Rock & Roll Savannah Half Marathon

I must admit that I went in to this race with a lot of trepidation and exhaustion and just holding on to the motivation to be done with racing and running for a little while. Not exactly where I wanted my head to be at this point. But having been promoted to manager at Nutrition Warehouse and working 50+ hours, my training was lacking, as was my motivation. What I felt most motivated to do was sleep. And well, let's just say I experienced enough personal drama in the midst of all of this to be completely just emotionally and physically worn out.

Originally, we had planned for this race to be a finisher for the season. Cathy and I were going to walk this one just for fun. Since we would be running Myrtle Beach a couple weeks before this, this would be for recovery and fun. Cathy was unable to make the trip but I was still expecting another friend, Deanna, whom I had met in Philly to make this race. Unfortunately, Deanna, was not able to make it either and I left Friday afternoon for Savannah with my dear friend, Ann, knowing I would be completely alone on race day.

It was crazy trying to get in to the expo to get my race packet. In fact, it was so insane, that all I did when I got in was get my race packet and t-shirt and get out of there as soon as possible. We grabbed dinner and checked in to the hotel. I knew I would have to get up early so I tried to get to sleep. I didn't manage much because I was afraid I wouldn't get up when the alarm went off at 3:40 a.m. It was the earliest I have ever had to be up for a race and I SO could have used a cup of coffee but my hotel did not have a coffee maker in the room and the one in the lobby looked questionable at best! So, I ate my breakfast, got dressed and headed out to the Savannah Mall where I could park for free and take the shuttle to the start line. I was on the first shuttle and we arrived a little bit after 5 to the starting line.

Of course, as is always the plan, I hit the port-a-potty. It was so early that there were no lines!! And then I just attempted to stay warm and keep from freezing my butt off...oddly enough that meant standing behind a line of port-a-potties that was blocking the wind! A few others huddled with me as we tried to stay warm and wait to get in our corrals.

I also had the opportunity to meet a friend that I have known online for about two years. Laura and I met on a weight loss site a couple years back and have been reading each others blogs and encouraging each other as we journeyed to lose weight and started running. She had completed her first marathon the weekend before and I was shocked that she was going to run the half in Savannah. We finally got to meet in person and got a great photo taken!

I hung out with Laura and her friends for a little while until it was time to head to the corrals and then made my way over to my corral. I was in the 23rd corral and I edged over into the group to try and stay warm and wait for the race to begin.

It was while I was waiting for the race to begin that I observed and overheard some of the conversation of the group of ladies in front of me. It was clear that they were encouraging one of their group to be amazing. There were lots of encouraging words and hugs and it was such a great pep talk that I mentioned that it was an amazing pep talk.

It was to be Maria's first half marathon and her friends were concerned because she was going to be by herself after the race started. They wanted her to stay focused and encouraged her to just keep going no matter what. I started talking with Maria and the girls and when I found it was her first half marathon and she was going to be by herself, I told the girls that she would not be alone. She was going to be my race buddy for the day. I knew that I wanted to be with Maria for her first half marathon and help her achieve her goal. And your first half marathon is certainly not one to be alone.

So, for my 10th half marathon, I set out with Maria and got to know her. We chatted as the corral slowly inched up to the start line. We did not actually cross the starting line until after 8 a.m. (the race started at 7:30!) It was the first starting line that I did not take off running with the group. Surprisingly, though my body wanted to run, I enjoyed the walking. As Maria and I got to know each other and shared a bit of each other's lives, I learned that she had been recently diagnosed with MS and had been suffering through some back pain as well as some numbness and her legs. She had intended to run this half and her dreams of running this had been dashed.

I knew that I had to distract her from thinking about her diagnosis and that she really wanted to run this and the other million things that could start her to wondering if she would finish this race and all the other million questions and frustrations that start to lead you down a bad path. So, I remembered what Tripp Worthy does when I get down on myself or start to doubt myself or just get sad, frustrated or depressed...I started talking nonsense and blonde stories and told her about me and frankly, I think I just talked and kept talking to try and keep her mind off of pain and walking and everything else. It was crazy but it worked.

