And so it starts!
this is mile 3, after this the trail went through a natural forrest reserve for the remainder of the race- it was beautiful!!
*this is me mid-sentence on the last tenth of a mile of the race...see below for what was said :)
FINISHER!!
mouth full of banana.
the most supportive husband ever!!
Ahhh! I did it!
Let's start at one o'clock in the morning the day of the race. Husband and I woke up to the sound of horrifying thunder and lightening coming through our curtains...crap. The race would continue through rain, extreme heat and snow but at the first sign of thunder and lightening the race is canceled. The rest of my night included restless sleep and nightmares of two months of training going down the drain with the race being canceled.
Luckily, when we woke at 6 am there was no sign of thunder or lightening, just an extremely overcast, dark sky. As we got to the race it was evident that it would be a very wet race. And we were completely right. It rained and rained and rained the entire race (minus a few minutes during mile 3 and 9) But let's start at the beginning...
Let me tell you, after two months of training it was an extremely odd feeling standing at that starting line surrounded by extremely fit people ready to run 13.1 miles. It seemed like the day would never come but there I was and whether I was ready or not it was happening!
I'll refrain from sharing every thought I had as I ran
but I distinctly remember my thoughts at every single mile marker.
mile one: why the heck am i doing this?
mile two: why the heck am i doing this?
mile three: why the heck am i doing this?
mile four: okay, finally getting into my groove.
mile five: where the crap is the mile marker!? THIS IS THE LONGEST MILE EVER!
mile six: I feel amazing! (i missed mile marker 5 so when I saw mile marker 6 i was beyond happy to realize i had just missed 5 and that it wasn't the longest mile ever)
mile seven: i'm going to rock this race! (i was super ahead of my mapped out time)
mile eight: okay, the rain really needs to stop. (completely drenched at this point)
mile nine: out of gas...completely out of gas.
mile ten: okay, no joke i'm really done. (shoes starting to fill up with water)
mile 11: two more miles...can i do this!? (shoes sloshing with water)
mile 12: ahhh! okay i can do it!
mile 13: I DID IT!!!
13.1: i'm never doing this again. (hahaha lies)
As I came around the last corner and saw the finish line my sweet husband was standing not too far off taking pictures of the little old me crumpled over and shuffling down the road as I yelled to him " *I'M SO FREAKING TIRED!" The men around husband laughed and said "you're almost there!" I love how motivating race people are!
During the whole race people would cheer each other on, it was such a comforting thought thinking, "they probably hurt as bad as i do and they are still going!"
Oh, and hint- if the race description says "rolling hills" it means the whole races is hills. KILL ME! I trained on a tread mill...I don't do hills! But I rocked it despite and took my little baby steps up the hills to save my knees, just like daddy taught me!
A sore hip, sore ankle, two calluses, only one blister, and two old lady knees later I was done and proud of what I had accomplished. My finishing time was 2 hours, 35 minutes and 38 seconds. During the last two miles I realized I would not make my 2 hour 30 minute goal but was set on finishing before 2:40. And that I did! All in all I'm just happy I finished :) Today, two days later, is my most sore day but I am definitely not nearly as sore as I thought I'd be -- bonus!!
Thanks so much for all the support and well wishes! It was a great experience and despite the dedication it took I think another half is in my future :) I am so grateful for an extremely supportive husband who knew what I was capable of and helped me build my confidence and for a family that, despite the miles of separation, made sure I knew they were proud and there for me and gave me tips and tricks that saved me during the race!
because i am blessed.
Congratulations Kelsey! That is sooo awesome. :)
ReplyDeletewoot woot! good job girl! agreed, the tenth mile is the KILL me mile!
ReplyDeleteAHHH yeah kelse!!!!!! that's awesome. I am so proud of you :) you rocked it girl.... remember when we struggled trying to run 2 miles in the BYU gym? ha yeah.... I'm definitely proud of you
ReplyDeleteYou were amazing! I'm so proud of you!!!
ReplyDeleteKelsey... you have the cutest blog and I am SO proud of you for running a half!!! You are totally awesome. I'm trying to run one too (I'm only up to 7 miles right now, but it's happening!) but I'm also training on a treadmill. How was the transition? I am freaking out about running outside in the heat and humidity when I've only trained in a nice air-conditioned room. What are your thoughts? Any tips? Did you do any long runs outside before you ran the full half?
ReplyDeleteNicole!! That was like my EXACT situation! I was freaking out the week of the race but luckily the rain actually helped a ton. I really didn't find much of a difference between treadmill to road EXCEPT for the hills. Do you know if yours will have hills? Even if you do I wouldn't worry too much. It didn't throw me off too much- the best advice I got for hills was from my pops, keep your same pace but take smaller steps! you may feel silly and look slightly like a grandma BUT it'll save your legs and help you keep your pace. Congrats on your training! Mile 7 is pretty dang far!! By the time you run the race you will be so pumped I think you'll do great no matter what :) One thing that took me by surprise was the "wall" they say you hit but don't be afraid of it; it'll happen but it's not insurmountable. I'm not a pro runner by any means but if you have any more questions I'll do all I can to help or ask my dad (he's a real pro). Thanks for reading my blog!!
ReplyDeleteKels, I am honestly so proud of you and oh-so happy for you! I am not much of a runner, I look to those who are though. You achieved something so great and I look to you because of it! I don't think I could've done what you just did, but I guess I would never know until I try...but congrats!! Love you girl :) Keep up the blogging, I love hearing how things are going in your life!
ReplyDeleteahahaha I love you yey yey yey so happy for you!
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for the advice! I love the hills idea. Thank you. I'm deciding between a couple of races right now (there is no WAY I'm doing one until it cools down around here...) so I'm not sure about hills yet. If we were in UT I would totally do the Provo Canyon one. My mom did it a few years ago and she said that it was 95% gradual downhill. Now that's my kind of race! Okay one more question. What was the longest run you did before the big day? I have a few different running schedules and they all recommend different things. Some say to have 9 or 10 be your longest, but that scares me.
ReplyDeleteI picked my race before I picked my training because we were moving to chicago and I knew my pickings would be slim and when I found one close it was only 8 weeks away, usually training schedules go for 12 weeks but I found 8 weeks to be perfectly fine and it went up to 10 miles. I was SO nervous about it too but I consulted my dad on it and he said it was extremely smart not to go above 10 or 11 miles before running the actual race. It seems weird but it is good. When you get up to 8,9 and 10 miles it starts to take a toll on your bod (especially because that's only the long run, you still have to run like 5 miles during the week!) So I would recommend only going up to 10 miles during training and taking the week of the race easy (I only ran twice the week of and only 2 miles on each day with no cross training at all that week). You body needs time to recoup and you have a lot of extra energy the day of the race so it works well. The last three miles are difficult but I really don't think it would've made a difference if I had trained up to 13 miles, it would've just made my body even more tired before the race! My dad says that's sort of the point of not going all the way, you don't want to get too worn out AND you don't want to run the whole distance and realize "holy crap, that was long i don't want to do that again in a week!" Hopefully that helps! It really helped me!
ReplyDelete