The Half Marathon is done!

The title says it all. We did it - as a group. The first half marathon is complete!

I know I've been a little MIA lately, so I have to apologize (especially to Adrok and Fraskles). After the work trip to Miami, things became extremely hectic and with the half marathon coming up, I decided to return with the results.

Leading up to the race, the schedule called for tapering - a decrease in running leading up to allow your body to strengthen. This was definitely one of the reasons the race went well. Let's face it - your legs need to build up the strength before the race. Friday before the race I began eating lots of pasta (I'll take any excuse I can get!) and I went to bed extremely early (I'll take any excuse I can get!) SMG was out on Friday night and came home to me asleep on the couch watching Scarface....Is it really ever possible to turn that movie off when you see it playing?

So we went out to a great dinner the night before the race. Did I have pasta? Nope. That would too cliche - and I've heard that the night before the race it's actually too late to "carb load." Honestly - I just wasn't in the mood for pasta. I tried venison for the first time - and it was delicious!!! We went to bed early that night and woke up at 5 am Sunday morning.

SUNDAY MORNING

I was a combination of nervous and excited. I knew we had been preparing for 3 months and trained faithfully, but I was still haunted by the big BONK during the attempted 11 miler! I ate a fairly large breakfast (egg sandwich, bananas, small cup of coffee) and then we left the house at 6:30am for the 7:00 am race (the start line was about a 5 minute walk from our condo).

We were pumped!!!! As we went to the finish line we lined up in our corral...I had to take care of a last minute urge to relieve myself and then I was ready! It was surreal as we started - I couldn't believe we had actually begun! The first mile was torture...11:06 because of the crowd....but I have always said that speed was not my priority - finishing the race was. And I meant that - I wanted to have fun. We were separated from each other pretty quickly. The first two miles flew by and I barely broke a sweat. Interestingly enough, by mile 3, I started to feel weird - like I did the day I bonked...I don't know if perhaps my breakfast wasn't big enough, whether I didn't sleep enough or if I had no hydrated properly - but I felt something.

But I was prepared!!! I had my Gu Gel ready to go and I opened up that sucker after mile 3! I swished it around with some water and waited for it to take effect. And boy did it take effect - I sailed through miles 3 through 9....granted, I could not really go at anything more than a 9 minute mile pace because the race was crowded. It ran through some of the scenic, but more narrow streets of Philadelphia. But if you tried to go at a pace faster than the crowd, you risked causing some serious carnage. A few times I couldn't take it and I passed on the sidewalk, but those paths frequently ended abruptly so I didn't think that was really something I wanted to do very often.

Every water stop I took a drink. That was my best move - as I stayed hydrated the whole race and at no point did I think that I was thirsty. I definitely need to start training with a water bottle and get used to drinking while I run. The water stops were MOBBED with people and cups and were like a death trap. In the beginning I tried to run through the water stops but I found that more water was getting on my shirt than was going in my mouth. So I drank the water at each stop and then continued running. It only amounted to about a 3-5 second stop so it wasn't really a big deal.

Around mile 6, I saw the rest of our group - including SMG! I stayed with them because we had all trained together and running with them was fun. At the end of mile 9, we hit a MAJOR hill - and people started dropping like flies. But not our group! We fought through it and I was proud. At the top of the hill there was another water stop - and then I said to myself - ALL that is left is a 5k.

I ran the race with music - which was a last minute decision. I had put together a pretty reliable playlist so I had songs that kept me distracted and happy. I won't say that I necessarily needed the music - but it definitely made the race fun. I go through phases with that sort of thing - and right now, I'm in a "Yes to music phase."

The last three miles were tough. Actually 11 and 12 were not that bad. Mile 13 was a KILLER. I started to cramp up and my feet started to hurt. Twice I stopped very briefly but I persevered and ran a faster pace to make up for the walking. I crossed the finish line and SMG followed about 2 minutes later. We were DONE! And HERE is the complete Garmin reporting!

And of course, the race map:

It was a blast and "rewarding" isn't even the word that captures the feeling. Part of me is relieved to have gotten over the 10 mile hurdle and another part of me knows that there are SO many more challenges ahead. We enjoyed Sunday with our friends - drinking some beers and eating lots of snacks. Monday I took off and Tuesday I actually ran 3 miles (9:00, 8:15, 8:14) to get back into it! It felt great. I'm going to intensify my training this time around - focusing on speed and increasing distance. I'm going to do it gradually because that's what worked this time around. And also, I'll mix in more strength training.

We have another Half Marathon scheduled for January 9, 2010. But for now, I'm very happy. I'm happy that my wife and I set a goal and that we achieved it. Now we'll set new goals and achieve them. This experience brought us closer together with each other and with our friends who ran the race with us. What a great experience - thank you guys.