My mom and dad arrived around 2:30 to pick us up and head to Newton. As soon as my mom arrive, I lost it...which you will see is one of many times I cried this weekend. She told me I didn't have to do this, that no one was making me and I told her we WERE going and I WAS running. There was no choice in that.WIth that, I collected myself and we were off. Our first stop was the Nike outlet in Kittery....I still hadn't gotten pants to wear and the forecast predicted rain. My awesome husband bought me a new pair of running pants, a new shirt and ear warmers!:-)
It was pouring rain all the way to Newton which I was less than thrilled about I just kept picturing running the race in a downpour...awesome. So we made it, and ventured out to find a carb filled dinner! mmmm, I love carbs. I never did make it to the store before I left to get my bananas and peanut butter for my breakfast so we planned to find a store while we were in Newton. However, after dinner driving around town was not our idea of fun. I had this brilliant idea (I know...shocker) that room service could deliver me something yummy:-) I called when I got back to the room only to find out that room service doesn't start until 6:30am...BOGUS! I explained to the nice lady that I needed to eat around 5:00am and all I wanted was some bananas and peanut butter! She sent up a huge fruit bowl with a giant scoop of peanut butter on the side for me that night! I'll totally stay there again!:-)
All night long I was getting 'good luck' texts from my friends. I had planned to save them and post a few of the good ones on here....there were some good ones!:-) Buuuuuuut, I deleted them the other day by mistake...booo. I made myself go to sleep around 9:30 and my alarm was set for 4:45...yikes! Who would of thought I would wake up BEFORE my alarm..oh yes, I did. I got up to shut the alarm off on my phone when I noticed I had a new text...from Twitter. It said "for @gksarahj5 (thats me) ive run races in the snow, heat & rain, ive been hurt, hungover, sleepless & alone... it makes u HARDCORE! just DO it :-)" clearly i started crying again...no one was awake yet and I crawled back into bed and layed there for a little while. I collected myself, yet again and got up and got ready for the day.
We arrived to the start about an hour before the race. I had to pick up my packet annnnnnd I got a small t-shirt! I was excited! The closer it got to race time, the more excited I was getting. Forget all the nerves, tear, and fears I had...this was it! I got a few more texts....
"Good Luck. Kick the half marathon's butt. We are proud of you!"
" GO GO GO. Run hard, don't be afraid to walk, and don't drink the colored water"
" Good Luck sexy runner girl!"
My mom was super camera happy....a few pre race pics....
Before I knew it, I was off.....annnnd crying again (this makes #3). The first 4 miles flew by. Usually those are my worst miles and I want to crawl in a hole and die until I get in my rhythm. I was feeling great. There was a girl running next to me for most of this, before she fell behind. I was passing people, I felt great, and I had a good pace going, I was having FUN! I big debate I had before the race was if I should wear my long sleeve shirt or not. I decided to, but at mile 1.5ish it came off. It was quite a scene because of course I didn't stop to take it off...just kept running. The old lady next to me tried to help...I assured her I was ok:-) I made it to mile 6.2 some where around 57:00. I was pleased because my goal has been to run a 10K in under an hour....and had this been a 10K, I would have done it. Alas....I had 7 more miles left! This is also where the "gentle hills" kicked in. I'm not so sure gentle is the word I would use to describe them. Of course I can't remember now, but I think there were only 4 or 5 but they were long, winding, steep hills. Thank you to the nice lady and her 2 little boys who served water 3/4 of the way up the worst hill! I forced myself not to walk and to keep going....which I did. My pace slowed down quite a bit though from about mile 7 on.
The course was so pretty, it was all through residential areas and HUGE mansions and some wealthy neighborhoods. It was kind of cool not knowing where the course was going, there were a lot of turns. After I passed mile 9 I realized that every step I took after would the the longest run I had ever had. I chatted with a nice lady for a while who told me that we were done with the hills and it was flat the rest of the way! I promptly told her I needed a massive downhill and a drink of water and I'd be ok:-) I am assuming she lived in the area since she stooped at a house, took off her jacket, thew it in the front door and then picked up her newspaper and tossed it on her front steps and continued on. At some point I was behind a lady and the back of her shirt read "....and I'm getting married next weekend" I really wanted to know what the front said, but didn't have the energy to get up to her to read it.
Finally, mile 10!! Only 3 more left. I can do this. ANNNNNND I was surprised to see Ruddley waiting for me. He ran the last 3 miles with me. I needed it so bad. He asked how I was doing and if I had stopped to walk yet and I told him I was hanging in and had not stopped yet. He replied "I'm so proud, I love you". He told me my family was up ahead waiting for me....
Mile 11!
In all the excitement of seeing my family and getting water, I missed the mile 11 sign. For the next mile I thought I was STILL on mile 10. I was so mad. I knew I was running slow and stopping to walk at times, but I knew I had to be farther then that!. I yapped at Ruddley for most of mile 11 and all of 12 telling him how much my butt and hips hurt! He was such a good supporter and continued to remind me how many french fries I can have on the way home!:-) We finally got to mile 12 and I was shocked....but soooo happy I was closer then I thought. Just 1 more mile!!! This was the LONGEST mile ever!!! We started to smell some food cooking and we thought it was from the finish line party, turns out that was not the case, and Ruddley says "can you smell that? LETS GO!". Apparently he knows what motivates me...mmm fooooood!
We rounded the corner onto the last stretch, he pointed out the finish line to me and I put my head down and gave it everything I had. I started crying one. last. time. I had the BIGGEST smile and I was soooo happy. I could see my family waiting for me and the announcer announced me as I came through the gate.
I was soo happy to be done. All I wanted was a big glass of water so I went to this tent where the lady had a ton of water. Of course it was some "special" water and she felt the need to tell me all about how great it was for you. All I wanted was the stupid water with no explanation! My family met me and mom was was again camera happy and I seriously couldn't even stand on my 2 feet without almost falling over. In a matter of 5 minutes my legs were in sooo much pain...all I wanted to do was sit down. I made an attempt to go into the school for the little awards ceremony thing but that was a major fail. I needed to sit ASAP.
With that, we hopped in the car and ventured home. I really thought I would sleep the entire way...but I was still so excited that I talked everyones ears off:-) Once I got home, I showered, changed and made a home on my couch for the rest of the day!:-)
I can't wait to run my next half! Ruddley is already planning to run his first.
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