When I signed up for the Mesa Falls half-marathon I had just finished my 2nd year of running the ragnar. I'm always on a high after a race, and tend to sign up for my next one during this high, and realize my insanity later. Such was the case with the Mesa Falls half-marathon, my 1st half-marathon. When I actually started to take my training for seriously (about 2.5 weeks ago) I realized that I was cutting it short and probably wouldn't be as ready for my first half as I had planned. The longest run I had time to get in before the big day was 8.15 miles last Saturday. I felt really good after it, even though I drank too much water, but I was hopeful.
My dad let me borrow his garmin for the week, it was good to run with it a few time before the half to get used to it. But it saved my life, I loved knowing my pace and my distance at all times, it helped me stay on track.
So this morning arrived, and the first thing that could go wrong, does. I slept in! I don't understand, I set my alarm. Oh well, I jumped out of bed, got ready super fast, grabbed my bag (which luckily I'd set aside last night), my aunt Camille grabbed some breakfast for me, which I ended up not having the appetite for, and we ran out the door. My Uncle Brady and Aunt Camille are runners too and they've done several half-marathons, so it was nice to run with some seasoned half marathon runners.
Despite out mad dash, we were early, and had time to catch some of the breakfast (I had just a handful of grapes), stretch, and catch the bus that would take us up into the mountains to the start line.
The first little bit was downhill, so I took advantage of it and sped down the hill. It quickly leveled off into a slow decline on a hiking trail. This part was fast, fun and beautiful. I did the first 5k (3.1 miles) in 27 minutes, this really helped me get off to a good start. Just before the trail started climbing the 3-mile hill, I had to use the bathroom. I figured better now, than in 2 miles without a port-a-potty and I'm dying, but that only slowed me down for about 45 seconds.
I kept a good pace even with the hill and finished the first 10k (6.2 miles) in about the same time I did the 10k two weeks ago in Ucon. At this point, I was almost half-way, and I was still feeling good, passing people and going strong. Then I did a stupid thing. At one of the water stations, I dumped a cup of water on my head and down my shirt and straight onto my ipod! It immediately stopped working! I tried turning it back on to no avail, but I didn't have time to mess with it, so I just stuck it back down my bra (yes, I keep my ipod there, the arm band drives me nuts) and kept running... without music :(
At 8.5 miles I was still feeling good. But soon after that I must have started to reach my limit, because my pace decreased dramatically, and my muscles started to give. By the time I reached the 11th mile, I was so ready to just stop and walk the rest of the way, but I really wanted to run the race in 2:20, so I kept at it.
Then at 11.6 miles, I had to stop and walk a ways. I was still going good on my schedule for my goal, but knew I needed to start running again or I wouldn't reach it. So at 12.2 I managed to pick it up again, and run to the end. I finished in 2:20:04, so I was pretty happy. They handed me some water, my medal, and I walked 20 yards before collapsing on the grass, my muscles were shaking so bad. But, I know that if I hadn't of crapped out at the end I could have gotten 2:15 or better. Oh well, there's always the next half-marathon, right?
After lying there for a few minutes, I ate some orange slices and went to go watch for Kim (Eric's aunt who was also running it) Camille, and Brady. First Kim came, then Camille, then Brady. Everyone finished in good time, without injury and relatively good spirits.Oh and good news, after the race was over my ipod started working again, and we got free huckleberry shakes, yum!
We were too tired to think about pictures, so I had my grandma take some later once I got home. The medal is pretty cool, it's wood and engraved with the Mesa Falls Marathon logo.
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| Safe and sound at home with my medal. |
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| Um, so gotta love Idaho. The traditional complimentary bag of goodies you get from every race was an authentic Idaho potato bag. Sack race anyone? |
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| And here is a picture of last years medal. Mine looks the same except it says 2011 and Half Marathon instead of Marathon. I tried to take a picture with my camera but it kept showing up as a ball of light, idk, I'm not a photographer, so I found this one online. |
way to go! I keep my ipod in my bra too... the arm bands are annoying. I havent really run that much since my half marathon, i need to get back in the swing of it!
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