Today was the (very) long awaited day! I finished my first half-marathon and it was a GREAT experience. The weather cooperated for the time that I was on the course, though it heated up after 10AM and many marathoners were affected. I got off the course just as the sun came out! My mom drove me down and stuck with me, and took LOTS of pictures! We got to the course at about 6:15 (I did get up right at 5AM after only four hours of nervous sleep) and oriented ourselves. I didn't have time to use the bathroom before my race, which freaked me out, but I ended up being fine the whole time!
As you can see, I started by taking Tylenol as a precaution for my foot and making sure my special lacing was all good to go. Didn't want to re-injure!
Here I am at the start, strapping on my music (which I finally decided on using; and THANK GOODNESS. It was a life-saver during this race! Really kept me going at some points).
I thought the race went pretty well. I met my goal by finishing under two hours, but I definitely started too fast despite having thought about this and warning myself not to for weeks! I started with the 8:24 pace group and it felt really nice. I think that if my training hadn't been de-railed by the foot, I would've been fine to continue for the race in this group. However, I haven't run in 4-5 weeks except for my 12-miler and my Thursday taper jog/walk. My body just wasn't conditioned to go that fast! Boy did I feel it after 5-6 miles. I didn't quite make the half-way point with the pace group. I remember starting to feel some discomfort in my hip around the 10k point. I wasn't too concerned though; I just run with what felt good. I LOVED the course; running on the highway was a VERY powerful feeling (though it hardly looked like the highway that I know when it was littered with runners and aid-stations!). I also really like the residential part of the race where everyone was on their front porch handing out water and cheering. It was great. We got to run past a beach that I grew up going to, as well!
Around mile 7, I started to notice some real tightness and discomfort in my left hip and knee (which is are the parts that were affected by a really tough bout of IT-band syndrome last fall). I slowed down my pace considerably at that point, but persevered. It was my only real discomfort, since it wasn't sunny until the very end of my race and my water/Gatorade Chews ingestion went well (the aid stations were excellent at this race, by the way). By mile 10, the pain was killing me though. At that point my left foot really started dragging and scuffling, the tightness in my hip turned into sharp pain, and I had to really command myself to keep going (I was GOING to finish under two hours no matter what!!! My stubbornness causes me to make bad decisions sometimes).
During the whole last mile, I kept thinking about how I had to be sure to look happy when I crossed the pad at the finish line (for my finish photo of course). By the time I got to the pad, I had a really delayed reaction and didn't look happy until afterwards!!! Mostly because I was really really uncomfortable. My hip continued to hurt, and the right one started in, too! Now it's really hard to walk. I'm hoping it's not bursitis and is just overuse and will feel better in a few days.
I wasn't sore at all until tonight, when I woke up from a 3-hour nap (I relaxed my hips on a pile of ice. I wish I'd thought to have an ice-bath though--I've never done one and that would be really smart at a time like this).
After I finished, we hurried to meet Alex at the finish of his full marathon! He did an amazing job and our families got to hang out for a bit afterwards. After that, I went home and had lunch and crashed. I'm so excited/proud of everyone that ran today though! It's an amazing experience; I'm glad my first half-marathon was a big race. The energy is amazing. I owe a big thank you to everyone that came out and cheered me on today; especially my mom and dad.
Right before meeting Alex at his finish; my face tells it all--the pain, exhaustion, and discomfort from the morning's activities are written all over my expression!
We like to run!!!
My awesome finisher's medal and of course, my beloved chocolate milk :)
Despite the fact that I'm slightly concerned with my hips, I think it was a great day, and very successful. I loved the course for this race and can't wait to do it again with a little bit of experience and wisdom under my belt!
