This Sunday was my first attempt at a half marathon, and it was magnificent fun. I had a great time and just to cut to the chase, I was not the last person in the race; I finished fifth from last in the 1/2 marathon run. For those of you who can stand the details, here goes.
I live in a tiny town, less than 1,000 folks, in a large county (2,345 square miles) in New Mexico. The total county population is less than 2,000. Even with that small population, we were magnificently represented. One of our high school students went with me, I will call her A, and four of our school teachers. A and I decided to do the 1/2 marathon run and the four teachers decided to do the 1/2 marathon walk. Everyone started training this summer as an outgrowth of our first local triathlon (we'd hosted one in June because we needed a fund raiser for our athletic program).
A and I left on Saturday and drove to Albuquerque for packet pick-up. We had to go to the downtown convention center. I have never been to a marathon event before, and boy are they casual compared to triathlons! No ID, no parent permission, you can pick up other people's packets; it is so much more "slack" than a USAT sanctioned event. Not that this was a problem since A is only 16, but it was something I noticed. A is a high school track qualifier (one and two mile) but she had really never done any distance running. She likes running, and she thought it would be fun to give the 1/2 a try with me.
Anyway, we took off for the mall and headed to Sephora. I told the beauty consultant that A needed a make-over since we were here for the 1/2 marathon and athletes needed to look their best (we'd planned our venture in advance) and after she was dolled up, off to meet the rest of our party at Olive Garden for pasta.
Sunday morning was great, and we got to the Civic Plaza in plenty of time. There were over 3,000 folks in the Duke City Marathon, and I am not sure how many in each event. I know we took off at 7:45.
I was worried about hydration, so I had my 40 ounce hydration belt on and I know I am the person most likely to set a "land slow record". I kid you not, I can run the most consistent 14:30 minute miles on the face of the planet. One mile, seven miles, five miles, it does not really matter, 14:30 per mile. Yes, if you see me in motion you would have to call what I am doing technically running, it is just an amazingly slow run.
Over the last two months I've been reading books on improving my running form, and have switched to a mid-foot strike. That took me from taking 60 minutes to run 3.5 miles to 50 minutes to run the same 3.5 mile route. That is a 16.6% improvement in a two month period. That makes me happy, and I really knew I needed to get different shoes before the race, but I live in a tiny town, and didn't have a chance to shop and break in new shoes early enough to make it make sense. This meant I was going to run this race in the old shoes that were correct for a heel striker. Oh well, it worked okay. I was able to run without taking a break to walk until after I finished mile 7. I have NEVER gone that far without at least some sort of walk break. If I didn't have cramping in my lower back, I am sure I could have gone at least another three miles before I needed a break. I suspect the back cramping was from forcing me to try to continue to run correctly in the shoes. I don't know that, but after talking to one of the track coaches at school, it could be that or it could just be that I am a baby. I can tell you that I was grinning ear to ear. It was AMAZING and I was so happy I could hardly stand it.
I walked half a mile, tried to work out the kinks in my back, and then ran another mile and a half. I walked with another runner who was recently out of her cast (stress fracture) and then ran the last mile and a half.
Oh, yes, my muscles are sore. I can hardly wait to get set for another 1/2 marathon, and to get up to Albuquerque tomorrow to try to get some of the correct shoes so I can gradually transition to some mid-foot strike shoes. One thing about being a person coming from absolute ground zero, you have nowhere to go but up and you have no ego to lose. I was just so excited to see the posted results and discover that I was not the last one. I spent most of my first year in triathlon being the last person to finish. This was my first 1/2 marathon, and I was NOT the last person. That is just stunning and amazing. It is particularly gratifying after feeling like such a failure after DNFing out of Elephant Man two weeks ago. To finish, finish well, and to be able to feel like I can barely wait to do the next race is so exciting and energizing.
A finished in about 2 hours and 50 minutes and I finished in 3 hours and 47 minutes. She does not ever plan on doing it again, but she is so happy she did it. I am now someone who finished running 13.1 miles in a 1/2 marathon. Wow. I am someone who is planning on doing another 1/2 marathon. I am sitting here planning on what type of training I need to do so I can do the full marathon next October. I am so excited that it is hard to even sit here at the computer and write about it instead of "doing" something.
I am excited too because I've got the Warrior Triathlon on the 30th of October. While I was doing the Duke City 1/2 I paid attention to how long it took me to do the 6.2 miles (1 hour and 38 minutes) because on Thanksgiving I am doing the Tallahassee Turkey Trot 10K (daughter and son-in-law are doing the 5K) and I want to try to do it in 1 hour and 30 minutes or better.
I realize my training goals are kind of lame compared to the competitive levels I know many of you experience, but it is nice to have a forum to share my personal victories too.
Patricia
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