Update

Okay, I’ve been slogging (slacking + blogging).  I’ve started several posts, gotten lazy or busy, and left them just sitting there in unpublished blogland.  So I figured I might as well squish them all together into this one post (along with my race report).  I bet you just can’t wait……….

Monday 10/18

Oh crap, oh crap, oh crappity crap crap crap! And what the hell too.  In 6 days I will be running the Run Like Hell 1/2 marathon…and I am soooooo not ready!  I have skipped virtually all of my long runs…in fact, the longest I’ve run since the LAST half (at the end of June) was 6 miles! Yikes!  I’d start training now out of sheer fear, but I know it would only make things worse…so I’ll wait…and tough it out…and hope that I survive race day.  I’m thinking more “run IN hell” and less “run LIKE hell”………………

Wednesday 10/19

Did I mention I’m running a half marathon on Sunday?  What am I, an idiot?!  Who signs up to torture themselves for 13.1 miles and then doesn’t train at all?  Sometimes I question both my sanity and my intelligence.  It’s gonna be a loooong race………………

Friday 10/21

Leaving for Portland in a few hours…I have packed up my magic beans, running clothes, dork belt, water bottle, and post-race warm cozy clothes.  Kyle’s mom was nice enough to pick up our race packets (with bibs and t-shirts and timing chips).  I guess I’m ready…well as ready as I can be.  Mostly I’m looking forward to being done with it.  I wish I would’ve trained more. I’m a little disappointed in myself, but at this point all I can do is the best I can, right?  My expectations are low, so hopefully I will do better than I think. :)

Sunday 10/24 – RACE DAY! (Why do they call it race day when you’re only trying to finish? :))

I hardly slept at all last night.  It was raining so hard it kept waking me up.  We weren’t in our own bed.  I was afraid we wouldn’t wake up in time.  Oh, and I was trying all day Friday and Saturday to get myself hydrated so I woke up three extra times because of that…needless to say 6am came way too early!  We woke up, got dressed, made PB&Js, ate them quickly, and headed out.  Traffic and parking were super easy.  Finding the starting line was super easy.  We gave up on the porta-potty lines they were so long (luckily I didn’t need them after all that night peeing!)  We got in line to start with 13 minutes left until the gun went off.  Time went relatively quickly.  People watching is fun!  Especially people watching when about one in every 10 or so people is dressed like an Alice in Wonderland character (the theme of the race)!  A few were dressed as other random things too…Edwards Scissorhands started near me.  How the heck was she going to run in full pants, suspenders, long sleeved button up shirt, wig, and knife/fork/scissor gloves?!?!  She looked dang good though!

Anyway, the gun (or horn) went off and we waited a few more minutes for the people in front of us to go before we started running.  Kyle wished me good luck and we exchanged “I love you”s and off he went (that boy is quite a bit faster than me when he wants to be!!)  The first couple of miles went slowly but steadily. I fell into a good pack of ladies (and two couples) who seemed to be about my pace.  (Edward Scissorhands was looking tired already!) Appreciated the lady who thanked all of the volunteers with a loud “THANK YOU VOLUNTEERS!” between gasps. Chatted with one lady who slacked on her training like I did.  Lost her at the water station at mile 3.5…Starting here and for the rest of the race I followed this sorta round-ish lady in a BRIGHT yellow shirt and black vest.  She looked like a bumblebee, and there was no way I was going to let a bumblebee beat me across the finish line!  It was kind of lonely without Kyle.  Weird to know I had such a long way to go on my own.

It started REALLY raining just after the 3.5 mile water station.  Like really raining.  Like monsoon raining.  And the wind!!!  I was drenched in about 2 minutes, but only on my front half.  Woo! I was running fast enough to not get my back wet!  I think the race photographer got a nice shot of me wringing out my shirt, but we’ll just have to wait until the photos come out to see.  About 5 minutes into the rain the hill started.  The rain kept up for awhile…the hill kept up for FREAKING EVER!!!  It was uphill (big hill) from mile 4ish to mile 10.  It just kept on going up…and it was curvy, so every time I couldn’t see around a corner I’d think, “This HAS to be the end of this hill!” but the curves and the hills just kept on going (Insert joke about women and curves and hills that just keep going here.)  I thought of Kyle and wondered if he had thought of me and how much I hate hills during this part of his race.

I saw the sign for mile 8 and was feeling exhausted, but good that I was quite a bit over halfway done…but mile 8 dragged on FOREVER…and I lost my bumblebee pacer.  I felt like I ran for years before I saw the next sign looming in the distance.  It took a long time until I was close enough to read it…but when I could… “Mile 10.”  Mile 10!  MILE 10!!!!!!!!  I actually grinned.  In the middle of a half marathon, I smiled.  This really was a big step in Hannah-running-land!  And I swear this is the moment the sun came out.  And then, even better, I saw my buzzing little-ish bumblebee friend flying around in front of me.  A-ha!  Motivation!  So THIS is what it feels like to push yourself!  I was excited to be doing it ON MY OWN.  I’ve never been great at positive self talk or pushing through pain.  I’m more of a “that hurts just a teeny bit.  I’d better stop or it will hurt a lot” kind of person.   This was new territory for me. 

Starting at that mile 10 sign most of the rest of the race was downhill (literally).  I was cruising and make up a lot of time from all that uphill rainy-ness.  I passed every single person I had been running with at the beginning.  I passed the lady who slacked on her training, the lady who thanked all the volunteers, and the two couples…I got right up on the heels of the bumblebee and stuck there.  The mile 11 sign came up pretty quickly.  A cute little girl who was 10 or 12 years old was standing halfway between miles 11 and 12 “ONLY A MILE AND A HALF TO GO!!!!! YOU’RE ALMOST THERE!!!! IT’S ALL DOWNHILL FROM HERE!!!!”  She was the only person I heard cheering the entire race up to this point.  She rocked. 

Mile 12 rolled in slowly, but still faster than expected.  My legs turned to jello somewhere around 12.5 miles.  My pants were still soaked from all that rain and they were clinging to my legs which were numb from the cold and all that down hill.  I think if I had misstepped at all I would’ve tumbled to the ground and never moved again.  Luckily the road wasn’t very bumpy.  I passed the bumblebee and hung in tight with a 40 year old lady in a hot pink tank top!  I saw the mile 13 sign and almost cried.  I was going to do this.  On my own.  Without anyone’s help (or without anyone knowingly helping me anyway :)).  I rounded the corner by the mile 13 sign and saw the finish line.  It was closer than I expected.  (Much closer than the .1 felt during our last half!)   I pushed harder, but I don’t think I went any faster.  I heard Kyle and his parents yelling and then I saw them.  And then I finished.  I finished in the exact same time as the Rock ‘n Roll.  But I also finished with the hill and the rain and no running buddy.  I did it!  I’m still excited. :) 

Before you ask, yes there will be another.  I didn’t make it in my goal time of 2:30, and I intend to do that someday.  I also intend to run a full marathon someday, but someday might be a little further off than I had originally planned for that goal.  I need to actually do every (or almost every) training run for a half marathon before I venture into a full.  It is, however, funny how addictive this particular form of torture is.  :)

I promise Kyle isn't really that color. Weird lighting going on in there! :-P