13.1

I remember talking with a friend at my 23rd birthday dinner about our personal goals in life and that running a half marathon was a goal we both shared. We talked about it for a few months but never did anything with it.

Well, for my new years resolution this year, i decided to do it. On January 1st, I registered for the Country Music (half) Marathon in Nashville. April 24, 2010. 4 days before my 25th birthday. Just weird how timing works out sometimes.

So, I asked Anna Beth to run it too and Christie, Emily, and Allison decided to as well and I was SO excited.

I started training in January. I ran early in the morning, late at night, in the rain, in the snow, in the cold, in the heat, on sidewalk, on streets, on gravel, on grass, with friends, and alone. I have never dedicated myself to running so much. I scheduled my weekends and week nights around running.

I had anticipated this race for a long time and couldn't believe when it was finally here.

We had our running shorts and shirts, our energy gels, our bagels, our shoes, our blister free socks, our anti-chafe sticks, our iPods loaded with music, our water bottles. We were set.

We trained at Craighead Park which has several hills and one big hill so we felt prepared for the hills at the Nashville half.

Christie, AB, Allison, and I ran a 10 miler 2 weekends before the race and it went GREAT. I was tired at the end but definitely could have done 3 more miles.

As the race weekend approached we frequently checked the forecast..it was not good. Severe thunderstorms. First 70% chance, then 80%, then the "nearly 100% chance." We were all bummed but tried to be hopeful. We prayed for the rain to hold off until after the race.

I hardly slept the night before the race. I was just going over everything in my mind and kept tossing and turning. I kept trying to force myself to go to sleep, which didn't help. I finally began quoting verses about peace and trust to myself and would get short little bits of sleep but didn't really get deep sleep all night.

I woke up race day feeling pretty good. I ate my bagel, drank my coffee and some water, and tried to be as calm as possible.

We headed toward the designated parking lot at 4:45AM. It started sprinkling on the way there. When we got there, we rode a shuttle to the starting area which was a big field with a lot of porta potties. Once we got there the rain had STOPPED! It was a clear sky except for some dark grey clouds in the distance when we were at the starting line. God is AWESOME.

I was feeling a little better when I saw that the weather was looking good.

We were in corral 22 which meant we started about 30 minutes after the elite runners. There were 33,000 runners in this race so they had to do the starting line in sections, obviously.

All 6 of us were running together for the first little bit. We got to about 1.5 miles and saw mom, dad, and Luke on the sidelines and we were all waving and shouting and smiling and just having a great time. Then Hell Hill #1 appeared. Wasn't too bad. I hate running hills but I knew the first 6 miles were supposed to be bad. After about 2 miles Allison was ahead of us and Christie and I were together. We found out later that Emily had gotten a really painful side stitch and had to slow down for a little while.

As I mentioned...33,000 runners in this race. 93% of these people overestimated their athletic abilities when registering for corral numbers. There were walls of people running slower than us and we had to weave in and out of them. I am positive that I did well over 13.1 miles if you include all the zig zagging.. I had to restrain myself from shoving a few walkers out of the way. I did purposely elbow a couple. People, if you are planning to walk the entire race, you will not finish it in 2 hours.

As we crossed the 5K marker, we had a good pace going. I was thinking "this race is going good!" I was having a good time listening to my music and running. Around mile 4 I noticed my feet were starting to hurt. We stopped for energy gel around mile 5. I think at this point we had run up about 4 long, steady hills... I was starting to feel less energetic but still felt ok. I grabbed an orange slice from the fruit stand along the way. Mistake. It is not easy to eat an orance slice while running. The juice was all over my chin and i barely got any of the actual orange into my mouth and it was really hard to chew it up and swallow WHILE running. We passed the 1st water station but at every station after that we got a cytomax and sometimes water. It kept me going for a while.

At mile 9 after a like 4 more big hills, things started to get bad. I was feeling weak and dehydrated. We got to a water stand but it was out of water! I wanted to cry. Christie kept asking me if I was ok, and I knew that I felt a lot differently than I normally did on long runs. My head was tingling and my eyes were having problems focusing. All I could think about was how far from the finish line I was. (And at this point I couldn't have told you how many miles that was because I couldn't calculate what 13-9 would be.) My music was irritating me, my body was hurting, and the walkers blocking us from running were about to have their heads smashed into each other.

I just made myself zone out and got to mile 10. We still had a pretty good pace going but I was definitely running on low energy. At 10.5 I couldn't make my feet move at a running pace anymore. I started walking and I was so mad at myself but I can honestly say looking back that I had to walk. I cant describe how I was feeling. It was horrible. I don't really remember from 10.5 until 12.6. I know I made myself run but walked several times, too.

At 12.6 I decided that I was going to run the rest even if I passed out because I was not walking across the finish line. So, at the slowest pace I have ever done, I started running towards the finish line. Every step was so much effort. When I finally rounded the curve and was on the straightaway to the finish line I was going as fast as I could make myself. I finished in 2:25:44. I was hoping for around 2:10 or 2:15, but all things considered, I am not too disappointed. When I finished, all I was thinking is "i am NEVER doing this again" and "please don't puke or pass out" I saw Christie after I finished and she said my lips were blue. I saw Luke on the sidelines and pointed for him to meet me. I kept walking in the section they had set up for the finishers and the first thing I saw was Shrek go-gurt. That is the first time in my life I ripped something open with my teeth. I am telling you, that is the best food i have ever tasted.

I couldn't find Luke and kept having to catch myself from falling so I grabbed a banana and some cytomax and found the closest curb. (right next to 3 garbage bins, just so you know) After I sat for a while, I felt a lot better and finally got enough signal to call Luke and my parents. About 10 minutes after I crossed the finish line, it started sprinkling. About 15 minutes later it was pouring. God is amaaazing and it is so cool when you pray for specific, personal things and it is answered.

I am VERY glad the race is over with. I am not sure if it was just a bad running day, if I started out too fast, or what. Today, I can hardly move I am so sore. I have blisters on my toes and my joints hurt and my muscles are aching. The agony of the last 3 miles is already fading, so the question of future half marathons is still unanswerable. I am glad I can say I finished a half marathon and can now live a more normal schedule. Now, I am going to granny-walk myself to bed and try to get some sleep =)