I started training for the Huntsville Half Marathon (or Full Monte) following a 10 week training schedule, called the FIRST Half Marathon Training Plan, found here at Runner's World online. It was perfectly suited to me, as I am injury prone, and begin to seriously break down if I am required to run every day. So with three runs per week, each with a different focuses, I felt like this would be ideal.
I started out being able to run continuously for 3 miles. Not fast, just without stopping. I found myself at week 4 having made big improvements. My long runs were planned to be mostly downhill, similar to the Hunstville route. But a few things threw a wrench into the works:
It was summer. I do not do well in the heat. I was having to get up at 6 am to get my runs in before the sun melted me into a puddle.
My kids were home. I needed to do more cross training on my non-run days, but my responsibilities as a mother made me feel like I was doing great getting a workout in 3 times per week. That is great, typically, but my poor stability muscles got completely ignored. It's an excuse, I know, but nonetheless, it happened.
I got injured. I knew it was going to happen. My left IT band would completely seize at mile 5 or 6. I developed high hamstring tendinopathy, and was popping 4 ibuprophen prior to every run, which is a really unhealthy way to train, but was my reality. It really sucked the fun out of running.
So while at week 4 I was crowing about how I was going to smash my original goal pace, by week 6 I was checking into how I could get my registration fee refunded. I was so grateful that my husband had talked me down from the Full Monte cliff, and convinced me to do just the half. But I carried on, doing alternative workouts for cardio and strength, and resting my injuries.
I believe I prepared well the week before the race, resting, eating, sleeping, and mentally preparing. I picked up my bib and timing chip the day before, and became the proud owner of an real marathon event shirt.
The morning of the race we drove to Huntsville, about 45 minutes from home. Race start time was a chill 9:30 am, so there was no early morning issues. I got my number and chip on, ate a snack and jumped on the bus. I sat next to a 21 year old kid, fresh home from his mission. The girls were worried about my being alone without a friend on the bus, but I told them I'd make a new one. And so I did. At the drop off we parted ways, and I milled around in the crowd.
The race started 15 minutes late, and by this time the crowd was starting to get to me. Strange people, strange smells, combined with my anxiousness about the race, made for some unpleasantness. I spent the first three miles in a panic, trying to weave my way out of the craziness, swearing I would never run an event again, going nutso from all the sounds, breathing, music, and varying paces of the runners. People with phones on their arms, playing music not into headphones, but into the open air. Seriously. It was nightmarish.
At mile 4 I was finally in the clear, and started enjoying myself. The scenery was gorgeous, the course was a nice gentle downhill, the temperature was ideal, and the water stops spaced well. I found myself at a nice speedy pace for me, around 8:30-9:00 min miles. Miles sped by and suddenly I was at mile 7. At mile 8 the course flattened out and came out into the sun. And things started to get tricky. I stuck in my headphones and cranked some tunes.
"May the Course be with you"!
super awesome aid stations
At mile 9 I was feeling good still, feeling like I would beat my goal after all. There started to be spectators along the road, and I was recognizing where we were. Part of the problem was that I could see the park where we finished, but then we turned away from it, and mentally that was hard.
At mile 10 both my IT bands seized, and I mean completely froze. About this time I got passed by the first-place full marathon winner. That was a painful reminder... I was feeling thirsty from heat, not from dehydration, and at mile 11 I drank some Gatorade that I felt get only as far as my sternum. I was completely topped off. Even through the pain in my knees I kept running. At this point my oldest daughter called me. She was in Lake Tahoe and had apparently just woken up...She was calling to wish me luck, so I answered it and asked her to cheer for me really loud, which she did. It was just the thing I needed. I won't lie, I was emotional by this point. Something about pushing yourself just gets raw.
The final couple turns I focused on passing people ahead of me. In the final stretch I could hear my parents and kids ringing our cow-bells, our family cheering tradition. My mom was complaining that she was the only one cheering, because usually I'm the other loud one cheering with her. I broke down again when I saw them and veered over to high-five them. My husband was toward the finish line trying to get a photo shot of me. I was yelling his name so he would know I was coming, since he hadn't seen me yet. I'm sure I looked like a crazy woman because I was all by myself screaming his name 50 feet from the finish line. Whatever. I really wanted him to see me.
I crossed the line with a huge smile at 2:12:46 (my original goal), and became the proud owner of an event finishers medal. I know it's kitschy and faddish to run races, but I was so dang happy to have crossed that line. The finish corral was super, with lots of drinks, fruit, and carbs, all of which I ate. I was feeling super, one of my athletic endowments: I can exert forever and I recover quickly. I could feel soreness setting in, which is mostly due to the fact that I ran mechanically strained for the last three miles to relieve the stress I was feeling in my knees.
The funniest thing about this event is that I felt really great up until mile 10. I got the event photos, which I remember having taken at mile 6. I even threw on a smile to show how awesome I was feeling. But they all look like I was speed walking. Every single one. Nothing like a healthy dose of reality. Ouch.
I would highly recommend the Hunstville Marathon & Half for first timers. It is a fantastic course, the aid stations were well placed and the aid workers were legendary. They were dressed up in Star Wars costumes at one, super hero women at another, one had a tunnel of the high school cheerleaders. They provided Gatorade, water, bananas, oranges, pretzels, Skittles, & gels. There were porta-potties just in case. And the finishers corral was excellent with all the delicious treats you could want. The only drawback was that they needed to start on time, and an hour earlier than they did to avoid the valley heat at noon at the finish.
I have done a few things that I am really proud of, things that made me dig deep and find out what I was really capable of. The 50/20 (walking 50 miles in 20 hours) when I was 12. Swimming a mile in open water. Giving natural childbirth. A sprint triathlon in 2006. Cycling 100 miles in 2014. And now a half marathon. Each time I came through with a stronger sense of who I am, what is possible when I apply myself, and gratitude for the healthy body God has given me. I wonder if I'll ever know my own full physical potential. I'm crazy enough to want to find out, which why a full Iron Man triathlon dangles in front of me like a carrot, a possessed near-death carrot. I don't know when that will happen, because after this event I know that I have an enormous amount of preparation to do and have a mountain of work to do to get there.
I am grateful for my family for being supportive of my crazy ideas. My parents are the most giving and supportive people, cheering me on every step of my way, in everything, never doubting me. My husband centers me, and helps me find success if I will just listen to him. My girls get bored, but they make posters and ring bells, and smile and cheer with all their hearts. I hope they learn from me that they can do anything they put their mind to, and the value of cheering someone on.
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