My First and Last Half Marathon

Pleasantly exhausted. There are worse ways a middle-aged female could feel in the evening after running her first and last half marathon in the morning. (Not to mention spending her afternoon walking up and down a gentle slope in a backyard, serving at a tea party!) What a satisfying accomplishment, after training for more than three months. I've been running for about a year now, and I had so much fun running the Maui Oceanfront 15k back in January, I figured it couldn't be too much harder to add another 4 miles and do a half marathon. Well, I don't know about other people, but I found it much harder! I had been surprised at how easy it was to go from 5 mile runs to the 15k (9.3 miles) on short notice.  After the 15k, I went back to my longest runs being 5 or 6 miles on Saturdays. In May, I started adding about a half mile to the Saturday run every week (and continuing my regular routine strength training and Zumba twice a week plus 2.5-4 mile runs three times a week) in order to be ready for the first Albany Half Marathon which took place today. I found that after about 9 miles, running became much less enjoyable! Oh, how the toes hurt! I grew annoyed with taking about 2 hours of my summer Saturday mornings to run. But I was amazed every time that I could do it!

So here's the story of my one and only half marathon. Let us backtrack a few days. My current favorite sister-in-law Anisa asked me Thursday if I would like to use an extra ticket to see Carrie Underwood on Friday night at the local music festival in Brownsville, understanding that I might not want to be out late the day before my big race. It took me about 5 seconds to determine that the lack of sleep was definitely worth it! Last night, I arrived home about midnight after this fantastic concert and decided I needed to get her Blown Away album on my iPhone before going to bed so I could listen to it during the run. Well what do you know, I had some technical difficulties. In spite of my determination to overcome them, I had to go to bed about 1 a.m., albumless. Amazingly, this morning my incredibly helpful husband overcame these technical difficulties with scarcely more than a slight roll of his eyes. Album downloaded, I made sure I had my headphones attached to my phone so I wouldn't forget them and drove off, quite pleased. I was a little worried because I barely dragged myself back to the car a few weeks ago on my 11 1/2 mile run on the race loop. But if I poop out today, I can blame my late night and I'll have new music to listen to. Life is good!

I met my awesome friend and co-worker Kilee, who was at the park to support her runner husband and our friend and co-worker Kerrie, and she said she would be driving the route during the race to check on us and see if we needed anything. Just as we were lining up at the start, I realized my headphones were no longer on my phone. Hmmm, did I absent mindedly detach them and place them in the pocket of my sweatpants, which I had removed and left in my car? I quickly sent a text to Kilee asking if she could bring headphones to me and we were off! The bitter disappointment over the lack of my new music faded as I listened to the chatter of some ladies running near me. Three of them were planning to try to run the loop twice to train for a marathon and then drink a lot of beer. ("10 more miles til beer! Oh no, actually, 23 miles!") They wanted to run five minutes and walk a minute but were a little disorganized. Before long they were behind me as I gracefully sprinted down the road.

About an hour into it, the sight of Kilee's smiling face behind the wheel and her hand stretching out to me containing a pair of headphones cheered me considerably. Around mile 9, I was wishing the end were a little closer as we were heading up a slight hill, when I came up on a runner and read the back of her shirt. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Phil. 4:12"  I repeat that to myself frequently when I run, and I hadn't thought about it for a few miles. When I passed her, I told her that her shirt made me cry. And it was true.

I finished strong, feeling great, listening to tunes and passing people who were pooping out. I marvel  again at how blessed I am that I feel no knee, hip, or back pain even at the end these long runs, and that I can breathe easily. My toes are the only painful part during the last miles of a run.  We are indeed fearfully and wonderfully made.

It was with great joy that I came to the finish line and saw my two fans, Anisa and Will, cheering me on, along with thousands of strangers. Well, maybe hundreds. It was fun doing this race in Albany, visiting with friends and acquaintances before and after the race. I met my goal of finishing in less than 2 1/2 hours with a time of 2:27. Good thing I didn't stop to take a clear picture of the shirt above!

 I love chocolate milk at the end of a run. And water of course.

 I wasn't able to hang out long because I had people to see and places to go. My brother Dave was at another area of the park at a Veteran's event with the group he's a part of. When we got to their table, he was AWOL.

 I was only able to spend a few minutes with Dave when he showed up, but he invited me to sit on his bike. Pretty awesome.

Then I hurried home, got in the shower, dressed, and was picked up by another favorite sister-in-law Carol to go down to serve at the Tea with Hope that my sister Jean offered at the auction. I put on my makeup in the car on the way down and didn't even forget anything.

The tea party was lovely in every way. (I will blog about it after my favorite niece Janelle sends me some pictures. I have a few but my phone died.)  I must have walked another half marathon up and down the gentle slope of this huge backyard to the gazebo by the river, serving water, tea, and too many assorted delicacies to even count.

I was pretty proud of how good my body felt, until after I arrived home this evening after a half hour in the car. I have to admit to some slight stiffness and soreness in the upper legs. 

I still can hardly believe that someone like me, who two years ago was overweight, suffering severe foot pain from plantar fasciitis, and unable to run for more than a minute, could run 13.1 miles without stopping for almost 2 1/2 hours, and not feel like she is going to die. I used to feel like I was going to die after running the distance between two telephone poles! It is only by the grace of God and his marvelous design of our bodies to respond to healthy food and strengthening and conditioning efforts.

I feel good! I don't ever plan to run 13.1 miles again! Oh, how sweet those 5 or 6 mile Saturday runs will be! I look forward to running some 10ks and maybe a 15k now and then, and I love to walk 5ks with my non-runner friends too. It's always good to have some sort of challenge to work toward!