I shared with her the wisdom of Ricky Rikard and how you never get on a bus unless there is bone or blood!! (I do so love Taz!!!) And I told her that she could do this every step of the way and that we were doing this for fun. (Yes, Taz, I finally learned how to just have fun during a half marathon! It was a blast!) We people watched and wondered how and why certain people got out of the house dressed like they were. I mean some of these people had some horrible friends...when your friends let you put on shorts that triple the size of your butt and don't inform you, it's time for new friends! Not to mention, there were some crazy people on the course...Beetlejuice was there for the half marathon, there were couples holding hands like it was a Sunday stroll, people who clearly didn't color coordinate their bags with their outfits and so much more!! Was it wrong to pick fun at these people?? Not a bit....they got us through the half marathon because there was no way they could cross the finish line before us. Maria and I both about lost it when I guy in front of us turned and around and yelled to his significant other behind us, "Are you coming, Seabiscuit?" Now, honestly, maybe she had a horsey look to her, I can't recall. Regardless, when your nickname is Seabiscuit, you need to rethink your relationship! But thanks for the laugh Seabiscuit and mate!!

Maria did amazing. I could tell she was in pain for some of it. So, I tried to distract her. We both got teary eyed as we passed a gentleman with two prosthetic legs completing the half marathon. I had to stop and tell him how amazing he was and inspiring. And seeing the full marathoners coming in around 4 hours was awesome...some looked like they had taken a stroll while others looked like their legs were about to give out and that they hardly had anything left.

We kept moving. As I noticed the bus coming in from behind, I determined we had to pick up the pace. And Maria was a champ, she gave it her all and matched me as I set goals of people for us to pass. And do not let anyone tell you that Savannah is flat. There may not be many hills but we did do hills for this race. Though they may not be the hills of Nashville, they were hills nonetheless!

When we got to mile 13, we saw Maria's cheerleaders. They were so amazing. As I saw the finish line, I knew that, even though Maria had not been able to run this race, if she had anything at all left, I wanted her to know the victory of running the finish line. So, I asked her "Do you think you can run?" She didn't think she could, but I knew she had a little left in her. So, I grabbed her by the hand and said, "Come on, we can run this one in." And we ran to the finish line and her friends were moving quickly through the crowds to get there as well. It was really emotional! And when we crossed the line, they went to hand Maria her medal and I knew, she had to have that medal placed around her neck. So, I grabbed it and put it around her neck. She earned this medal. She was to be awarded the dignity of every athlete...just like in the Olympics, you get the medal placed around your neck!

We got pictures made and caught up with her friends. I was hugged and thanked a million times. The truth is that as much as Maria needed me for this race. I needed Maria. My heart was not quite in it from the start and my body was just plain exhausted. She distracted me from all of that. As much as God had me there for Maria, He placed her there for me too. It was by far the best half marathon finish ever. I may not have set a PR but I made an awesome friend!

Here's a pic of Maria and I after the race:

Maria is amazing. We have some very similar situations. We have both lost 100 pounds and have crazy, but lovable trainers. We are both motivated to live a healthier lifestyle and have great friends for encouragement and support. I look forward to getting to know Maria better and hopefully getting to hang out with her again, whether it be just hanging out or doing another race. She is awesome! And I was so thrilled and honored to be a part of her special day!! And I loved her friends, they were so awesome and encouraging for me as well.

This is my first race that I will honestly say that I would not have changed a thing about it. They ran out of Cytomax at the very first water station, but it was fine. The water and Cytomax tasted terrible the entire race but we drank it anyway and kept going. I threw my first piece of clothing on the course at this race! They had great cheering sections and people in the neighborhoods came out to cheer us on. I honestly could not tell you a thing about the course except that there were some hills and some questionable neighborhoods, but perfect coverage and street closures. The volunteers were awesome and great cheerleaders. Although, the wind could have died down, it was a great race and one that I would consider doing again.

