Mission Accomplished

Well, it’s all over!  We battled through some cold windy weather to finish the half marathon.  I did it in 2hrs 2min.  I would have really liked to be under 2 hours, but it just wasn’t in the cards.

Here’s a mini diary of event as I recall:

Start: feelt pretty excited.

1km: did this in about 6 min.  A good pace, still felt fine.

4 km: Peter took off.  I stayed with him for a bit because I thought he was just trying to get out of a crowded pack of runners.  I was wrong. He was just running faster than me.

7km: First rest station.  Felt pretty good.  I was on what I thought was a good pace.  I ate a powergel and had a small cup of gatorade while I walked for a minute.

8-13km: This section was a little tough.  It is sort of the vague middle part of the race.  I felt generally ok, but tired, and wasn’t into the ‘hey, I’m almost there’ part that makes it a bit easier.  At one point I felt crowded, so I jumped out into the road and sprinted for a few moments.  Around 13km it becomes a bit easier to stay motivated because the kilometer count down is on.

14km: I spot a porta-potty ahead.  I need to pee, so I sprint ahead and jump in.  I was pleasantly surprised by how easily I was able to sprint.

15km: 2nd rest station.  Had some powergel and two waters.  I walked for a minute.  It was pretty hard to get going again.  For a few minutes I had some cramps, but they went away pretty quickly.  I was a bit more troubled by the hills.  There were a lot more hills than I anticipated.  None were particularly steep, but there were a lot of them.  London is pretty flat and I’m not used to this.

16km: Some left knee pain.  Feeling tired, but mentally preparing myself for a strong push tot he finish.  I forget my exact time, but a sub-2hour run seemed very possible.

17km: OK, this is were it got tough.  I was pretty happy because 4km left didn’t seem like that much.  At this point I had to really concentrate on running and not just sort of plodding.  I was reasonably successful.

18km.  Very unhappy.  I had a sore knee.  It was very windy.  I really had to imagine happy thoughts of finishing to keep going.  The idea that I should walk for a while entered my head.  I checked my watch and a 2hour time still seemed possible.

19: Pretty miserable.  Turned the last corner a knew I was getting close.  I really tried my hardest to run fast, but the wind really picked up and really slowed me down.  I felt that I was close to the finish line, but thought that it seemed too close. ….

19.5 ish. There was a bonus loop through a parking lot.  I was pretty unhappy to see this diversion when I could see the finish line on the horizon.  I gave the police and marathon staff a disgusted look to let them know how I felt.  I wonder how often they got that look?

21: Through the loop, and headed for home.  I was very, very tired at this point and sadly watched my watch click to 1hour 59min and knew I wouldn’t make it.  I turned the corner and saw my cheering section.  I gave them a wave, and they cheered me on.  Lifted by this, I was determined to finish well.  I spotted a guy ahead of me who had passed me around 16km.  I immediately ’sprinted’ as hard as I could to get ahead of him.  Again I was surprised how well I did.  I ran to the end and beat him easily.  I could hear a guy shout ‘That’s it, you can do it! Race right to the end!’.  It really pushed me.

Finished!!! I did it, they gave me a medal and some kid mumbled something which I eventually figured out meant ‘please give me your time chip.’  I grabbed some water and went to see my family.

I wish I could have done it a bit faster.  Three times in the race I was able to pretty easily run much faster than everyone around me.  I need to work on my overall speed. It is pretty obvious that I could run faster if I just worked a little harder on the mental part of running.

I spent the rest of the day with Eleanor.  We went out and did some shopping to get ready for the baby.  Now, (8hours after the race), I’m a bit stiff and my right knee is sore.  I’m going to stretch a bit and then ice it.

What’s next?  At this moment I’m definitely on a high about the whole experience.  Running a full marathon seems really, really, really, really hard, but I’m up for a half again.  Now that I’ve done it once, I’d like to try again so I can get a better time.  I think I’ll try again in the fall.

Thanks very much to everyone who supported me in this.   I won’t name names here, but a lot of people gave me some good advice and encouraged me when I had doubts.  Thanks!

ps.  As mentioned yesterday,  this blog will continue in one form or another, so stay tuned.