Half Marathon

This Fall I have plans to run my first ever Marathon. In preparation for it, I decided I wanted to run a Half Marathon, I needed to mentally know I could do that first. So in March I started a 16 week Half Marathon training program that took me through to the beginning of July. There aren't any races longer than a 15k around here in the summer time (100+ temperatures are just too high for that craziness). So I decided to just go out and run the 13.1 miles by myself. I didn't get a medal for finishing a Half Marathon...but really I just needed to know that I could do it.

I got really lucky that I finished my training right before Lisa and Travis came because Lisa offered to do the run with me. Yay! She's a Marathoner herself so I knew that she'd be able to make sure I got to my finish line in one piece.

We decided to make the big day be last Thursday, July 9th. We got all of our stuff ready the night before (clothes laid out, water bottles filled with Gatorade, gels/shot blocks/bananas packed) and woke up at 5:00am on Thursday morning. We wanted to get as much of the run completed as possible before it got too hot. By the time we were ready in the morning, made the drive out to our location (White Rock Lake) and got started, I think it was about 6:00am. It was already hot. It was super muggy. We were sweating by the time we started our watches. No big deal though, we're Texans. We're used to the heat. We started off nice and slow and we were doing Jeff Galloways' run/walk method. We decided to try a 7:1 split for kicks. We both ended up liking it a lot.

The first half of the run went pretty well. But I was SO thirsty and by about mile 7.5 or 8 my gatorade was gone. Oh my gosh! I was starting to freak out. After a few minutes (and Lisa offering me her drink...but I couldn't take it, she needed it too) I remembered that there was a water fountain coming up on the trail. Thank goodness! We stopped there and I filled my bottle with water. Then I drank it all. Then I filled it again and we were off. I felt better. I made it through that mental break down and was hydrated again.

We made it to the 9 mile mark (which is once around the lake). That's when I hit my wall. We had gone around the lake but we still had 4 miles to do...2 miles out and back. I didn't think I could do it. I really don't know why I was freaking out. It seems kind of silly now. But it was SO hot and I was SO thirsty. Lisa pushed me through though. I'm so glad she was there. Did I mention yet how thirsty I was? By the time we got to mile 12 I was drinking the last of my water. Lisa offered me her bottle that still had a little Gatorade in it. This time I took it. I drank it in one gulp. We were all out of liquid. If I wanted more water I had to make it to the car. That was my motivation. Lisa failed to tell me when we passed by another water fountain. I'm glad because I probably would have just stopped right there and not gone anymore.

So we finally made it to the finish line in 2 hours 36 minutes and 38 seconds. I have mixed feelings about that time. My ultimate goal was to just go out there and finish 13.1 miles. My secret goal though was to finish in under 2:30. My 'that would be awesome' goal was to finish under 2:15.

During the run I was having serious doubts that I would be able to run a Marathon. Lisa said she felt the same way when she ran her first Half but that if I train for it I'll be able to do the Marathon. I also contemplated never, ever running again. But then I remembered that I'm signed up to run a 15k this weekend with my sister-in-law, Jen. So that thought didn't last too long.

So what about being so thirsty? I was extremely dehydrated. I'm not going to let that happen again. I'm drinking lots and lots of water this week to make sure I'm ready for my race this Saturday.

So here I go, I've got my cup of water next to me. I'm going on an easy run tonight. I'm pumped up and ready to do this 15k and then officially start my San Antonio Marathon training.

Thanks, Lisa, for running with me!

Before we started. Bags under our eyes, still dark outside, excited.

After we finished...water!

That's a weird look on my face. Mike thinks I've got a Sean Penn "What are you looking at? Don't take my picture ya bum" look. I think I had just finished drinking some water and was still breathing pretty heavily.