For now, I am looking forward to some rest. I will be having surgery on my wrist in a couple weeks (perhaps I will blog about it when I am doped on pain meds...that could be fun!!). I have a triangular fibrocartilage tear in my left wrist which was caused by the fact that my ulna is too long in that wrist and it is degeneratively moving and causing me pain and apparently tearing cartilage. So, Dr. Ekman will be going in and repairing the tear and cleaning it up. He has said that he will not put a cast on it, but I think I may ask for one because I am a hardheaded and very insane person and will likely pick up something I shouldn't if there isn't a cast there to remind me. So, I will be asking him about this at my pre-op appointment. Other than that, I will be taking some time off for running...at least a month. I will still be doing cardio and strength training legs when Ekman approves of it. But I want to give running a rest so that I can return to it and enjoy it more. My love/hate relationship with running has gone more towards hate and dread lately, so it's time to give it a small break and restart when I have better rested.

I have signed up for two races for next year. The NC Half Marathon in Charlotte is in March and the Divas Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach is in May.

Myrtle Beach Mini Marathon 10-23-2011

Thought I would give you all a recap of the Myrtle Beach Mini. I really like this race because it's nice and flat. I had a crazy couple of weeks before the race with lots of stress and not much time to train, so I was kind of nervous about how all that was going to impact me on race day. And I was a bit nervous about what all of that would do to my body since I went into shock a day after the last race and it took me longer to recover. So, the week before the race, I was hitting electrolytes and potassium pretty hard to see if I could prevent the horrible muscle cramping in my legs. And I was mentally preparing myself as well because losing a couple weeks of training is never a part of the recipe for success.

I didn't get much sleep the night before the race thanks to the bad positioning of our room and a wedding party that was liquored up and partying in the stairwell. It was unnerving to get so little sleep before the race, but I sucked it up and got myself together in the morning. Cathy and I made sure we had late checkouts and then went to get Tripp (my trainer) who was our chauffeur/photographer/cheerleader :) It was quite chilly out Sunday morning. We were all bundled up pretty well since we knew Tripp could take our extra jackets with him.

Of course, we did the correct protocol...hit the port-a-potties first :) After that, we did a couple pictures and I got in some light stretching. My hip was aching...not sure if it was the weather or what was going on. They did their pre-race jousting with the people from Medieval Times and then it was time to start. I was still very sore between the hip and the wrist feeling the cold, I was not sure how this race was going to do me.

I started out pretty well. The first few miles were pretty smooth and uneventful. I was keeping a very steady pace. I resisted the urge to make a friend or even talk to anyone for the first ten miles. By mile 10, I just hurt...everywhere. My hip was starting to drag and my pace was slowing. At this point, I ended up walking for a while with another woman who was having some hip issues. So, we stuck it out together for the last 3 miles. I didn't want my pace to slow but by this point the bottoms of my feet were SO sore too! When the finish line was finally in sight, I was so relieved and so happy and so ready to be done with this race. Luckily, I was able to pull the last of my strength and energy together and make a very slow run to the finish line.

When I got to the very end, I knew I didn't want to stop because it was just going to hurt but I also wanted to just lay down. I got my medal, my water and bagels and headed back to the car with Cathy, Tripp, and Jason. I was happy to get back to the hotel and get showered up because everything hurt. The ride back to Columbia was a bit uncomfortable because my legs started cramping in the car. (Which is way better than during the race!)

Recovery has gone pretty smoothly. I have not overdone it this week. I got my electrolytes and potassium balanced on Sunday afternoon. Most of the lactic acid has worked its way out of my system. Mostly, I am just tired.

And here's my update on the wrist...I saw Dr. Ekman last week and he actually asked me if dwarfism ran in my family, followed by "clearly, you are not a dwarf." LOL...no dwarfs in my family, but apparently the bones in my wrist are moving in a degenerative pattern similar to what happens in dwarfs. And he mentioned multiple times how abnormal my wrist is. Then, he sprung the bad news...if we don't go in and fix the issues he is currently seeing, then I won't be using my wrist much by the time I am 60. So, I am scheduled for an MRI tomorrow and then meeting with Ekman next Monday to review what else he finds and likely scheduling surgery.

Other than that, I am looking forward to Savannah on November 5th! My last half marathon for the year and then I am scheduling a break from races until March. I plan to do the NC Half Marathon in Charlotte in March and the Divas Half Marathon in Myrtle Beach in May. Other than that, I have not made any other plans. And Savannah is my 10th half marathon....hard to believe, but true!! And it will be 6 half marathons total for the year.

