On Sunday, August 26th, I participated in the Eugene Women's
Half Marathon. I did this race last year and loved it so much I had to do it
again this year! The course is wonderful - mostly along the Willamette River on
a path winding through the trees. It is definitely one of my favorite courses.
This half marathon was my first in months - my first
post-foot issues. I didn't know what to expect and found myself quite anxious
over it the day before. I had not walked
more than 7 miles at once since getting my cast off and didn't really know that
I could do it without causing myself more foot pain. More pain was the last
thing I wanted to experience.
The race is in Eugene, Oregon so it was a weekend getaway
for the girls! Sue and I traveled down on Saturday, picked up our race packets,
browsed all the awesome little shops and went out for a nice dinner. We later
went to sit in the hot tub to relax but found it empty and dry so had to use
the pool as a substitute. Luckily it was nice and warm. We stood in the deep
end along the wall and carried on a conversation while trying to avoid all the
splashes from the nearby kids. (The ol' hearing aids can't get wet!) It was
enjoyable and relaxing until we got out and there were no more towels! We found
a couple of hand towels in the gym but they were soaked before drying off one
leg! We shivered, dripped and made puddles all the way back to our room. I
guess that's what Mr. Hilton Hotel gets for not having a working hot tub (boooo) or a big supply of towels! ;)
As we were getting our gear ready for the morning race, the
alarm clock went off. Thinking nothing of it, Sue turned it off and we
continued organizing. When we were getting ready for bed, the alarm went off
again. Then at 4:30 in the morning, it went off AGAIN! Sue almost tore it out
of the wall! That damn thing definitely had a mind of its own! And then... once
again... it went off 6:45 - the time we actually set it for. Crazy thing.
The race started at 8:00 a.m. The starting line was
literally two blocks away from our hotel.
Nice! We arrived with about 10 minutes to spare and made our
last minute adjustments and said hello to a few people we knew from the
Portland area. It's funny how you see the same people traveling to various
races. We're all addicts!
A beautiful version of the national anthem was sang (or is it "sung"?!), the gun
went off, and away we went! The weather was as perfect as the route itself! I
had a lot of memories from doing the race a year ago so it was fun to
reminisce. Last year it was sunny and HOT (I got one of the worst blisters ever
that day) but this year it was cloudy and cool - simply. perfect.
We started out a bit fast and slowed ourselves because we
didn't want to overdo it too quickly.
The walk felt casual and easy for quite awhile. No pain in my foot at all! The miles seemed to be going by quickly
and at mile 7 I calculated that if we pushed just a little harder, we might
just finish the race under the 3 hour mark - something Sue has done before but
something I still wanted to accomplish. I was feeling very strong and energetic
and knew that this was going to be my race to win ("win" meaning: to
beat my own previous times - I don't race to win against others - I couldn't even if I tried!). Sue told
me to go on and "win" my own race! She said she knew I could do it!
It took me a half of a second to debate it in my mind and then I decided to go
for it! I honestly felt better than any other time during a race and knew I had
a real chance of accomplishing my goal.
I jogged off and on, more on than off it seemed. I couldn't
slow myself down! Funny... as if I can jog "fast." haha The more I jogged the harder it became to
walk. I felt AWESOME!
Until... mile 11. I hit that famous "wall" and
started to doubt my ability to continue and started to question myself as to WHY
I even wanted to do it? WHY was I torturing myself like
this? For what? Was this FUN?
NO,
not at all. This negative self-talk went on for the entire mile 11 and I
had to struggle hard to keep myself going. All of a sudden I heard that little
devil on my shoulder, Jillian Michaels, yelling at me with everything she had
in her lungs to "KEEP MOVING!"
So I did.
(Thank you, Jillian!
You don't know me and I don't know you but you have certainly been a LARGE part of my weight loss and determination to become and stay physically active! I hear your voice moving me through those mental and physical "walls" all
the time!)
After "Jillian" kicked me in the ass, I continued
on and became the winner I wanted to be! I finished 13.1 miles in 2:54:06
(official time clock - my watch said 2:54:02 - just saying'...).
I didn't just beat the 3 hour mark, I blew it away! I was SO PROUD of myself! In fact, it gets
better than that... not only did I beat my long time goal of getting below the
3 hour mark, I improved my best half marathon time by ten minutes! TEN MINUTES! That's a BIG DEAL! What a great day!
Here's the breakdown of my miles (check out MILE 9!):
Split
|
Time
|
Distance
|
Avg Pace
|
Summary
|
2:54:02.4
|
13.17
|
13:13
|
1
|
14:25.3
|
1.00
|
14:26
|
2
|
14:06.8
|
1.00
|
14:07
|
3
|
13:33.5
|
1.00
|
13:34
|
4
|
12:59.4
|
1.00
|
13:00
|
5
|
13:11.1
|
1.00
|
13:11
|
6
|
13:41.2
|
1.00
|
13:42
|
7
|
13:46.8
|
1.00
|
13:47
|
8
|
12:40.2
|
1.00
|
12:40
|
9
|
12:03.1
|
1.00
|
12:03
|
10
|
12:48.9
|
1.00
|
12:49
|
11
|
12:41.4
|
1.00
|
12:42
|
12
|
12:53.7
|
1.00
|
12:54
|
13
|
13:15.1
|
1.00
|
13:15
|
14
|
1:56.1
|
0.17
|
11:17
|
After I crossed that finish line as proud as a peacock, I
grabbed a couple things to eat and headed back over to the street so I could
wait for Sue to arrive. She wasn't far behind me, finishing in 3:02:06! Another
awesome race, Sue!
We grabbed bottles of water, kicked off our shoes and sat listening
... then danced! (okay, not ME, but Sue
and lots of other ladies were dancing!)... to the fantastic band, The PopRocks!
It was 80's music at its finest! They were GREAT! It was a perfect way to end a
perfect race!
I can't wait to try to beat my new PR! haha It's probably going to be awhile but I'm certainly going to start
trying! ;)
Next up for me... the Susan G. Komen 3-Day (60 mile walk) for
the Cure! I can't wait!
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