Kristen
Well, we did it! Heidi rocked it this weekend by completing her first half-marathon!! Way to go! It just goes to show that you really can do whatever you set your mind too, because 2 years ago, she couldn't imagine accomplishing something so amazing!
As for me, a PR! This is my third half marathon. I ran the Hershey half last October and truly thought I was going to die. My time was 2:13:50, which is a great time for the first time out. I was really unprepared though. I ran the Disney half this past January and my time was 2:08:19. It was still really hard, but I was mentally a bit better prepared.
This time around, I was ready, except for my nagging heel pain. Sunday morning couldn't have better weather. We were supposed to leave at 5:30, but Heidi's husband was driving and we are always about 15 minutes behind schedule-no big deal. Any later though, and I would have started to stress. We arrived in Philly at about 6:45, so we had plenty of time to wait in the LONG bathroom lines, stretch and take our pre-race pictures. Surprisingly, I didn't feel as nervous as ALL the previous races I have run. I was supposed to be in corral 13, but I hate standing around waiting, so Friday at the expo, I had my corral changed to 7-much better choice.
7:54-We are barely in our corral when the National Anthem starts playing. There is something to be said about listening to the National Anthem with 22000 other runners and spectators on a cool crisp morning.
7:59-Wheelchair racers head out to race.
8:01-Corral 1 starts-way to go to the winners! Running 13.1 miles under an hour is truly amazing!!
8:07-My race begins. I always start out fast and it's mainly to try to get away from the herd. I really like my space and the sooner I find it the sooner I can get into my zone. Today was no different. I had Heidi's son running with me, but sadly, I lost him around mile 3. I really wanted to finish between 1:50 and 1:55, so I couldn't be dilly dallying. I was feeling great from miles 1-5. The course wound through old city and past the start.
Miles 5-9 ran out Kelly Drive, which is a really pretty part of the city. I forgot how long it was though. Back when I was in college, this is how we would get back to our apartment anytime we left the city, so it was great to run, but again, a lot longer than I remembered. I definitely started slowing down as did a lot of people around me. I was keeping pace and really wasn't getting passed too much so I knew I was holding my own, but I was starting to tire. Really, I should have been drinking more water.
Finally, we hit the bridge and started heading back. Mile 10 was one of the most beautiful sights ever! All I had left was a 5k and I always say that anyone can run a 5k. So I had 3.1 miles to go and I was feeling the pain. I wanted to be done and my heel was starting to hurt. I had been struggling with my heel for the past few weeks and was certainly babying it, but a half marathon was certainly not doing it any good.
Mile 13 was finally here-all that was left was .1 miles. Whoever made the race route thought it would be hilarious to put a hill right at the end. We did not have a single hill until that hill at the very end. So there was no huge sprint to the end-at least for me. I made it though and completely forgot to look at my time!
Once I collected my medal that is missing the 1 in the year, I realized that I better find Justin. I grabbed a few drinks and a snack and looked behind me thinking he might not have been too far behind. Well, there were people everywhere. And when I finish a race, I am brain dead for at least 30 minutes. I can not carry on a rational conversation, much less try to figure out how to find someone who may or may not be anywhere in the crowd of people.
see-no 1
I briefly tried to find Heidi's husband-realized it was pointless and went to find a place to sit and recover. I texted Brian to find my finishing time, because I really had no idea what time I had finished in. After about 30 minutes, I felt recovered enough to find out if Justin was still missing-he was. Luckily, when I ran Broad Street in May, we had made a last minute decision to have a meeting place just in case something happened. We decided to do the same thing for this half, because after Broad St. we ended up using our meeting place because cell service was so poor. Yesterday, cell service was fine, but I had told Justin not to bother with his phone because I really thought he would be with me the whole race. Clearly not true.
Anyway, I texted Troy again and realized out meeting place was really far away from where I was sitting. Justin was still missing. Heidi was going to be finished racing soon, the clock was definitely ticking. I got up to make my way over to our meeting spot and thankfully, got a text from Troy telling me that Justin showed up to the meeting place and all was well.
We did it! 3 first timers!
The irony was that our meeting place was the Rocky Statue, which we all thought was at the top of the Art Museum steps. Apparently, Rocky is not as popular as he used to be, so they moved him to the side of the museum, so when Justin finished he went to the top of the Art Museum on dead legs and found nothing. He had to walk back down and search all over for Rocky.
But the time all this finished, Heidi also finished, but that is her story to tell. We all met in the Beer Garden for our free Michelob Ultra-very tasty-and to swap stories. Then we headed to lunch and home. Overall, a great day for all of us!
Splits:
0-5K 8:32 pace
5k-10k 8:37 pace
10k-10 mile 8:54 pace
10 mile to finish 9.22 pace
My overall time was 1:55:55 so I missed my goal by 55 seconds, but improved over my last half by about 13 minutes. So overall, I am happy. I just have to work more on the endurance of the distance because my times definitely drop off. I have Hershey in 5 weeks. I don't think I will PR there as it is very hilly, but if I can heal my heel and stay under 2 hours I will be very happy!
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