Philadelphia Half Marathon 9-18-2011

Here it is...finally, my race report. Wasn't sure it was going to get done until later in the week, but here you go....

So, before I give you my race report, I will give you an update on life for me lately. It's been an interesting year. It's hard to believe that I only have 2 more half marathons to complete before I can stick my tongue out at the naysayers who said I was crazy for doing 6 in one year. Yeah, I won't lie, it is part of my motivation :) As usual before I do any race, I somehow manage to injure myself or have some kind of crazy issue...I think that is normal for me. So, right now, I am under the care of the orthopedic surgeon again....Dr. Ekman is taking care of my left wrist. It has been bothering me for about 5-6 weeks and I was finally able to get in to see him yesterday. He believes that it has been injured in the past, though I am unaware of any injuries and so is my mother. In addition to it being completely abnormal (so were my hips! LOL!), arthritis has set in and made lifting and little tasks like opening bottles, driving, etc. painful. So, I am now in a wrist support brace for the next 30 days to try and get it back to normal and I am on anti-inflammatories!! I had gone to see a chiropractor that I could get in to see earlier than Dr. Ekman and found out that they couldn't do anything for my wrist but my back and neck are way out of alignment. So, now I am on the chiropractic route and in a wait and see pattern about the wrist.

So, that is what's going on with me prior to flying out to Philly on Friday. We got into Philly and were able to get our rental car and get to the Expo. And I shopped...found lots of fun stuff...like the perfect shirt for me that says "I Run So I Don't Kill People" and it has the chalk outline. Yeah, I couldn't resist :) The expo was fun. We headed to what Food Network says is the best place for philly cheesesteaks only to find out that no one agrees who makes the best. It was a pretty fabulous philly though! The day before race day, poor hubby forgot that a walking tour would be a bad plan and walked me to death which agitated my hip and legs and back. So, on race morning after standing in the forever long port-a-potty line (and I forgot to stuff my bra! Bad morning). I headed over to join in my corral.

I started off with a pretty good run pace. And then I spotted my kindred spirit. Deanna is a runner who also does the run/walk program and she was injured. She was doing this half marathon with a broken foot. She was only 6 weeks out from the break and was determined to finish. Luckily, she did not require surgery. So, I made Deanna my best friend and decided to do the smart thing and stick with her as she walked it since she was doing about the pace that I wanted at that point. I figured that my neck and back would be helped greatly if I took it a bit easier this early in to therapy. Deanna was a rockstar...we talked the entire time distracting each other from any possible pain. And yes, we finished and finished strong. I had fun. And I remembered my dear friend and ironman, Taz, telling me that I needed to stop pressuring myself and have fun. I never even thought about the time for a second. It was great. Beautiful course. It ended near the steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Rocky ran the steps :)

All in all it was a great race. My post race recovery though was not up to standard. I did not factor in a recovery day, so we rushed back to the hotel, got me a shower and packed up and then had lunch and headed to the airport. We managed to fly out standby and got back in earlier than expected. I did not get much sleep Sunday night due to a neighbor whose car decided to have the alarm go off for 4 hours...yes, 4 hours. It was insane and kept me up most of the night. Then, I had to get up early and head out to see Dr. Ekman and then off to the chiropractor. Stop for a quick lunch where I forgot to eat a sufficient amount of carbs and then off to work for 6 hours. Work was fun...I have half marathon brain :) Then I headed to grab dinner quickly and got a post race massage. When I got off the massage table, my body started shaking uncontrollably. I went in to shock. I was able to get the shaking to stop and then headed home where my hubby and my friend helped me in. I got a shower, warmed up and my body began the uncontrollable shaking. I was also fighting a headache all day that wouldn't go away. After trying to go to sleep, I gave up and decided since I was now unbelievably hot to check my temperature and had a nice temp of 101.9. The fever finally broke around 2:30. And of course, after very little sleep, I was up early to get in to work today. It's going to be a really fun week of recovery!! I fully intend to listen to my body and go to bed when I get off work tonight...promise.

