "THE COURSE IS THIS WAY". Oh my - yes, I had run off the course. I was definitely the entertainment for those volunteers I guess. George just said "Where were you going?". Quick turn around and head into the park for the official half way point. I hit this at 1:34:59 which calculates to a 14:30 pace. Nice. Even though goal #3 seemed a bit questionable at this point, I trudge on.

Miles 7-10
Back down Wolf River where it curves and turns into Farmington.

At about mile 7.5 I saw Officer Mac S. driving the tail car on the other side of the street. Not tailing ME. (yea!) He saw me - I waved and flashed him the peace sign. Looking good for goal #2 (Do not be last). All the back of the packers were thinning out it seemed.

There were 2 Laughing Ladies along this part. They were walking and occasionally running. We chatted a bit. Nothing personal Laughing Ladies, but I *really* wanted to come in ahead of you.

Turn into Cameron Brown park. Another water stop. Yum. Then up ahead I saw a man. All by himself. Clapping and hollering. "Go! Good Job! C'mon, you can do it". As I got a bit closer, he cheered even louder. And I screamed to him "I LOVE YOU!!!". (I loved a lot of people yesterday.) He said he was usually a runner, but couldn't today so he wanted to cheer everybody on. Especially the back of the pack where he usually is. There was an *awful* hill exiting the park and he screamed behind me "I WANT TO SEE YOU RUN UP THAT HILL. RUN UP THAT HILL!!! RUN! UP! THAT! HILL!". So thank you Mr. Stranger Man. Even though I know you aren't reading this blog. You were an encourager to me yesterday!

Ten miles completed. This was much tougher than my last 10 - or my last 8 for that matter. Wonder why?

Miles 10-13.1
So only 3 miles to go. I do this every morning right? UGH.

Check behind me for Laughing Ladies. No sight of them.

About mile 10, Mrs. Mike F., wife of fellow GPD officer, drives by on the other side of the street screaming "GO ANGIE!!" Yea.

Mile 10.5, another oasis in this desert - a water stop. As I round the corner and approach it, they all start cheering me by name. How nice. Funny how George beat me to that water stop.....wonder how they knew my name..... Who cares. They were cheering for me.

Longer walking intervals during miles 11 & 12.

I am almost done. Just 2.1 miles to go. I look down at my hands and they are so swollen. They honestly look like little vienna sausages. It was bad. George said what makes them do that? Oh that's what happens right before you DIE.

At about the 12.5 point, I'm approaching the intersection of Brierbrook and Farmington. Another GPD squad car (They were at every intersection. Did a great job of controlling the traffic for us. I thanked every one of them. I am certain I didn't tell any of them that I loved them.) and there was Jodi waiting for me! He had finished in a very respectable 2:05:44 and came to get me to the finish line. I was completely out of juice here. Tried to run. Thought I should save it for the big finish.

Rounded the corner at Farmington and Exeter. Less then 1/2 mile to go. And there's a hill. That's not very nice. I hoofed it a bit and Jodi said "OK let's go". So I headed up the hill. There on the sidewalk were some of my fellow RNR'ers Lindy and Nicole. They were clapping and waving and cheering. Sweet of them to root me to the finish line.

And there it was as I turned into the parking lot. THE FINISH LINE. I saw the little timer ticker thing and it was something like 3:11:54 tick tick tick. I so so so wanted to finish in under 3:12 at that point so I pushed it a little harder and crossed the finish line. I didn't realize at the time that the ticker was "gun time" (which is the time that has elapsed since the official start) and will be a little longer than my "chip time" (which is measured as I cross the start mat and then the finish mat). So my time would be a bit shorter than that. Goal #3 accomplished.

FINISH and post-race
Oh yea! I did it. There were a few race volunteers cheering for me and then taking my chip off. And then, there are Jordan and Cooper and my Mom!!! What a surprise! They had apparently been asking many officers if they had seen me trying to find out where I was. Perfect timing, because they hit the parking lot about 5 minutes before I got there. And Joseph from church came up too. So that was a wonderful finish. With my family and my RNR'ers and my friends and my coach. Hugs and high fives all around.

The Laughing Ladies crossed the finish line a bit later. I went to congratulate them. They said (get this) they were trying to pace themselves with me until I (get THIS) took off and left them. Ha.

I walked around a bit after that and drank some water. I think I ate a banana too. Jodi offered me a bagel but the thought of that was sickening. (I was quickly realizing there were going to be some major stomach issues to deal with. I have found out since then that this actually has a name: Runner's Trots. Enough said.) I realized the more I stood there or walked slowly, the quicker my legs were tightening up. I could hardly climb up in the truck.

We picked up lunch, headed home, took a quick shower, ate with Mom and the kids and shared our tales. Lots of laying around yesterday. Some napping but not much. We were moving very slowly. My knees felt like they were broken. They just would not bend. It just hurt to move.

We limped into church last night (Our legs really tightenened up during the sermon. When we had to stand and sing Jodi and I just looked at each other. OWWW.)

Official times were posted apparently while we were at church. This is how I fared:

• 3:11:19 (last finisher came in at 3:56:54)
  
• average 14:35 mile
• finished 692nd out of 707 finishers (there were at least 10 that didn't finish, but they don't count in this total)
• 302nd out of 312 women

During the middle of the night, I woke up to go to the bathroom. I could not move. I woke Jodi up and told him I thought I was paralyzed. Very slow going this morning. Ouchymama. A bit better as the day goes on. But I can definitely feel it. No stairs for me today thank you.


Miscellaneous thoughts:
Germantown has *LOTS* of hills.

George says the full marathon is twice as long as the half. I really want to question his math. But he *is* the numbers guy... Right now, even though I know I will do it, I just question how that whole experience will be and how I will feel. I need to start checking what San Diego hospitals take my insurance....

Way back on January 26, I did my first group run of three miles. Only three miles. (Who would ever think I would say "only" three miles.) I was so excited by that accomplishment. And I went on to run 7 and 10 and now 13.1. I don't know how I did any of that. But I'll keep doing it and eventually run 26.2.

I was supposed to cross train today. I didn't. I slept in. And didn't even feel guilty about it. I didn't even think twice about it. Maybe tonight I'll do some stretches on the ball. That will probably feel good.

And, according to the training schedule, I'm supposed to run 3 miles tomorrow. I can't even bear the thought of it right now.

Through all of this - all 13.1 miles of it - I never had any pain. Nothing ever hurt. No "itis". Nothing. I was so glad for that. I am certain that if I had not backed off a few weeks ago, that I would not have been able to do the half marathon. I was tired and exhausted and, at the end, had no gas left in my tank. But never hurt. Amazing.

A congrats email from George this morning:
A super big CONGRATULATIONS for completion, I repeat COMPLETION, of the Germantown Half Marathon. Each of you did a superb job, with finishes by all, and in very respectable times: 2:39 and change to 3:11 and change, even though we really did not care what time we finished. But all of you pushed through what were some very challenging points, whether it was the uphills at the most inopportune places, or soreness or pain from one end of your lower body to the other, or just plum worn out tired, you did it! Hopefully none of you has any lingering pains and aches, except the expected soreness which should subside in 2 or 3 days. And the medical experts say that much of the soreness is actually the tiny fibers in your muscles rebuilding, and they rebuild stronger than before, allowing you to push even further going forward! Now, isn't that a pleasant thought? Congratulations RNR'ers!


So, if anybody is still reading after that long saga, that is the story of my first half marathon. I ran a half marathon. I accomplished all three of my goals. And lived to tell about it!