First half marathon of race season is in the books. And it was ridiculously good. I had run the majority of this course a couple of times before–my 10 mile race at the start of the month was here, as was last weeks 15-miler. The only part I hadn’t run was the 5k portion, which takes you up a hill or two. Yeah, a little tough, but no big deal. I’ve run far crazier hills than that. Then it goes into two fairly easy (for me, at this point) laps around the lake.
I knew I was set to PR. My previous best time was 3:06:11. I KNEW that with the way I’ve been training I was going to crush that. I was planning on a 2:40ish finish. BUT…I was running with/against one of my friends. We crossed the start around the same time. Cat and moused a bit until we got through the crowds and settled into our respective rhythms. Then I got a huge lead. I was chugging along, I was doing fine, then BAM! Cramps. Not those kind of cramps, either. Female cramps (sorry if that’s TMI, but it is what it is). So I slow down because I am in agony. I’m still pushing myself, but I HURT. My friend catches up to me. I look at him, say hell no, and take off. I gain a decent lead again. Then I start to slow as another wave of cramps come through. I look back over my shoulder, see him coming up behind me, and TAKE OFF. I was not having that. And so it goes for awhile. Eventually he does catch up to me again. We chat for a few minutes. Tells me he cracked up the last time he saw me bolt. I eventually take off again. Eventually he catches up again. We cat and mouse for awhile until the last mile when I’m dying. It’s taking everything in me to get to that line. We run together until right before the finish when he takes off. I smile and say go get it, at that point my uterus had sapped all my energy and I would run to the finish, but I just didn’t have a sprint left in me.
Unofficial time: 2:32:22. Still waiting on the official results, but I know it’s gonna be close. Official time: 2:32:08!! Either way, I CRUSHED it. I exceeded my own expectations. And that was while I was in pain. I might’ve been sub 2:30 if I hadn’t been hurting so bad. Un effing real. I don’t even care that my friend ‘beat’ me (by 2 seconds. Literally, 2 seconds), because my time is so out of this world.
Sometimes I can’t believe it. I can’t believe who I’ve become. If you had told me in high school or even college that I would be a runner, really a runner, I would never have believed it. I always wanted to be, but I couldn’t imagine that I actually would be a runner. And a decent one at that. When I finished my first half marathon, I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea of doing a full, I didn’t want to do one unless I could get my half time down to around 2:30. And I’ve done that. I ran 15 freakin’ miles last weekend and while I was sore after, it just felt…good. It felt right. I felt happy, and strong, and confident. The person I’ve become seems so far from who I’ve always been, it still takes me by surprise.