But next week, I am gearing up for Myrtle Beach in October. Then a nice recovery run in Savannah. Clearly even though I thought my body could handle what I was putting it through, it let me know otherwise which means I will plan for a much easier day after the race to recover better and much more sleep.

I loved the course in Philly and could absolutely see myself doing it again :)

Marine Corps Historic Half Marathon...May 15, 2011

I eyeballed this race several times before actually signing up for it. I began looking at it back in January thinking it would be nice to run a race in Virginia when it was not too terribly hot. The final decision came in when I competed in the Columbia Half Marathon in March and was unable to complete it due to a stomach virus...I knew that if I wanted to achieve my goal of 6 half marathons in 2011, I was going to have to find another spring half. With that in mind, I signed up for it.

After the wonderment of the Palmetto Half Marathon in April, I decided to try and take my training a bit more seriously and asked my dear friend and trainer, Tripp, to help me out. So, we have been training for the past two weeks and working towards getting me ready. I knew it was not enough time to challenge myself to reach for a PR, but I also knew it would be better than my last half where I ran/walked it with a broken pinky toe and twisted ankle. So, my goal was truly to come in at least 10 minutes under my time for that half.

The weather for this race was really questionable. I seriously thought it was going to pour down raining. So, I planned for it by wrapping my iPod in plastic prior to the race. There was no way I was doing this without my music and my special mp3s that Tripp recorded for me. And those mp3s were so worth it!!!

We got to the start/finish line early Sunday morning. I wanted to make sure that my dear friend, Ann, who accompanied me was going to have a good spot to stay where we would not have to worry too much about me finding her at the end of the race. They allowed us to park in the start area since Ann had a broken foot. It was a good spot because she was right at the finish line and able to wander among the few vendors at the end and the VIP tent.

At 6:30, the opening ceremony began. Drew Carey was running his first ever half marathon and spoke at the beginning. I believe he also may have started the race by shooting the gun at 7 a.m. A couple others spoke and the race was under way. This was much larger than the races I have been in lately...close to 6000 people were competing. It took me about 5 minutes to actually cross the start line. The miles were very clearly numbered and there were tons of Marines, cops and volunteers along the course. There were no issues with traffic or concerns about cars or anything. They had plenty of water and gatorade along the course. And there were lots of Marines and spectators out and about to cheer you on. It was also a pretty run.

It ended up not raining and the sun came out and made for a much warmer run than I expected. I was focused though on my run. I purposely avoided making friends and kept my eyes on the prize...the finish line. This was a hilly course. I didn't mind the downhills but the hill around mile 11 that led into mile12 was painful!!! After two weeks of serious training, I knew that I could not expect miracles or perfection, so my goal was simple...enjoy the run and finish the race.

At just the right times in the race, inspirational messages from Tripp popped up on my iPod or songs that remind me of my running buddies or just the right song to push me along. But about mile 10, I experienced some of the most severe pain I have ever felt. I cannot tell you how much I wanted to stop moving altogether. I tried everything I could to stop focusing on the cramping that started at the bottom of my left calf. I kept moving...much slower at this point, but I kept going forward.

Then, the cramping became spasms in my calf. At one point, the spasms went up and down my left leg and I began dragging the left side of my body along. It was so painful. About then, I happened to notice another runner also having some difficulty. I actually asked her where we were on the course (closing in on mile 11) and if I had to stop at that point, was there a way to get back to the finish line. Somewhere along there we were passing the ER and I debated on making a pit stop there too. My new friend, though, was a former Marine, who was running this with her husband (former Marine also). She was not new to the marathoning world and she was experiencing similar issues. She told me that I was way too far along to give up and that she was going to get me across the line. There was no way I was not going to finish.

I soldiered on but the pain continued to get worse and worse. At one point, I was seriously scared about just how much pain I was experiencing. And then, the spasming decided to spread to the right leg as well. I wish I could tell you my friend's name, but my poor brain was not functioning on very high levels. I can tell you that had it not been for her and her husband, I might not have made those last 3 miles. They kept me focused and kept me going. Along with my special encouragements from Tripp, I was able to get closer to the finish line.

