A painful half.

Why do races have to be so early in the morning...and 2 hours away? Three days before the race it had been almost 90 degrees, but the morning of the race it was only 2 degrees above freezing. I don't really like cold weather and have zero experience running in it.

We were the first runners to arrive and get our bibs, then quickly scurry back to the car to defrost. We stayed in the car as long as possible but we knew eventually we would have to get out to get ready to run.

 The race was staged at a high school stadium and the best part of that was they had real bathrooms! Best pre race toilet stop ever!!
Before we got half a mile, Matt was hit with a sharp side pain and we almost had to stop and walk. He complained for another half mile before the  pain went away.
 










By mile 2 I started to feel my toes and they hurt already. At mile 3 I dodged a spider and felt my hamstring pull. Great. 


Around half way, there was a group of kids with signs and one said "chuck Norris never ran a half marathon". I love seeing encouraging people on the route. That was the pick me up I needed to get through the next few miles.


 One thing that really started to piss me off was a group of 3 girls. They would run for a minute or two then stop and walk. Now there is nothing wrong with that...except that when they walked they would be three wide. The running lane was about 3 wide in most areas so it was incredibly frustrating. We passed them and they passed us at least 15 times in the first three quartets of the race.

 

By mile 10 I was fading fast. I grabbed a banana from the aid station and did my best to keep pace. Between mile 11 and 12 things started to fall apart quickly. I got a horrible side pain (but not as bad as the last half marathon) and Matt got his strange pain. We really struggled to keep moving.

We rounded the corner  toward the finish line and Matt saw the race clock. He knew my goal was to beat 2:15:00...and about 100 yards away we had 8 seconds to make it. I had assumed we lost too much time when I had to walk for a minute so I wasn't thinking about meeting my time goal. We took off as fast as possible but I knew it wasn't possible. We crossed the line at 2:15:04 and promptly collapsed to the grass. Our only hope of breaking our goal was the official chip time.

After a few minutes of laying down we got up and went to the free food. Then when we got the strength to walk to the car we went and turned the heater on. In over 2 hours it had only warmed up 7 degrees. Yuk.

This was the most painful race I have done. It almost makes me question my ability as a runner. And really makes me question whether I want to attempt a full marathon.

Our chip time came in at exactly 2:15:00. One freaking second short of my goal. Maybe next time I guess.