Today's the big day and it's pouring outside, not just a light rain but buckets of rain. I've ran plenty of times in the rain but I just knew that today was going to be like no other.
I knew that there were going to be a lot of people at the race today, so one decided to get an early start on the day with a nice healthy breakfast of apple juice, cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and a banana. Afterwards, we were off to find us a parking spot near the start/finish line....which we did, like the saying goes "early bird gets the worm" but in this case an awesome parking spot!
Since we got there with time to spare, I decided to take a little walk the start/finish line area. It was nice to be able to see everything before the crowd of people came walking in.
Hanging out inside one of the medical tents....trying to stay some what dry!
Right before it was time for us to take our spots at the start line, I met up with some of my fellow runners and even though we had our outfits all picked out, you couldn't really see them under our trash bag look!
Once we made our way to our spots at the start/finish line, I knew it would only be a matter of a few minutes before we would be off. Reality was starting to sneak in that I was getting ready to run a half marathon....something that the old me would never attempted. I took one last look around at not only the crowd of runners but also those who'd be standing out there in the pouring rain watching us. I tried to get one finale glimpse of my mom before I headed out but apparently she'd already gone to find her spot to watch me. For those of you who don't already know, the only races my mom has ever seen me do were the 1 mile Milk Runs....so this was a big day for her too!
The next thing that I know we were off and running (taking a little while to actually cross over the start line) and like all my runs before, I was able to keep up with some of my Mainely Running people in the very beginning but as time wore on, they merged ahead. Before we even hit the 3 mile marker, people were already giving up and saying that they couldn't do this. That's when I decided that no matter how long it takes me...I am going to finish this race!
There were so many people standing along the beginning of the route cheering us on that each time you passed them, it just made you smile and beam with pride. There was even this one little girl who was standing in front of her house with her family giving out high-five's to the runners as they passes by her. I could see that the group in front of me just ran right passes her without a care in the world and she seemed a little sad by it, so when I got close to hear I didn't know if she was even going to stick her hand out for me. When I was almost to her, that's when she spotted me and the next thing I knew, she was putting her hand out to give me a high-five. I ran over to her with a smile on my face, reached out from under my trash bag and gave her a high-five back....the next thing I know, I hear her yelling from behind me "Good Luck". That I must say made me feel really good inside and helped me push on.
If it wasn't for the fact that it was raining so hard out, to scenery would have been beautiful and the homes that we passed, oh my weren't those nice. When I was nearing the mile 5 marker, not only was I being serenade by a guy playing bag pipes and people blaring music from their own stereos (which one house was even playing "Eye of the Tiger" when I ran by and I might have felt like Rocky at that moment) but as I hit that 5 mile marker, I realized that I had just ran 5 miles straight with no walk breaks! My pace wasn't completely off schedule either, which for me was a huge plus but like all of my other runs, I was running by myself. I could see a group in front of me and knew that there were people behind me....so if I was to die on the side of the road somewhere, I was covered and knew I'd be found by someone!
After I went through the water break station at mile 5, it was time to loose the trash bag I was wearing. By this point in time my body was already 90% soaked (I could hear the water squishing around in my sneakers), I figured I'd mine as well get rid of it. As soon as I did that, people were now able to read the shirt I'd made for this run and even though the front had read "1/2 Marathon Mia", it was the back of my shirt that yearned me the nickname "Pride Girl" while I was out there running. You see, I'd written on the back "Pain is temporary, Pride is forever" and by doing this I'd became that person people were happy to see at the moment I either passed by them or they were passing by me. Giving them the inspiration to keep going at the moment they were starting to feel their weakness and didn't think they could go on.
When I reached the half way point, I realized that I wasn't in last place and that gave me a little extra surge to get down the hill and continue the rest of the race. As I was running past the other runners, I told them they were doing great and to keep up the great work. Today, it didn't matter where we finished....just as long as we did and we can consider ourselves half marathoners.
By the time I reached somewhere between miles 9 & 10 I was starting to feel some slight pain in my left foot and my legs were starting to feel like jello. The first marathoner had just passed me (the time clock in front of him said 2hrs 20mins!), I for one couldn't believe what I just saw (he looked like he was out for his morning stroll, not a marathon) and secondly, had to keep telling myself that was doing great and just keep going.
Just before I reached mile marker 11, I passed two little girls who yelled out to me "you can do it" and with those words, I ran up the hill. As I rounded the corner at the 11 mile marker, I can upon a group of college-age frat boys who were hanging out on their porch, playing music for all of us and just as I started passing by their house, they started cheering me on and telling me that I was doing a great job!
Somewhere between miles 11 & 12, I came upon a group of signs that not only made me smile with delight but also laugh. There were so many but the following 2 really stuck out: "Even Chuck Norris has never run a marathon" and "Because 26.3 would be too crazy". Oh...thank you to whoever made those signs and put them there!
When I hit mile maker 12 there was a time clock and even though today wasn't about getting the best time, I wanted to know where I was at. The clock read 2hrs 56mins, I started think to myself that I may be able to do this within 3 hours. As I was getting ever so close to that 13 mile marker, my legs just wanted to give out and I was really starting to think of just calling it quits right there but it was like it was someone was looking out for me because the next thing I knew I had a marathon runner running next to me, telling me that I'm doing great and to keep it up, we're almost there! And that's just what I needed to hear.
My coaches kept telling me that the last .1 mile is the longest and boy weren't they right. It seemed like time just stood still and even though I was running, I wasn't making any ground and then there it was...the finish line. As I ran with every last bit of energy I had left in my sore, wet and tired body towards that finish line, I could see my mom on the side line cheering me on with a HUGE smile on her face and hear them call out my name as I crossed that finish line!
Me with my running coaches: Christine, Amy and Jen. Without these gals telling me every week that I'd be fine and that I could do this, I really don't think I would of made it to the end!
I can't tell you how you feel after you've finished a race like this but I felt an amazing sense of pride that I did it. After I crossed that line and they put that medal around my neck, I almost lost it. I saw my fellow runners with looks of surprise/shock and happiness on their faces and of course all of us were soaked to the bone!
Finale Half Marathon Results: out of 1,906 half marathon runners, I finished 1,811!
Gun time was 3 hours 11 minutes 55 seconds
Pace was 14 minutes 39 seconds (not bad knowing that it was raining so hard that for about 2 miles I couldn't see a thing)
Net time was 3 hours 9 minutes 23 seconds (not to bad for a first timer and knowing that I ran all but 2 1/2 miles)
*I'm already thinking about next years race (which some people are trying to convince me into running the full marathon, yep all 26.2 miles) and getting my friend Kylie to join me!