The hardest part for me was the last hill which was uphill right before mile 12!!! And boy was it a hill! I wasn't sure I was going to make it to the top. But, my new drill sergeants would not give up on me! And I knew that I had come too far to stop now, no matter what. With the finish line in sight, I knew I had to do my best to finish strong. So, I sucked up the pain, remembered the goal and ran to the finish line!! And my drill sergeants were right, the feeling at the finish line was so much better than the pain!

It was an honor to have my medal placed around my neck by a Marine and to be congratulated by one of our country's warriors. I thanked every service person I saw. After being awarded two bottles of water, I decided to use one to help cool me down and poured one directly overhead as I was heading to find some fruit and my friend, Ann.

Ann met me near the end of the finish line and told me she found Drew Carey and got some pictures for me and she took me over to where he was. I was able to get about a five minute conversation in with him. We discussed our weight loss and we discussed how we had new goals like being fit and looking good without a shirt! It was awesome. And perhaps it was marathon brain, but I was not starstruck or nervous, I just said, "I'm a huge fan. Can I trouble you for a picture?" And I asked how much weight he had lost (80 pounds) and told him about my journey. It was just awesome!! Here's my pic...

So, it was an awesome experience. It was perhaps one of the best run races I have done and I think I would like to do it again in the future. (Definitely training better next time!) I beat the goal Tripp and I set out for me...which was awesome since I had no idea I was going to experience the calf spasms! But as my Marine friends told me on those last 3 miles, no race is ever the same...no matter if you are competing in one you have done before, trained exactly the same, they are all different and there is always something new and challenging.

However, I am re-focused and recommitted to my training. Tripp is going to keep working with me and I am hoping to see some new and improved numbers in the fall! But I will not lie, I am psyched to get back in the game and start seriously training. Next race is in September! I am going to be so much more than ready!!!

Charleston Half-Marathon Race Report

First half-marathon of the year...done...finished...history. Personally, I am hoping that the next 5 go a lot smoother than this. I have never in my entire running career been this frustrated before, during and after a half-marathon. It was certainly not one that I could write about how I did 13.1 and was still smiling.

So, the race I ran this past weekend was the 2nd Riverfront Race Festival's Charleston Half-Marathon. I figured since Charleston hosts the Cooper River Bridge Run and it goes fairly well, they would do well with this one. They definitely have some room for improvement, but that's a growing pain issue so hopefully they will listen to the runners and make some changes. Here's how my weekend panned out...

Friday, Chuck and I did a great stretching session with my trainer, Tripp before heading back to the house, showering, grabbing a quick lunch and heading to Charleston. Tripp gave me a thumbdrive with the MP3s that he spent about 2 hours recording for me to go on my iPod. I was so very stoked about them and couldn't wait to listen to them. My plan was to download them on to the playlist and then strategically place a message every several minutes (depending upon how many there were). When I went to put them on the computer, I discovered the first disappointment of the weekend...they were not on the thumbdrive. Tripp was really upset. However, as I told him, he told me the one thing I needed to hear from him on Thursday when we were training. He told me that even if I had to walk the whole race and did my absolute best, that he would still be proud of me. That meant so much to me. I cannot wait to get the MP3s from him tomorrow and listen to them and use them at my next race in March.

Also, on Friday, we picked up our race packets, bibs and t-shirts. We got in there and got everything with relative ease. After grabbing all the information, we both realized that neither of us remembered what time the race started and where the start line was. I knew where we would be parking (near the start) but that was it. So, I scoured their website for the information and could not find it anywhere. I searched for the information in one of the pre-race e-mails they sent us and found nothing. Thankfully, on one of the e-mails we had a phone number of someone to call. After calling the number, I found out that our race started at 8 a.m. and we needed to be just a short distance away from the parking garage area for the start.

We ate our pre-race dinner at an amazing little restaurant in Mt. Pleasant. You should totally check this place out if you are feeling Italian. La Pizzeria was delicious. We ordered a fusilli con pollo dish (cream sauce with homemade fusilli noodles, pan-fried pancetta, chicken, and artichokes) and a pizza with black olives, artichokes, mushrooms and sausage. The pizza was okay...a bit pricey and they tend to have their specials as what you would maybe expect at true Italian restaurants. The fusilli dish was delicious...I believe we both could have enjoyed having our own plate rather than sharing!! Yummy :) After pre-race dinner, we headed back to the hotel and started planning out race day and preparing.

