Reminiscing

I ran 6 miles with a couple of friends yesterday. With the Girlfriends Half Marathon around the corner on October 19th, we spent a good portion of our run talking about our experiences with the half marathon last year. It was our first half marathon and our first time running 13.1 miles. Definitely a learning experience!

Our more seasoned running buddies gave us the scoop. – Make sure you wake up early enough to poop before you head out the door. Eat something and don’t wear anything new. Pee right before you start the race. The advice was valuable, to say the least. (Thank you GFLF peeps! You know who you are.) I followed the advice perfectly. The bathrooms for the Girlfriends Half were packed. While a couple of us found refuge in the men’s locker room in a nearby athletic club, one friend will always be known as the girl who pee’d behind the bank. Haha! Bodily functions taken care of, we could begin the race.

One thing I distinctly remember about the event last year was the cold. I don’t actually know what the temperature was, but it was a crisp October morning in the Pacific Northwest. The air was cold enough that although I felt like I was burning up, my skin was cold to the touch and my bare legs were bright red. If I walked for even a moment, once I commenced running again, it felt like my jiggling booty was a block of ice. Talk about a strange sensation!

I ran the entire half marathon with a good friend. She has been such a motivation for me. Probably much more than she realizes. We crossed the finish line together, which was exactly what I needed for that first half. Running a half marathon for the first time can be very emotional. One of my friend’s described her family members at strategic locations on the route, especially at the end. I know there were a couple of people in my running group that were cheering us on at the end and it was just what I needed at that moment to keep me going.

When I got home, my body was really starting to feel the strain. I don’t know if the cold had a lot to do with it, but it wasn’t long before I felt like I had been hit by a truck. I had the bathwater running so I could take a bath to warm up when my husband came in the bathroom. There I was, just standing in the middle of the room, almost paralyzed. When he asked me if I was ok, I burst into tears and told him my whole body hurt. I think I was just standing there wondering how I was going to lower myself into the tub. I couldn’t even think about how I was going to get out yet. For the rest of the day, and the next I think, I felt like I had the flu. I couldn’t warm up and I was achy beyond belief.

So here we are. A year later and training for the same Girlfriend’s Half Marathon. I’m wondering how the weather will be and what will be the same and different from last year. With my knee and foot injuries, I am running so much slower than I was last year. I doubt that I will be able to beat last year’s time, which is very disappointing. I keep trying to focus on the experience rather than the time. Hopefully I’ll actually be ok with that by race time. Either way, I’m looking forward to running in this awesome event again!

Tagged as: half marathon, Races, running, Running Buddies, running event, Training