(Photo credit: Global Edmonton) So I did it, my first official 13.07 mile/half-marathon race. And I did alright, well within my under-2-hour goal, in a chip time of 1:54:55. Here's how it went down....
For the past couple of weeks I had been feeling an inkling of yet another IT band injury, this time in my left leg. It was especially concerning last Sunday when I did my final long run of 6 miles. But I wasn't sure, thinking it might have been just a tight hamstring. This is why if I ever race anything longer than 10 miles again, I will wait until the last possible moment to sign up. Anyway, so it was off to the races I went.
As I was standing in line for my last, but millionth, bathroom trip, before the run, I ran into an old high school friend who said that his goal was also to come in under 2 hours. HA! Two miles in, when I was starting to struggle, he blew by me and finished the race in 1:40. Jerk. He's like, all of 4 feet tall. Just goes to show height and build have nothing to do with running ability. But before he blew by me I was feeling awesome. I started the race strong and fast. Suspecting that my leg might bother me down the road (literally), I knew I needed to cover as much ground as I could while I was feeling good. So off I went, passing everyone in sight, feeling like I could fly. And then we started downhill. A l-ooo-n-g downhill...oooooohhhh, downhill is oh-so-bad for IT bands. This was about two miles in like I mentioned. From then on, my left leg got worse and worse. I did manage the first 3 miles in 24:26 and the first 10k in 52:29 (my fastest clocked time), but then it was pretty much game-over, timewise. I remember being really annoyed with the well-off-types sitting in their lawnchairs on their front sidewalks, cheering us on as we ran through their neighbourhood. I wanted to punch them. At that moment anyone that said "you can do it, you're strong," needed to die. Telling me I'm strong is redundant, I thought to myself, of course I'm strong, I'm doing this aren't I? And you're not. At 7 miles I felt like throwing my iPod in the river.... I get extremely annoyed by music when I'm struggling. But then I turned it back on at 10 miles once I had forgiven the world and just wanted to get it over with.
I also remember thinking how stupid it was to do any race over 10k. Now that I'm a bit more rational and can sort of walk again, I think a 10 mile race would be ok too. After all, if I didn't train for anything over 10k, I probably wouldn't find it so wickedly awesome a distance anymore, now would I? I would probably be plotting random people's deaths after 4 miles instead of 7. So... once I recover (oh please tell me it will be shorter than 5 months this time!) I probably will keep training for at least 10 miles, maybe even one more half (one I can do with J) and maybe a full marathon before I'm 40. But that takes a lot of time, time that may require a certain Moop to be in school.
But I'm glad I did it. I'm happy with my time. I know I could have been faster had I not been injured, but hey, it's always something, right?
For all you math geeks (I'm kinda one of them): Overall Place: 469/1320 (top 35 percent)
Female Place: 143/709 (Top 22 percent)
Division (Female Age 30-39) Place: 49/234 (Top 21 percent.)
Not bad for a kid that always got Ds in gym class.
This is me 9 days ago... I've been a sloth ever since, what with coming down with the flu/laryngitis shortly thereafter. Tomorrow we're heading back to Virginia and though I'm excited to see J and get back to our life, I'm also very sad. I've gotten used to having friends and family nearby, as has Nadia, and it's going to be hard to go back to days with just her and I. (And, of course, J in the evenings.) She has changed a lot over the past 3.5 months and in some ways I think will be easier to entertain throughout the day. She is hilarious in new and innovative ways every day and I'm so pleased my parents got to witness this growth. Her latest word, "peepee." Veeerrrrryyyy useful for our upcoming potty training efforts. 