We got up about 5:45 on race morning. The plan was to get dressed, grab breakfast and leave the hotel a bit before 7 and get to the start line early. When we woke up, it was about 27 degrees outside with about a 4 mph windchill. Yep, that's chilly. I grabbed our preworkout (1MR) and mixed doses for us both. Then, I got the rest of my gear ready to go. We left the hotel about 7:15 and got to the parking area by 7:30. We finished getting ready by the car, drank our preworkout and headed to the start line. It was soooooo cold out!!!!

It was a confusing start line area. As we were walking up, people were warming up by walking or running in the direction we were coming from. There was no clear delineation that we were in fact near the start line. And it made me a bit nervous. I took a few pictures for Chuck since this was his first ever half-marathon and then we waited for the start. The gun went off and we had the slowest run ever to get started. Once the path cleared up a bit, we were able to do more than walk towards the start line. I crossed over and that might very well be the last time I saw Chuck...he was in the zone!

This race, I really was focused on closing in on my best race time from last February (3:07:12)...that was the race where I tore my labrum in my hip. I wanted to beat my best time. I won't lie, I was hoping to beat that time. I ran Myrtle Beach in October...my first half since surgery and ran it in 3:16:11. So, I was really wanting to improve my time and of course, for me looking for that elusive under 3 hour half-marathon. So, I had a good mindset. There were no doubts about whether I could finish or fears that I wouldn't make it in under 3:30. I was ready.

For the first 6 miles or so, I kept a pretty awesome pace. I was pounding out the miles and focusing. I promised both Chuck and Tripp not to make friends on this race and get sidetracked from my goal. I know that I have that habit and I needed to focus on my race. So, I kept to myself. It was me and my iPod. My playlist was a selection of all female music...it was a Girl Power list :) The mile markers were really well-placed for the first 9 miles or so. Every two miles, there was a water and gatorade station. About mile 4, I drank a gatorade (grape flavored), this was not a wise choice for me. I would later around mile 10 end up having it come back to visit but not puking it. Yuck!

About 2 hours and 20 minutes into the race, I was running perhaps one of my best races ever. I was on par for finishing really close to that 3 hour mark. I was not feeling any pain yet and was keeping a pretty great pace. Round about that time, a police man drove by on a motorcycle announcing that all runners and walkers needed to "get on the sidewalk if you are going to continue or get on the bus as it is passing you." Seriously, the bus was already picking people up and well, I have been in a position where I have known the bus was somewhere behind me and knew that I had to keep moving faster to stay off the bus. But I am now running my best race and I am being passed by the bus. I freaked out. And not just a minor freak out. This broke my concentration. It broke my spirit and definitely broke my pace.

After being passed by the bus, I figured this would be the end of the insults. I was wrong. The bus passing me was the start of it. Then, several of us would determine that they were no longer blocking off streets and the volunteers were now very sparse. There were several streets where myself and other runners had to wait for traffic to pass. I will admit as soon as I saw no cars, I hauled butt across the street and did not wait for the traffic sign to notate that it was safe to cross. I hit about 3 of these situations and got angrier each time. Then, the mile markers became sparse and with few volunteers, I became a bit more frantic. At one point, there were two runners about 15 feet ahead of me and other runners were crossing to the other side of the street but I could not determine why. I kept following the two runners in front of me who eventually crossed the street and then they turned down a side street. By the time I turned down the side street, they had all but disappeared!! I was freaked out. I managed to determine which way they went and followed them as quickly as I could. At this point, I just barely missed being hit by two cars in the neighborhood we were now running through!!

We were also promised bananas and hammer gels at mile 10. There were barely cups of water and gatorade at mile 10 and there certainly were not volunteers handing out cups. I had to grab my own. I guess I should be thankful that I didn't have to pour my own cups! At mile 11, I ended up not watching the road closely enough and stepped into a big pothole and twisted my ankle. Ouch! It wasn't a horrible twist but enough to start giving my left calf real issues when I was running. I started having horrible leg cramps in that calf! I got through the worst of it. I admit it was really difficult for me though when the 10k runners who were finishing up joined the course. They were running past me looking so refreshed and one of them turned to me and said "Come on. You can do this." I barely resisted the urge to be ugly. I was hurting at this point and angry and unfocused, but I soldiered on because they would be handing me my medal!

