Thought it would be nice to actually document my journey of my first half marathon. Not only to share it with my friends, but also so that in 5 years I can actually remember everything that happened on this glorious event…. We always want to remember our first times. J
Well, to start out I didn’t get that long to train for this event. I decided probably in the early part of October to do this event and at that point, I had never ran anything more than 6 miles…. Knowing at that point that I had to more than double my current running I quickly started to up my miles each week. I really only had 4 weeks to do this and I was only able to up myself to 10 miles… I have always been told, if you can do 10, you can do 13… Although that may be true, it still doesn’t stop the pain after wards… It is Monday 36 hours later and I am still hurting……
Additionally I had been training in 40-50 degree temperatures… The day of the event it was a balmy 60+ degrees with wind gusts of 20 +… honestly that didn’t make me happy. But when the race was done, I was very happy for the wind as it helped cool me down…. It is amazing that in November, a week before Thanksgiving, I was wearing short sleeve shirt and shorts….
The first 3.5 miles was ran within Corporate Woods. It was different, nice and fun… we ran with all the participants which was a change for me. All God knows how many people starting together and going… I had to side step, and run around a lot of people. But there was nice chatter and I got to see some friends along the way… the one person that really inspired me, was an older lady that I got the pleasure of meeting at the Olathe Medical Women’s Tri and at the Patriots Run… I hope that when I am 50+ that I will still be doing this… She was just running the 5 k because next weekend she was doing a different half marathon…. WOW….
Additionally, the first 2.5 miles I got to run with Trey… I didn’t want to slow him down, so at about mile 2.5, he took off without me.
The first 3 miles are always tough for me – I don’t find my rhythm right away. Also, I am so used to breathing to the sound of my feet – with that many people running – I found myself getting a stitch really on. I had to really focus to keep it from getting worse.
Mile 1-3 I kept a nice pace going…. 10:29, 10:57 and 11:15 respectively…
At mile 3.5 we left corporate wood and continued on the trail system of Overland Park. It was a nice trail and it was neat to see all the supporters along the way…. At this point, I just started to zone and let my mind wonder… It was very peaceful to say the least….
The next couple of miles along the trails, I was able to keep my pace were I was hoping…. mile 4, 5 were 11:42 and 11:48.
Shortly after mile 6 we left the trails and hit the road. It was a loop consisting of 119th St., Switzer, 127th St. and Quivera… 119th had a slight hill at the end, and Switzer I have to say is pretty much all uphill… I was really worried about this hill especially with the wind gusts… But I have to say proudly I never walked…. I put my head down and ran… at mile 8 we turned and headed west on 127th and again there was a pretty good hill at the very end. But again, I put my head down leaned forward and ran… I was so happy with my times on these three miles… mile 6, 7 and 8 were 11:35, 12:04 and 8 12:37… Mile 9 was on Quivera and all downhill… but for some reason, I guess having to recover, my pace only slightly improved at 12:07… during this part of the route, I got to chat with a bunch of great ladies, it was very enjoyable….I also have to add, that I realized I was still feeling really good at this point in the race. I was worried this is where I would start to have a hard time…
Right before mile 10 we got back on the trails again. I was glad to see Amy and Glen at the KCM water spot… they really got me pumped again… Between mile 10 and 11 I caught up with my long time friend Cynthia… we have worked together for over 12 years…. She has always been a runner, but I haven’t. So it was nice to get to see her and chat with her for a while. It was fun for a while because we kept passing each other.
Mile 10 and 11 I kept my pace down at 11:14 and 11:38. Towards the end of mile 11 however, I saw something that made my heart skip a beat. I saw a man down being worked on. He was receiving chest compressions by medics when I came up to him and I honestly thought it could be Trey….. I had to double check his short color 3 times before I was sure it was not Trey as Trey had black shorts on and this man had grey shorts on. I later found out that this 39 year old man, yes , 39 had gone into cardiac arrest. But thankfully come Sunday night, learned that they had gotten his heart beating again on the way to the hospital and he was in critical condition…. I hope that I can find out if this man makes it or not. Not trying to be noisy by any means. But have been praying for him and his family. I can’t even imagine how they must have felt to learn that while this man was running –living a healthy lifestyle that his heart gave out….
The next mile started to get tough and mile 12 I hit an 11:57 pace….. At that point I saw my friend Cynthia’s husband and I knew I was getting close to the finish….. I pulled everything together and pulled out an 11:41 pace for the last mile.. It hurt, I am not going to lie, but at the same time, I wanted to and needed to finish strong…. All the cheering of the supporting fans helped me accomplish that…. As I crossed the finish line, I was greeted by Trey who had finished 9 minutes before me…..
I thank my mother in law for coming down and watching the kids, but I have to say, at 2pm Sunday afternoon I crashed hard – and took a 2 hour nap… Now 36 hours later, I am still sore and stiff, but all in all I feel pretty darn good….
Now, you may wonder? I am going to do this again??? HELL YES – I have actually already signed up for my next half marathon for April 2nd… This is the Rock the Parkway run which my friend Trish told me about… I am excited and will be raising money for the Girl on the Run organization… Look for more information to come about that race and how you can donate to the cause…..
Next year besides the half marathon, I don’t know for sure what exactly I will be doing. I hope to do the Win for KC and Olathe Medical Tri’s, and the Patriots Run, but I would really like to throw in a tri up in Iowa or maybe even a full Olympic distance tri… but I will figure that out as the time goes by….
Looking forward to a fun filled 2011…..
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