Seabrook Lucky Trails Half Marathon~ March 14, 2009

I ran the race with my husband. It was still dark when we arrived at the race, hard to find the start line when you are walking through puddled paths in the dark and we had parked around the corner from the starting line. The pavilion was lit up so we knew we were headed in the right direction. We had to pick up our chips, this was only my 3rd half marathon, but both the previous ones gave you your chip on your bib, so we found that line and got our chips , then I did a few circles of the pavilion to see if I could find fellow runners that I type at on a running blog. We had arrived kind of close to the start time so I didn’t have much time to look around. I was a bit disappointed, but our names were on our bibs and we were going to run laps so I thought maybe I would see them out on the course.

The race started on time, it was nice to be in a small race and actually be able to hear all the pre-race announcements and the national anthem being sung. Then the race director yells “Beeeeepppp’ into the mike and says “that’s our gun..GO!” The first mile or so we were running on streets and then cut into the park. It was amazingly not crowded, at some of the turns and bends it got a little congested, but for the most part it was not overly packed with people. By mile 3 or so we were all pretty spaced out, that surprised me in a good way. I was a little worried that I would be running in crowds the whole way. The runners were very courteous when passing, the volunteers were fantastic and did a really good job making sure that you stayed on the correct path. The water stations were well manned and even offered tissues! I noticed this because I always run with a tissue in my pocket and thought that was a nice little extra.

Around mile 5, I started to glance at bib names of those passing us by heading in the other direction, thinking I might just see the friends I was looking for. Suddenly I see one of the ladies pass (uh-hmm…I mean FLY past )me by, but by the time it registered, it was too late to yell “hey, its me Nana-Susan”. I thought maybe I would pass her again on other laps but never did. ( I did get to meet her the next morning though. My husband was running another half again the next day(3-15) so I was back at the race course)

Then around mile 9 my darn hamstring starts to ach. I have been nursing a hamstring injury since I ran my last half in February. I keep trying to ignore it thinking, I am going to ignore this pain away, but it didn’t go away, instead it kept radiating down the back of my leg. By mile 10 the pain had spread to my knee and I was in pretty severe pain. To say I was disappointed was to put it mildly :( I kept running, well, it was more of a run hop or a hop drag. I was so determined to finish this race, but I knew by mile 11 that I was in sorry shape and that the PR I had hoped for was not going to happen. That was a hard pill to swallow. It had nothing to do with endurance, I felt great other then the pain in my leg and I had been so on a good pace!! I kept getting slower and slower and at one point just wanted to cry, my knee was hurting so bad . My husband stayed by my side and helped me through the last 3.1 miles, encouraging me, asking me if I wanted to walk, even if I wanted to quit. And he knew I would NEVER say yes to a quit! I would have crawled across that finish line first! My husband just kept telling me to slow down and try to keep my form. I was glad to have him with me! I know I was looking pretty bad too, because people on the side line and even other runners kept encouraging me along the rest of the course. (It was somewhere between mile 9-11 that I thought I saw another of the ladies pass me on the course. But I was wearing my contacts and when the sweat gets in my eyes my vision gets a little blurry, so I only thought the bib had her name on it, but I was pretty sure it was her based on my blurried reading of her name and the fact that she was wearing the black cap she had described to me. I found her after the race and it was her that passed me. It actually pepped me up a little to see her and I needed that badly at this point.

The course was very curvy, because it was trails, and on the straight aways I would try to pick up my pace a little bit, trying to make up some of the time I was losing. The turns were very hard on my knee and leg and I would slow down again. It was rough going those last few miles, and I easily lost 15-18 minutes in overall time. I was so glad to round that last bend and head to the finish line and did my best to pick it up when I rounded to the finishers chute ( very short chute!) I don’t think I had anyone fooled though, the lady that handed me my medal, told me she felt my pain and that there were massages over there as she points to the massage table!

While I did wind up with and injury, which really rotted, the race was great. It was fun to meet fellow bloggers who I type at and it is always fun to run a race with my husband by my side! And I cannot wait to go back next year! Because I can so smoke this time!!!! Which was 2:

Austin Half Marathon ~ February 15, 2009

I just ran my second half marathon! For all you non-runners that was 13.1 miles. I PR'ed, (Personal record) which isn't tough, since this was only my second half marathon! My official time was 2:26:06. A full 8 minutes faster then my first. I was pretty excited.

