Half Marathon

***Sorry to do this again, but I just copied the entire post from Pokey Slow to here. Nothing new to add over here!


It has been three days since I completed my first half marathon, and I am just now getting around to posting about it. I guess I had to let it all sink in!

It was an amazing experience. There were things that were perfect, things that I wish I had done better, and things that I'll never forget. I completed my goal of finishing in under three hours.

My official time was 2:45:31/12:38 pace. I finished 1505 out of 1958 overall, 819 out of 1191 women, and 132 out of 177 in my age group.

I didn't get to bed exceptionally early on Saturday night, but I knew excitement would carry me through...at least part of the way! After watching Eric in his races that morning and attending the farewell dinner for my principal, I was too wired to sleep. I finally drifted off around 11.

We were up bright and early at 5 a.m. for the second day in a row. We picked up Sally, who teaches 6th grade at my school. Her classroom is right next to mine. She was really anxious because this was her first race EVER. Not having to drive downtown was one less thing for her to worry about.

We got to the start, barely got a parking spot, got our gear ready, used the porta potties, and lined up to wait.


Sally and me right before the race. I am in the pink hat. (I have GOT to wash that hat!) Most of my pictures are pretty fuzzy. I think the lens on my iphone was smudged.

Sally is younger than me and faster than me. It's not fair! She did amazing, and I am so proud of her!


I was trying to show how crowded it was. It was easily the largest race I have ever done with close to 2,000 people running and walking.


Ugh. My pictures really do bite. Oh well. If you look closely, you can just barely make out the curve of the starting line balloon. It took us about two minutes to reach the start after the gun went off. This was my first race using timing mats. I was nervous about attaching the D-Tag to my shoe but managed to figure it out!

Sally stayed with me for about a half a mile (if that) and then took off. She ran like the wind! I was left with my music and my thoughts. Sometimes this was good. Sometimes it was bad.

We started the course running through downtown Fresno. We zipped up one street and down another. It lasted quite a long time through that area. It was neat running past the historic water tower and the Veteran's Memorial Theater where I went with my parents to see plays when I was little.

Then we headed across the railroad tracks and entered the zoo at around mile 6. I think I was starting to get tired and discouraged at this point. My pace may have been under 12 minute miles here, but I have no idea. I know I started taking more walk breaks, and I started texting Eric through this area.

Despite being tired, the zoo was amazing! I loved it! I have spent so much time in this zoo that it felt natural running through it!


Out of the three zoo shots I took, this was the only one with an animal in it! Apparently the zoo employees had been running through the zoo for a few weeks prior to the race to get the animals used to a bunch of people running through! I thought that was neat.

Unfortunately, we didn't spend too much time with the animals. After leaving the zoo, the race wound it's way through the park before heading back across the railroad tracks to the Tower District.

I was feeling a lot of pain at this point. My texts to Eric were getting shorter and shorter. "Pain." "Hurt." He was quite encouraging and just told me to keep going. I did. I knew I was going to finish no matter what, but I still wanted Eric's encouragement. His words mean everything to me.

My knees and feet were burning at this point. Not sure what was up with that. A few things I was surprised about: instead of sucking on my Gu Chomps, I chewed those puppies fast. I guess I was hungry. I also took water and Gatorade at every aid station and saved my own water for in between stops. I needed the chomps and the liquid something fierce.


This picture doesn't do this house justice. It was the brightest shade of lime green I have ever seen! Putting it on a house was quite a bold move!

The last few miles were pretty painful. I felt like I could only run for 30 seconds before giving up and walking.

Finally, the end was in sight. It was pretty neat to run down the back ramp of the Grizzlies (affiliate team for the Giants) baseball stadium and through the finish line. All I really remember is seeing the clock and realizing I was going to beat three hours.

I saw Sally first. She'd been lounging for about 40 minutes before I came crawling in! Youth. My knees and feet were hurting so bad I could barely get up the steps. I pretty much collapsed into a bleacher seat. I didn't see Eric or the boys, but I knew we'd meet up. They found me within five minutes or so. They saw me finish, but were at the very top of the stairs, so I didn't see them right away.


