I DID IT!!! I ran a half marathon! I'm really proud of myself :-D
Yesterday I woke up, and my throat was still sore, and my hip was still bothering me. I was starting to worry it's not just my adductor but something in my hip joint itself. I was considering not even going, because I didn't want to do permanent damage. I talked it over with Mr. E, and decided to go and do my best. I was worried my hip would hurt immediately, since the last time I tried to run (on Thursday), it hurt the very first step I ran.
I had picked up my bib and stuff the night before, so we got to the race about an hour before the start. The race started at 3:30, but my corral didn't start until 4pm. It was a really late start, and it was stressful because I had all day to stress out about it!
There were so many people there! About 17,000, actually. It was crazy. I had a last-minute snack, let Mr. E take some pictures of me, and dropped my stuff off at the bag check and walked to my corral. After one last stop at the porta potty, I waited to start. By the time my corral was almost ready to start, the elites had been running for half an hour, so they were almost halfway done!
At 4pm, we were off! I started my music and my (well, borrowed from Mr. E) Garmin, and took a few steps, seeing how my hip felt. No pain so far! That was a good sign. Hey, I might actually be able to run this. After 5K, I was still feeling good. I saw Mr. E for the first time and gave him the thumbs up (he ran around the whole city, following me around using Glympse, and I saw him 6 times I think during the race, plus at the start and the finish). After that, my hip started hurting, but it wasn't unbearable. The next time I saw Mr. E, at about 11K, I was still feeling good. He was taking pictures of me while I was running by, but not cheering! So I said, "Are you gonna cheer me on or just take pictures?!" Some people around me laughed at that.
At about 15K, I started feeling tired. My hip was hurting, as were my feet. I could feel a few blisters coming on. But I pushed through. At 17K, I knew there was a killer hill that lots of people talked about. It came at a point where everyone is already really tired. I slowed down a little and prepared myself. We started going uphill, but it wasn't that steep. I kept thinking, where is this big hill everyone keeps talking about?! It ended up being a very long, but not steep, hill. I don't know if it's because I did many of my training runs on hills or what, but I was fine. I mean, it was a tough stretch, but I had expected much worse.
At 19K, I saw Mr. E for the last time, and he said, "see you at the finish!!" At that point, I realized that I was going to finish this race. Even if I had to walk or crawl across the finish line. Up until then, I was kind of chugging along, hoping for the best. But at that moment, I knew I was going to finish. It was awesome. The last 2 miles were really hard. I told myself I could walk if it became unbearable, but it didn't. I was teetering on the edge of unbearable, but I was ok. At one point, my Garmin said 13.0 miles, so I picked up the pace for a minute, only to realize that we weren't really that close to the finish line. You can't see the finish line until you're like 100 yards from it, which was really discouraging.
The last minute or so, I thought I was going to die, but I was soclose! I pushed through. The last 100 yards is on a cobblestone street, and I almost fell because my legs were so wobbly.
I finished in 2:26:56. Not a great time, and I know I could've done better if the circumstances had been different. But considering the hip injury and cold, I am thrilled. I got a medal and hobbled over to the bag check. The Garmin said I ran 13.34 miles, which I guess makes sense because it was a very twisty/turny race, and I'm sure I didn't take the shortest route. I also didn't take any walk breaks, other than the water stops.
Even though I'm not thrilled with my time, I am really happy. Woohoo!
Yesterday I woke up, and my throat was still sore, and my hip was still bothering me. I was starting to worry it's not just my adductor but something in my hip joint itself. I was considering not even going, because I didn't want to do permanent damage. I talked it over with Mr. E, and decided to go and do my best. I was worried my hip would hurt immediately, since the last time I tried to run (on Thursday), it hurt the very first step I ran.
I had picked up my bib and stuff the night before, so we got to the race about an hour before the start. The race started at 3:30, but my corral didn't start until 4pm. It was a really late start, and it was stressful because I had all day to stress out about it!
There were so many people there! About 17,000, actually. It was crazy. I had a last-minute snack, let Mr. E take some pictures of me, and dropped my stuff off at the bag check and walked to my corral. After one last stop at the porta potty, I waited to start. By the time my corral was almost ready to start, the elites had been running for half an hour, so they were almost halfway done!
At 4pm, we were off! I started my music and my (well, borrowed from Mr. E) Garmin, and took a few steps, seeing how my hip felt. No pain so far! That was a good sign. Hey, I might actually be able to run this. After 5K, I was still feeling good. I saw Mr. E for the first time and gave him the thumbs up (he ran around the whole city, following me around using Glympse, and I saw him 6 times I think during the race, plus at the start and the finish). After that, my hip started hurting, but it wasn't unbearable. The next time I saw Mr. E, at about 11K, I was still feeling good. He was taking pictures of me while I was running by, but not cheering! So I said, "Are you gonna cheer me on or just take pictures?!" Some people around me laughed at that.
At about 15K, I started feeling tired. My hip was hurting, as were my feet. I could feel a few blisters coming on. But I pushed through. At 17K, I knew there was a killer hill that lots of people talked about. It came at a point where everyone is already really tired. I slowed down a little and prepared myself. We started going uphill, but it wasn't that steep. I kept thinking, where is this big hill everyone keeps talking about?! It ended up being a very long, but not steep, hill. I don't know if it's because I did many of my training runs on hills or what, but I was fine. I mean, it was a tough stretch, but I had expected much worse.
At 19K, I saw Mr. E for the last time, and he said, "see you at the finish!!" At that point, I realized that I was going to finish this race. Even if I had to walk or crawl across the finish line. Up until then, I was kind of chugging along, hoping for the best. But at that moment, I knew I was going to finish. It was awesome. The last 2 miles were really hard. I told myself I could walk if it became unbearable, but it didn't. I was teetering on the edge of unbearable, but I was ok. At one point, my Garmin said 13.0 miles, so I picked up the pace for a minute, only to realize that we weren't really that close to the finish line. You can't see the finish line until you're like 100 yards from it, which was really discouraging.
The last minute or so, I thought I was going to die, but I was soclose! I pushed through. The last 100 yards is on a cobblestone street, and I almost fell because my legs were so wobbly.
I finished in 2:26:56. Not a great time, and I know I could've done better if the circumstances had been different. But considering the hip injury and cold, I am thrilled. I got a medal and hobbled over to the bag check. The Garmin said I ran 13.34 miles, which I guess makes sense because it was a very twisty/turny race, and I'm sure I didn't take the shortest route. I also didn't take any walk breaks, other than the water stops.
Even though I'm not thrilled with my time, I am really happy. Woohoo!
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