Emil (My uncle) flew down from NY to run with me and Chris, so we started off 3 strong, but we all got separated along the way! Emil was pretty much just feeling the race and wanted to run faster, so we were separate early, before mile 2. Which was fine, he had trained hard for this and wanted to have 'his' race. I knew from our training runs that he wasn't going to be waiting at the finish line for us too long and he wasn't; he finished about 12 minutes in front of me. I tend to be very conservative on these long runs, too afraid that I will burn out if I start out to fast.

Chris and I stayed together until mile 7 then we got separated at a water station. The water stations were very unorganized and chaotic. Instead of having like 10 tables, they only had about 3 and there were 15,000 runners! So it was tough to get in and out of the stations. At mile 7 I needed water, pretty bad too, because I skipped a few water stations because I just didn't want to deal with them. So by mile 7, I really, really needed water. Chris wanted the powerade, which was a table over from me. So I grabbed my water and ran to the right to get out of the way of the runners coming in for water, I turned, I saw Chris coming away from his table, so I slowed my pace a bit to wait up for him and when I turned again he was gone! We had just talked about becoming separated and Chris had told me not to worry, that if we got separated he would run ahead at a pace he knew I wasn't running and scan the crowd and find me, so I just slowed my pace a bit and waited for him to find me. Well, from mile 7-8 I must have looked like a lost puppy! I kept looking and looking thinking, that I couldn't believe we got separated. At mile 8, I got myself back into the race and thought, well if we don't find each other its okay. By mile 9 I had resigned myself to just finishing solo.

Chris however, kept looking for me until mile 12!! He was so worried that us getting separated was going to ruin the race for me. He ran ahead, waited, scanned the crowd, ran back a bit, waited, scanned the crowd, ran ahead again and did this till mile 12!! Poor guy, but what a sweetheart!! At mile 12 he looked at his watch and thought that there was no way that he wanted to finish after 2:30 so at that point he just gave up and headed to the finish line. He finished at 2:27 so he was just a minute after me!!

Then between mile 9-12 the hills started!! Man!! Who does that?! At this point, I wanted to meet the person that designed this course and have a little talk with him or her!! I just kept putting my chin to my chest and running forward! At mile 12 there was a KILLER hill! I think the majority of people on this hill were walking! I mean come on...at mile 12..you put a hill like that!!??? It felt good when I got to the top of that hill, running and having the supporters at the top yelling things like 'way to kill that hill' Put a smile on my face and gave me energy to go forward and hopefully NOT face another hill!!!

Soon after that hill, I was brought low by a massive calf cramp! I had NO IDEA that a cramp like that could actually cause you to quit running! I just figured I was tougher then any pain! I did keep running, well sort of, it was like a run hop or a hop run! I just kept thinking, man, if my other calf cramps, I am going to fall on my face! So I just slowed my pace and hop ran until the cramp eased, but after that experience, I was a bit afraid to push myself too hard, good thing I was past mile 12!

Then at 2:24 as I was rounding the end of the race and already in the finisher chute, the winner of the marathon came running down the marathon finisher chute, which was separate, but right next to the half marathoners chute. He was proceeded by the bicycle escort and the crowds were cheering and I loved that, I was so in awe of his speed. Here he was finishing a whole marathon in the time it took me to finish a half. So that gave me some more energy, and the signs 800 yards, 600 yards, then the finish line came into view and I knew I was going to PR and I picked it up at that point! I was so excited that I was going to PR that I was almost crying.

After the finish I started to think, how the heck am I going to find Chris and Emil?! I was scanning the crowd, knowing that both of them finished before me. But my legs were both cramping up really bad. I was almost hobbling. I picked up my finishers shirt, made it through the food line and I had my head down and I hear someone say 'excuse me, do you know where I could find Susan "? I look up and there is Emil!! LOL And right after that we look up and there is Chris coming through the food line. We were all amazed that we found each other so easily!

Let me tell you, I was hurting, my legs were cramping I was having other issues, but there was so many things to be happy about. I am still smiling. It was a great race! Despite being separated, dealing with the hills and having leg cramps. I loved it and I am looking forward to my next race, which is in Seabrook Tx on March 14. (near Galveston). Chris is running what the race calls 'the pelican' he is running a half on Saturday with me and a half on Sunday (without me!!! NO WAY that I can do too half marathons back to back like that). After that one, I may or may not run one in Dallas in April, but I am definitely running one on Long Island in May and in Seattle in June!