Success!

The thought of the free breakfast made me want to gag, so we headed out pretty quickly. We dropped Sally off at home, grabbed me a Diet Coke at a gas station, and headed to the house.

I feel like a real runner because I had bloody toes! For some silly reason, I am super proud of my bloody socks! I trained and sacrificed all the way to my toes! I also had some pretty bad chafing on my inner left thigh even though I used plenty of Body Glide. Painful! Besides aching knees, I didn't have any other "issues" besides those three things. The sore thigh muscles set in on Monday. Fun.


That explains some of the burning in my feet.


So proud of this medal! I took it to school to show my kids! They were properly impressed!

After a shower, some rest, and a giant chicken salad from Chipotle, we headed back to the baseball stadium to watch our complimentary game. I am normally not much of a baseball fan, but it was fun to chill out and watch the game.


Evan and me watching the Grizzlies lose. Oh well.

Things I am proud of:
-Finishing my first half marathon
-Doing it in less than three hours
-Not quitting
-Sticking to this plan for three months
-Doing something that is waaaaaaay out of my comfort zone
-Showing my kids I am trying to be a healthy mom

Things to work on for next time:
-Strive for less than 12 minute miles
-Quit texting through the whole race
-Finish the training strong (I fell apart the last two weeks)
-Strength training

Was it worth all the effort and training? Absolutely! I am so proud of myself! Wouldn't trade this feeling for the world!

And I have already mapped out my training for my next half marathon in Salinas on Aug. 6! I am running it with my cousin. I officially start training on Monday! I have been taking it easy for three days, and tomorrow I am going to do a short and easy two miles. I guess it's kind of like forgetting the pain of childbirth, because I am ready to do this again!

Mini Metric

**This is the exact same post I put up on Pokey Slow, so if you read it over there, don't bother here!



My husband rode in his first ever bike ride this morning! I am so stinking proud of him that I can hardly put it into words!

Watching me train and run over the past few months motivated him to get active, but he wouldn't run unless something was chasing him. He decided to look into cycling as a way to be fit and have fun. He's been training for about six weeks and just finished his first mini metric this morning.

The bike race was day one of the California Classic Weekend which includes cycling today and my half marathon tomorrow. Eric wasn't going to sign up at first, but he figured, why not? He has made a great friend where he works who is very into cycling, and the friend rode with him the whole way. (That made me feel better knowing someone was out there with him!)


Quick breakfast before heading out the door at 5:45 this morning.


All geared up and waiting at the start line to get going.


Child #1 ready to cheer on Dad!


Child #2 and me. As usual, the little one clung to me like a monkey for most of the morning.


Eric's friend who rode with him the whole way. Eric looks like he's asking Greg, "Why? Why I am doing this?" Hee hee!


Still waiting. They had just played the National Anthem. Almost time to start.


There he goes.

Then I had to try to figure out what to do. Two little boys were tired, grumpy, hungry and not going to last several hours hanging out at the finish line. So, we got in the car, found a Jack in the Box, and then set out to find Eric along the course.

The cool thing about this race is that they closed down one of the freeways in order for the riders to ride! We zipped onto an overpass and saw Eric ride by underneath us! He saw us and heard us cheering! That was a lot of fun.

We jumped back in the car and zipped up to the next overpass and saw him again!

Then we headed out to a spot out in the country (Shaw and McCall for people who know the area). We waited there for quite a long time, cheering all the riders as they passed. I had to chuckle, because I had three separate cars of people ask me if I was okay and needed help! Good to know that a female with two small boys hanging out on a corner in the country will be looked after!

We cheered and yelled as Eric rode by. I think he liked being able to see us at various spots.

By that time, we were close to home, and I needed to pee. We made a quick pit stop to change clothes, update Facebook, and get a snack. Then we got in the car and headed out again. We passed Eric on the opposite side of the road, flipped around, and waited for him in the parking lot of a mini mart. He actually stopped to talk and rest for a bit. He was hanging in there just fine!