Mile 12, while the scenery was beautiful while we ran through a Riverfront park, was the longest mile ever...it seemed to wind on and on. Every time I thought I was closer to the finish, there was another twist and turn. Then finally, there was the finish line. I was so ready to cross the line. I did so and grabbed my medal and had my finishers' photo taken.

I found Chuck with somewhat ease. Speedy Gonzales ran the race 2:20:12. He encountered a few issues along the way including losing both headphones during the race and not having any music. He said it was quite difficult to run a race for 2.5 miles counting just your pace and breaths! I am quite thankful my headphones did not break (we bought new 180s headphone earwarmers for the race...great cold weather plan when the earphones aren't defective!) Also, he was unable to find any Gatorade or electrolyte drinks following the race. So, as he waited for me to cross the line, he ended up crashing. He threw up a few times and after I crossed we found a water station with bananas and oranges. Never found any Gatorade. We ended up getting on the bus to head back to the start line and parking garage. We ended up sitting in the back of the short bus (no seats just in the cargo area) and that was interesting. There were 7 of us cramped in the back. The driver asked us to sit down on the floor. At this point, Chuck got a huge calf cramp and my left hip locked completely. A little bit further on the ride, my right hip locked and Chuck started getting really pale and looked like he was about to puke again. Luckily, there was no puking on the bus. But in the parking garage, he spent a good 2 minutes puking.

I got him back to the hotel and threw him in the shower and tried to help him through the crash as best I could. It was horrible. I got cleaned up and nursed him for awhile. Then I grabbed lunch for us about 3 hours after the race (not smart for me!) and both of us had trouble eating. It was a stellar post race.

One would think with all that going on that I would be relieved when I finally got my race results in. It was at least what I had hoped for...a culmination of all my hard effort. No. It was not to be. I wore both my Garmin Forerunner and my iPod Sport for the race. I started the iPod as soon as I started running and I turned the Garmin on a bit late. And I ended up turning off the iPod a bit late. So, nothing I had on me had the correct time. Results finally got posted and Chuck got his official time. I was very excited for him and went to find my results. I searched and searched and searched and found no results for me. I have been angry before when I didn't get a finish line photo but to not have your time recorded is the worst. I knew for a fact that I hit the pad both on starting and finishing. The only thing I could figure was that the night before I had noticed that Chuck's timing chip was at the bottom of his bib and mine was at the top....but could that really have made the difference?

Luckily, I had that phone number I had called the day before about the time of the race and I took a chance that maybe someone might answer. As luck would have it, it was the phone number for the director of the race. He gave me an e-mail address for the timing company and promised they would fix it. And I gave him an earful about the royal screw-ups from the race. I made a point of letting him know that I was not new to this game and this was my 5th half-marathon. I know it's only their 2nd year, but they need to step up their game considerably.

After having the wind completely knocked out of my sails, I finally got my race results today. I ran the race in 3:10:41. This means I shaved 5:30 off of my time from October. And I am only 3:29 off of my best time. I am hopeful that Tripp and I can keep working and shave more of that off before my next half in March.

Ultimately, I am pleased with my results. After all that struggle, I can honestly say I earned the cheap medal and ugly t-shirt. I have felt exhausted and like I have been run over by a bus for the past couple of days. But the worst is over. I will take it easy this week and a little light next week and then back to training for the half in March. I am really hoping to close in on my under 3 hour half.

And just to seal the deal on having 3 half-marathons under my belt by the end of April, I scheduled my next appointment with my tattoo artist today to add 3 more flowers to the ankle tattoo :) Oh yeah...it's on. Columbia in March and Palmetto in April :) I also got a little focusing reminder added today while I was scheduling...my mantra is now on my arm for me to read when training and running..."NO EXCUSES". Oh yeah, bring on the next two half-marathons...I am ready!