Half Marathon #2 is done! On paper it looked like an easier race, but personally it was harder than the Kansas City Half Marathon I ran last fall. Last fall I ran the KC half marathon just to complete a half marathon. Today, I ran to race. Race against my self. Beat my time from last year...and I did by over 4 minutes. (This is my unofficial time. A half marathon is 13.1 miles. My Garmin read 13.26 miles at the end of the race with a time of 2:14:20...well that is .126 farther than a half marathon. So, when I uploaded my run and my Garmin read 13.1, my time was 2:13. So in my head, that is my half marathon time for today. Clear as mud for all you non-runners???)
When I decided to do this race, I convinced Mark to stay in a hotel near the starting line. We stayed at the Hilton and it was one block away from the starting line. It was swarming with runners this morning. It was awesome. The girls were up before I left, I am sure you are not surprised. They are early risers. It was great to get lots of hugs and kisses before heading out!
The route was basically a figure 8 so I looped around our hotel three times. Mark, Grandma Harding and the girls just hung out at the hotel, stayed warm inside and cheered me on! I saw them at the very beginning, about 1/2 mile into the race, and not again until almost 6 1/2 miles.
This route had a killer hill from about 7 1/2-10 miles, so I knew I would loose a lot of time in that 2 1/2 miles. So I broke the golden rule of running and ran much faster than I should have the first 6 miles. I wanted to finish the first 6 miles under 1 hour and I did. It was around 58 minutes.
Mile 1- 9:37
Mile 2- 9:39
Mile 3-9:44
Mile 4-9:31
Mile 5- 9:42
Mile 6- 9:45
I rarely keep that good of a pace at any race. I was very impressed and felt pretty good. I had a side cramp early on that seemed to subside about this time. The first half of the race was pretty boring as far as scenery. We did run to Creighton, and that was the highlight and very pretty. Otherwise if was old neighbors with foul smelling sewers...yep, seriously. Yuck.
Then Mark and the girls were waiting for me again at mile 6 1/2. It was so great to see them and feel so good half way into the race.
It was all downhill from there...and not literally speaking. Shortly after seeing them my mental state changed. I know it would be another hour..mile 12...before I would see them again and I knew I have a 2 1/2 mile hill to climb. Around mile 7 I started to notice my calf muscles cramping up...it was awful. Right before I started the 2 1/2 mile climb I pulled off and stretched my calf muscles for a few seconds.
Mile 7- 9:47
Mile 8-10:27
Mile 9- 11:29
Yep, see that mile 9. Killer hills at that point. I think I could have walked faster then I was running. I will say the spectators at this point were awesome. There was a group of high school cheerleaders that were a lot of fun on the long, never ending hill.
When I got to the top I stopped again to stretch my calf muscles. They felt awful. So incredibly tight, it was so painful. I have never felt that much pain. A few minutes later a group of guys passed me. I noticed them because they had on some funny looking clothes. All 4 or 5 of them had on a black and plaid button up shirt over their running clothes..and one guy had sparkles all over the back of his shirt. I barely heard them laughing and carrying on over my music and one guy tapped me on the shoulder.
He asked how I was doing and why I was not talking to them. I told him I had to have my music going so I would not collapse. I told him my calf muscles were killing me and I was slowing down because of that. He said, you are low on sodium. You need more salt. Well, I do not and have not ever ran with salt pills. Well he pulled out a whole bag of goodies and gave me a salt pill.
One of the other guys joked around and said "didn't your Mom teach you not to talk to strangers and not to take candy from them...especially little white pills." There was also a joke thrown in about a little blue pill as well...They were a great group of guys. I told them I was "just" running the half marathon and not the full and now guy turned around and said "there is not just. You are running the half." He was right!
I did not take the salt pill right away because I did not have any water...so the guy gave me his water bottle, told me to take the salt pill and drink all the water. Well, I did not drink all the water, but I did take the salt. It seemed to loosen up my calf muscles for a good mile or so...I wish I had a few more there at the end.
This is one of the reason why I love running so much. Runners a great people, always cheering others on and helping everyone out. This guy pulled back with me for 1/2 a mile or so..then caught up with his buddies It really helped my run.
Mile 10- 10:11
Once I hit mile 10 it was downhill and flat. I knew all I had left was a 5K and I was ready. That was about the time the salt pill wore off and my calf muscles felt EVEN worse. Oh my I was in so much pain.
Mile 11- 10:26
Mile 12- 11:00
I was so glad to see Mark, Grandma Harding and the girls at Mile 12. I yelled at Mark to put the *amn camera away, the I was dying and did not feel like I could go another mile. Hugs and kisses from the girls and a pep talk from him put a little spring in my step...for maybe 1/4 of a mile. At that point my stomach started cramping, but not like it hurt and I needed to do to the bathroom...it felt like the pain in my calf muscles. The last mile was tough, painful, hard, draining, exhausting, and a reminder that if I ever think about signing up for a marathon...please stop me :)
Mile 13- 10:17 and so happy to be done.
Mark and the girls had to walk very quickly to the finish line since they just saw me at mile 12. I was so thrilled to see that they had made it and could see me finish. And, I was so thrilled to be done. This race hurt. I pushed hard, I met the goals I wanted to meet and there are no regrets at all.
We saw some old college friends at the finish line, which was awesome. We hung around for a while getting some snacks, talking to Murphy and Mo (nicknames of our old college friends) and listening to the announcement of the first marathoner finishing in 2:37...oh my word that is fast.
I absolutely love the signs.
Overall, I am very pleased with this race, but it was painful. The weather was perfect, but pretty cold. It was 34 degrees at the starting line and 41 degrees at the end, but sunny and no wind. Mark, Grandma Harding, and the girls were able to go back into the hotel and stay warm while I ran.
Afterwards, I showered up and headed to I-Hop for brunch with Mark's family. I wore my shirt and my medal proudly. I was looking forward to biscuits and gravy and sausage. It was a huge disappointment. It tasted awful...such a let down.
So on the way out of town, we stopped at a gas station and a I grabbed this. The perfect snack for after the race.
It was a great weekend and a great race. We headed home and that was tough to be stuck in the car for 3 1/2 hours, but we made it.
