WE DID IT!
WE DID IT!
WE DID IT!!!!!
don't let anyone ever tell you that not really preparing for a long race should deter you from trying- because we did it! remember when i said i'd keep y'all up to date on our training progress? remember how that didn't happen? well there was a reason. we didn't progress past 4 miles until we went home for Christmas when we ran a whopping 4.7 in Huntsville with my Dad. so there really wasn't any progress to report, which ended up making our expectations for the race pretty low. I knew we'd finish, but I didn't plan on it taking any less than 6 hours. While we did have to take a few short walk breaks to give my poor right arch a rest (good thingDavid is a podiatry student... apparently i am in dire need of orthotics) we managed to maintain an 11:04 minute mile the whole way through. the WHOLE WAY! we finished 2:25:??. i hope this doesn't sound too conceited, but i am pretty darn pleased with myself. actually, i'm shocked to be quite honest!
you want me to break the whole thing down? okay then, i'll break it down. (leave now if you don't like wordy details. i just want to make sure we always remember everything.)
we woke up this morning at 5:20, got ready, grabbed a little breakfast, grabbed our gear check bag, race number, wristbands, david's old (and least valuable of the 2 we have) camera for the gear bag, waters and powerades, and about a million other little things and got on the road. we were told to be in the parking lot (in Tempe at the finish line- about 35 mins from where we live) TWO hours before the race started, which was 6:30, so we left the apartment in the dark.
after passing several major downtown roadways that were blocked off for OUR race (eee!)(and what are we signed up for???), we parked in Tempe and rode the runner shuttles another THIRTY FIVE minutes back to the start in downtown Phoenix. you wanna talk about intimidating??? riding thirty five minutes one way in a bus knowing your only way back to your car is to RUN the whole way is pretty intimidating. to us anyway :)
on the bus we strategized. we'd get out, make another, and LAST bathroom stop, check our gear, then stretch after finding our corral. well... know that standing in a 15 minute line for use of one of the gazillion port-o-potties isn't pretty. in more ways than one.
after that "experience" we asked another runner to snap our picture really quick
and then we went to check our gear bag. there were about 30 UPS trucks backed up into a parking lot, and we dropped ours off in the the appropriate alphabetically ordered one. (okay, that part was boring, sorry. except for the number of UPS trucks. that was kinda cool.)
ok. then we headed to the start. i don't think we knew we were headed there though. it was almost 8:00 by then and i think we were getting excited/nervous and we just walked with the crowd of 22,000 and ended up in the corrals/at the start line by accident. (wait, did you get that?? 22,000 JUST for the half marathon!!! the marathon had another 8,000 runners... I am still wrapping my head around that number!) we were signed up for corral 17, so we passed 18-26, and we were way behind 1-16. the start line that was marked by a huge tunnel of balloons was a LONG way off in the distance.
we stretched and stretched and people watched- there were a couple of elvises and several other who-knows-whats, and then corral one started at 8:30. by the time we made it up to the front for our wave it was almost 9:00! arizona senator John McCain was at the start line cheering and waving and giving the double thumbs up as we started- that was pretty cool. we're basically bff now! we heard the emcee/starting guy say "corral 17, this is your last chance to throw in the towel..." then the airhorn went off.
and we were gone! D and i exchanged "this is it!" looks at the beginning and really, to be honest, the first 7 miles were a breeze. we passed a few people (most specifically, the WALKERS, but it still felt good anyway :) ) and were passed by a few but it was good! the bands at every mile and a half were entertaining and... "interesting." i'm thinking that they put most of the "good bands" on the marathon course. but it kept us entertained so that was a good thing.
so after about the 7.5 mile mark, i was kind of realizing that we were "just" halfway. it wasn't necessarily painful at that point, but i was past the half-marathon-honeymoon-phase, that's for sure. 7.5-10 was tiring, but we kept on plugging.
now let's talk about miles 10-13.1. endurancely speaking, we honestly were fine to continue running even at the finish line, but by 10 miles my poorly trained body was OVER IT. my feet hurt, my knees started to hurt, and my hip was hurting. i had to stop and walk 20-30 yards every mile or so just to give my feet little breaks so they wouldn't abandon me for the last leg of the race. (teehee...)
throughout the race (for the most part) there were spectators who cheered and high fived (glad i practiced!) and clapped when we passed, and i really appreciated that. because near the end i was ready to jump off the mill avenue bridge (very close to the finish line in Tempe on the ASU campus) and they kept cheering! my only not-so-favorite part about them at the end: the end of the course made a wide loop around sun devil stadium and ended in a huge lot on campus. they were clapping and kept saying "the end is right around the corner!" "you're ALMOST there, keep going!" "IT'S JUST AROUND THE CORNER." well, it was not JUST around the corner. i sped up when i first heard it not realizing that we still had 3/4 of a mile or so (i think i got delusional between mile markers in the end- i was expecting to see "MILE 13" directly after seeing "MILE 12") and my body was even more over it.
anyway, we took "photo finish" pictures as we crossed the finish line, and i am pretty sure i looked like i was ready to kill somebody, because i think i was. everything hurt. my shoulder is even sore...? we got our finisher medals, took official race pictures,
(and unofficial race pictures...) picked up our gear bag from the K truck among the 30 and then made the rounds to all of the free food. it was delish. PF Chang's lettuce wraps, dumplings
and chocolate cake shots. and diet coke! i hadn't had one in over a week in preparation for this thing. man was it good. Everclear (remember them?) was the headliner at the concert after the race, but it was all we could do to stand up enough to walk to the car much less hang around and listen to 90's radio hits.
but seriously, EVERYTHING hurts. David and I are hobbling around like 90 year olds. 13.1 is rough on your body! especially when you're "used" to running 3, and your absolute MAX is 4.7! wowza. i'm still in shock. and i'm hoping i don't have to walk much at work tomorrow. or the next day.
we are headed to krispy kreme in a few minutes for some celebratory calories! did i tell you? i googled running a half marathon and found that we burned in the 2,000's again- just like the skiing. don't tell John McCain, but I'd rather do the day of skiing any day :)
it was really an incredible experience, and while i'll never say never to doing it again (or one of the other music marathons... san diego and nashville sound AWESOME!) i will not be doing another anytime soon.
oh! i just checked our finish stats and David came in 11,503 and I came in 11,509! I can handle being right in the middle. i so thought there was a good chance we'd be down in the 21,000 numbers :)