Finally, the boys and I headed back to the baseball field where the race started. We parked ourselves on a curb and waited for Eric to ride to the finish.


The boys waiting for Dad to finish.


Here he comes!


Victory! He finished in three hours and 44 minutes. Not bad for a first ride which included some pretty lengthy hills on the freeway!

So so so so so so proud of this man!

Recap

Here are a few things we have been up to this week:

-Evan had a soccer game Friday night.

-I ran seven miles on Saturday morning.

-Evan had a track meet on Saturday morning. His relay team qualified to move on to the next level. That means another track meet the weekend after Easter.

-Evan had two soccer games on Saturday afternoon. They won both games. The second game was against a nasty foul-mouthed team. The parents were so trashy. I was afraid to go in the parking lot after it was over. Evan made two fantastic goals!

-Hudson is growing like a weed. I pulled out the 4T clothes for him to wear. I love putting him in Evan's old clothes and pj's. It brings back memories of when Evan was that little. It's just hard to believe that Hudson fits into these things already!

-We celebrated an early Easter with my family last Sunday. There were many jelly beans involved.

-Hudson got in big trouble last night because he wasn't listening or following directions. He got put in bed without snuggling. That is a big thing in this house. Snuggle time on the couch is practically mandatory.

-Hudson no longer wants to sit in his carseat. He wants to ride in the booster. Constant struggle.

-We decided to get out of town for a few days next week. I CAN'T WAIT.

-Today I participated in a Lenten retreat with the other teachers at school. Fr. Robert told us about many changes that are going to be happening in the Catholic Church. Some of the prayers we will be saying are going to be quite different come Advent. It's going to take some getting used to.

-Evan got to be a reader for today's presentation of the live Stations of the Cross. He did a great job reading Station #8. We are so proud of our first grader!

-Every day Hudson tells me that he wants to go to school. Come on preschool...open up!

That's about all that happened to us this week. Always busy. Always interesting.

Chapped

This kid has chapped lips. He also is tired. He is a busy kid with track, soccer, homework, and antagonizing his brother.

He now is the proud owner of his own tube of Carmex.

First Places All The Way Around

Evan, Hudson, and I all ran races this morning. We all won first place in our age bracket. It was a pretty productive Sunday morning!


My speedy boys!


Me with my race medal!

For the full race story and more photos, click on THIS link.

One pretty neat thing is that the race director (Ken - who directs 95% of the races in town) is starting to recognize us. He complimented Evan on his speediness, he liked the boys' tidy haircuts, and he told us we were "good parents!" That last part cracked me up!

Oh, and we won a raffle prize! We got some heavy duty gray socks. Not the prettiest things, but socks are socks!

Track

The coach at school sent me this picture of Evan at his track meet in March. I think it's a great shot of him.



He has one more track meet unless he should happen to qualify to move on to the finals. In any case, there are plenty of local races around town that he can enter.

What ever will we do when soccer and track are done? Swimming? More soccer? Rest? Yeah, I like that last idea!

Questions

We went to church on Sunday. Evan helped Grampy with ushering duties. He does such a great job being serious about the tasks. It's cute to watch.

Hudson, on the other hand, sits with us, and asks about 1001 questions. His questions range from everything to "What's Fr. Robert doing?" to "Why is Jesus up there?" to "Why does Jesus have a hurt tummy?" to "What time is it?" He must have asked me for the time every 45 seconds.

The problem with Hudson, and I'm guessing most 3-year-olds, is that they demand to be acknowledged. And if they aren't, they make themselves known. So with each question I did my best to whisper an answer in hopes of getting him to be quiet. Yeah, didn't really happen.

However, one of his questions was priceless.

Fr. Robert had just finished the Gospel reading and had walked around to the front of the altar preparing to begin his homily (sermon). Hudson looked at me and asked, "Mom, is it half time?"

I wanted to burst out laughing. I think I just nodded that yes, it was half time. Sports family much?