I DID IT.
I showed up and finished the entire 13.1 by myself.
I realize that I've completed Hyner twice and that's longer by about 3 miles, but this is the first race I've actually put effort into and finished on my own.
... And my body is 100% feeling it today. I think the biggest mistake was hopping in the car after the race and driving the 4 hours home, plus the 2 hours to get Lucy instead of stretching it out and walking around a little more.
I can honestly say that this is the first race that I've truly been excited about and I think that played a huge part in how good I felt Saturday morning. I'd really been wrestling with whether or not to do this for the last month or two. I wanted to save money this close to Christmas and I honestly didn't train the way I wanted to. I've been running consistently, but my long run was only up to 7 miles and I walked half of that. I was hoping that if I did go through with this, I might channel a little bit of my dad and somehow be able to push through the entire 13.1, especially knowing that it would be nice and flat.
We spent Friday with our pilgrimage to Dogfish Head (when in Rome... ) and spent the afternoon walking around a rainy Rehoboth (buying sweets!) until I could pick up my bag. We checked in to our super seedy motel, relaxed for a little, and headed off to Ocean City to check out their Winterfest and get dinner. I was proud of myself for not overdoing it food-wise. (I also realized that it IS possible for me to go out of town and not eat until I'm sick.) I made sure I was hydrated and had plenty of protein and carbs, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Saturday morning I was wide awake at 4:30, so I made some coffee and read the Facebook page for the race and some old blog posts to remind myself of how far I've come. Josh dropped me off at the start around 6:40 and I wandered around taking in the excitement and enjoying the sunrise over the Atlantic.
A little before 7, we lined up, and next thing I knew, off we went! I had taken my Fila rain jacket with me because the weather was sounding a little wonky. As we headed down Rehoboth Avenue, it kept flipping round my waist, so right before mile 1, I took it off and threw it to the side, hoping it'd still be there when I got back. We headed along the coast into Deauville Beach which was probably my favorite part of the race. It took us through this gorgeous community with massive beach houses and I lost track of mileage because I was so distracted by the homes. Before I knew it, I was passing the 5k mark. My 5k split was super slow -- about 42 minutes -- but I had told myself to hold back at the beginning and run with as little effort as I could so I didn't crap out too early.
I felt incredibly strong at the 5k point, which is where I assumed I'd actually hit my wall, but I kept pressing forward. Mile 4 passed, mile 5, mile 6, then I hit mile 7 and was thrilled because that's the most I've run straight in a good three or four years. I made it to somewhere between 7 1/2 and 8 miles when I realized that my running pace was at 15:30 minute miles and decided to speed walk to conserve energy. The bottoms of my feet were burning from the tiny little stones that had slipped into my sneakers from the Junction-Breakwater Trail, so the walk was a nice break.
I have to be honest... I truly hated this part of the run. I'm okay with trail running, in fact, I really like it... but when you're facing a good four-five mile out-and-back on a trail in the middle of nowhere in the middle of a half-marathon, I was just done. The good thing was that this is where the marathoners met up with the half-marathoners, so you were never alone. (However, I do have a thing or two to say about this... but that's another blog post in itself.)
I told myself I'd start running again at mile 10, since at that point I just had to run a 5K. The back of my right knee had seized up, so I just kept my pace up walking. I was still aiming for that 3:30:00 finish and I kept monitoring my pace on my Garmin rather than my distance. I knew that if I kept my walking pace between 15 and 16 minute miles, I would be able to hit my goal.
I stopped at mile 11, dumped my shoes out, and tightened my laces, running for maybe half a mile or so before my knee seized up again. At this point, walking out of the woods, I saw an older gentleman and his wife on the side of the trail. He was bent over, trying to get himself upright. As soon as he was upright, he collapsed to the ground. I asked them if they wanted me to send someone back when I got to the checkpoint, but he insisted he was fine, that he was just cramping, so I took off. It wasn't long before I saw a marathoner in the same situation.
I hit the paved road, told myself it was time to run again, made it maybe a quarter mile, and started walking again. When I hit the mile 12 marker, I turned my phone on, texted my mom and Josh to let them know I was only a mile out, and tried to run again. My body just wouldn't go, so I turned on my "Pick Me Up" playlist and set off on a power walk. When I hit Rehoboth Avenue again, I forced myself to run until the finish line, regardless of how much my feet burned, or how tight my legs were. Passing the last water stop, I tried to tell someone how this last mile was so much harder than the very first mile I ever ran, but I got choked up and couldn't get it out. That last half mile felt impossible. Tears were welling up, I couldn't catch my breath from trying not to cry, and every sign, every cheer pushed me not only to the finish, but to even more tears.
As I made that last right-hand turn to the finish line, I saw that I was over ten minutes under my goal. TEN MINUTES! I crossed at 3:19:40, well under my 3:30:00. I truly never thought I would be able to finish in under 4 hours because I knew I'd have to walk and God knows that my idea of walking is not to accomplish a time goal, but to leisurely enjoy my surroundings... Somewhere deep within me, I pulled it out and killed my goal. I found Josh in the crowd and lost it as soon as he hugged me... Then my attention turned to the fact that I was about to get my very own SPACE BLANKET! I chugged some water and headed into the Rehoboth Beach Running Company to buy myself a well-earned 13.1 sticker for my car.
Pardon my super disgusting hair...
We headed over to the after-party tent to eat and have a celebratory beer... because I'll be honest... all I wanted to do was stuff my face. There were a few times running through the town that I could smell someone's breakfast cooking and all I could think about was bacon. By the time I hit the turn around at mile 9, I would have killed someone for a hamburger. The concept of knocking back about three or four Gus became way too appealing to me. The after-party food was super good, but I definitely didn't think it was worth the $20 I spent on an extra wristband for Josh.
I have to be honest. In all of the years I've been doing Hyner, I've never seen anyone collapse to the ground like that. I've been trying to figure out what's so different, but I really can't come up with an answer. I know that for me, the effort I was able to put out yesterday was an entirely different kind of effort than what I put out at Hyner. For me, Hyner's about survival, and this was about a true time goal.
I am beyond proud of myself. Will I do another? I really don't know. I don't truly enjoy distance running by myself. A full-on event like this is one thing, but part of that full-on event is months of training by yourself. I wasn't as prepared as I should have been. I've been consistently running all year, but my runs have been two or three miles three or four times a week. My conditioning is there, it's just not half-marathon conditioning. I knew the fact that I've been running hills all year would definitely help me by making running on flat ground seem so much easier and I definitely think that added to me being able to make it so far running.
I have a 5K coming up on New Year's Eve, the Lager Jogger in April, and my mom and I are going to do to the Robbins Run 10K that I did this past June again. I'm not sure if another half-marathon is in my future, but... never say never. :)