Showing Up...

I wrote this post after the half, but didn't finish it... so pretend like this was posted back in November...

I was talking to my dad this last week about the half marathon that at that point I was about to run. It had come to me earlier in the day, but I shared with him that I was fairly certain that I was testing the very outer limits of the phrase "90% of success is just showing up". We've all heard the phrase. Perhaps some of us even believed the phrase as something more than trite motivation to get someone out of bed.

I now believe it.

I ran a half marathon on Saturday. It was my second.

What made this one particularly different is that I didn't train for this one. I didn't train for the first one either, but at least I ran a couple times. This time I had only ran twice in the last month and a half. The latest was a 5.5 mile run about 2.5 weeks ago. Literally.

So, Linds and Crystal came down from DC to run the race - Linds joined me for the half and Crystal ran the full. Caleb came out from Salt Lake to run the full marathon, too. Jessica D. signed up months ago to run the half too.

We got to the starting line and waited for the 8k to start and took some cheesy pictures. It was unfortunately 34 degrees and the wind between the buildings wasn't exactly pleasant. Dad was a gem and let me borrow his hat until we got running and took all of our starting line pictures.

By the time we got running, I had stripped off my extra layers by mile 2. The course itself goes down Broad Street for about 2 miles then winds around heading towards Bryan Park, through the neighborhood to downtown and down to the James Center to the finish.

My hope was to get to mile 2 without stopping then to walk periodically every mile to mile and a half... it didn't work out so well. I walked a lot more than that. I even live tweeted the race from my blackberry. My thought process was to make the most of it since I wasn't going to be making any speed records.

Dad got lucky and found us on the loop between miles 3 and 4 and took some pictures for us. It was refreshing to have the reminder that he was watching and good to see a friendly face on the course.

They had billed Bryan Park as a big party with bands and such while you did the loop. Which is nice and all, but it wasn't a party. There were hills... I never invite hills to my parties. But there was gorgeous fall foliage to look at while running the loop through the park.

After getting through the park you have to run through a tunnel that had been painted to say it was "The Wall". Very literally I was feeling myself smack into that wall. We were between miles 7 and 8 and my legs were getting tired. Dad was just after the turn at mile 8. He was excellent to take pictures as we got into the sun and headed into the long straight of the course.

At this point Linds and I seperated - she had been training and had legs to run... I was dying. Ironically this was about the time that I really got into a groove and just glided down the road. This is where things got strange. I grabbed some gel for energy. There were several folks handing out beer or shots of liquor coming down this stretch who didn't understand me shaking my head no. At one point there were a bunch of folks dressed up as Alice in Wonderland characters - not so sure about them. This was also about the time that the elite marathoners started passing me... excellent.

After running on the same old street with only a couple strange things to look at I made the decision that I won't do another half marathon with long straight shots. I like the turns and the change in terrain. So although the Richmond Half had no major hills... the Marine Corps Half in Fredericksburg was a lot more interesting. That and the fact that I know Richmond well so it wasn't much of anything new.

Right about now is when I hit a really low point... an old man passed me while walking. I was rocking out to my ipod and jogging about to make the Lombardy St turn and this old man walked right past me. The worst part is that he wasn't even speed walking... he was just walking.

At this point I ran into my dad again. I was about ready to be done. I was just running to be done and to finish the race, but dad gave me the motivation to get to downtown.

I tried to get into a rhythm at this point again, but walking just seemed better. I ran through downtown and several coaches along the path came up to me and asked me if I was okay... multiple times. I apparently looked like I was dying. Not a surprise at all...

What I said - "yah. I'm good."

What I wanted to say - "I just ran 12 miles without training... Do you really think I'm okay? Really?!?!"

I turned the corner from 3rd to Cary and I just wanted to be done. It's a solid downhill from this point of about 500 yards. I know this road well. I drive it multiple times everyday. This was not my normal coast down the hill in my little Prius.

There was a cop at the top of the hill who was trying to be helpful by saying I was only 500 yard to the finish. I wanted to hear I was 100 yards to the finish not 500.

So I pulled EVERYTHING I had out of my body. I waddled/tripped/staggered down the hill with all of the energy I had left in my body.

I loved running past the folks at the finish line. They were cheering and there were tons of people.

I crossed the finish. Grabbed my medal. Bent over and tried to stagger to the food tent.

I was so done and exhausted. I think I grabbed every bit of carbs that I could in armfuls before heading to dad to take pictures with Linds.

We staggered up the stairs to get our free massage. It was WODNERFUL. My massage lady took pity on my untrained body and gave me double the amount of time that we were supposed to get. It was amazing!

We took more pictures, cheered Crystal across the finish line and headed to lunch.

After an ice bath and a shower we passed out on the couch. literally.

All in all, I was really happy with being able to finish and running so much of the race. I ran almost all of the race from Bryan Park until we got back downtown. I was REALLY proud of that. I was more sore this time, but recovery has gone fairly well.

It was more than anything a war of wills. I'm stubborn. I'm really stubborn. I think the fact that I finished and that I ran the half means that I can do anything. I ran out of just shear determination to finish.

We talked about all running another half together. There's a whole group of us. I think I'm going to sign up, but the deal from here on out is that I won't sign up for a race unless I'm ready to run it. That means I've got a lot of work to get there, but at least I know that with a little training and a little time I really can do anything.

So.... here's to the next one...