Long Version: Today was the culmination of 15 weeks of hard training, going from not being a runner at all in January, to completing my first ever race (and half marathon) in sub-2 time. My training went well, taper went well, carb loading went well, everything just fell into place for an awesome run!
We woke up at 415 am this morning to get ready for the race after a really good night's sleep. After assembling all our gear last night and having my standard breakfast of bagel, PB, and Gatorade, we were on the road at 515 am for the 1 hour drive to Lincoln. About halfway down, we both had headaches for some reason, so we had to stop and grab some Motrin from the gas station. Got to the starting line around 630 am, headed to the restroom (we opted for the real bathrooms inside the football stadium) warmed up a little and checked our bags. My wife was nervous, I was not nervous at all for some reason.
My wife met some friends that she was running with (co workers), I hugged and kissed her, wished her good luck, and headed to the middle of 9:00 pace group. My wife and friends were at the back of the 10:00 pace group. The energy was amazing. They played the national anthem, blew a cannon, and the race was on. It took about 7 minutes for me to cross the starting mat.
Everything just clicked with this run. It felt great from the very beginning. I had no major aches and pains throughout the run, and I can honestly say that I had so much fun! Although, I did get a little nauseous around mile 10, but it passed by mile 11. I started out at solid 9:30 miles, ramped that up to 9:10, and eventually 8:40 miles with a nice negative split and finished with a flat out sprint. I did eat 1 GU 15 minutes prior to race time, then took GU again at 4.5 miles, and 9 miles. I did carry my own Nathan water bottle with Gatorade, just because that's how I trained. I also grabbed 2 waters along the course, with the cups having lids and straws. That was cool, and allowed runners to not worry about spilling it all over themselves. As far as music, I've trained from Day 1 with my Ipod, but didn't use it all in the race. I had it hooked up and ready to go, with my earbuds hanging on my shirt cuff, but didn't need to use it once. There was plenty on the course to keep my attention, it was so much fun! The crowd was really cool along the whole race, and I really appreciated their enthusiasm which helped to really push me. That race day adrenalin is for real folks.
When I hit mile 11, I realized that I could knock out a sub 2 hour time if I continued to put the hammer down, and just run hard, harder than I've ever run before. Getting my sub 2 hour time time by 31 seconds was just pure luck I guess. Like I said, everything just clicked when it was supposed to.
The only part of the course I didn't like was a 2.5 mile stretch on an 8 foot wide bike path along Highway 2. It was shoulder to shoulder, back to chest in that stretch. I said screw that and ran on the grass right next to the trail, which allowed me to cruise past runners just about every second. Hey, it worked for me, and was part of the reason why I got that sub 2 hour time!
My wife, while running her own race, did awesome as well! She has chronic asthma, and has been sick lately over the previous couple of weeks, and also has struggled with her training. Her lost long run was 3 weeks ago at 10 miles. She did super and only walked 1/4 mile. I'm so proud of her, I can't even begin to describe how wonderful she is, and how cool it was to be able to do the event with her. Even though we didn't run it together, we each had to run our own race, it was a great feeling to meet back up at the end to give each other a hug and kiss and that we'd just made memories that would last for the rest of our lives.
My brother in law did take a few pictures of us running during the race, and I was able to high-five my sister too, and another sister was there, although I wasn't able to find her in the huge crowds. Our daughter wasn't there, but we called her from the finish line as soon as we were able.
Bottom line, words just can't describe how happy we both are!!! This was an awesome, amazing, crazy, surreal experience, and we're living proof that you can do incredible things if you're willing to push yourself beyond your comfort zone and just say, "Well, why not!"
We're home now, sitting on the couch, and just resting. 13.1 miles, been there, ran that! Bring on the next race!
Garmin Split Times (for the super curious):
Mile 1: 9:30, Mile 2: 9:30, Mile 3: 9:25, Mile 4: 9:27, Mile 5: 9:12, Mile 6: 9:12, Mile 7: 9:00, Mile 8: 9:00, Mile 9: 8:57, Mile 10: 8:43, Mile 11: 8:35, Mile 12: 8:40, Mile 13: 8:24, Last 0.25 1:55 (7:32 pace), Total: 1:59:38
I also wanted to express my thanks to EVERYONE on the Runner's World chat boards!! There are some great folks there and I appreciate so much all the advice that everyone has been willing to give to this once newbie runner. Everyone there has been so positive, and I truly think they all helped to push me today, to a safe and almost unbelievable sub 2:00 finish! I also want to thank my coworkers for giving advice and continued inspiration, and also my family for the love and support for something that was completely foreign to me (running) a few months ago.
My wife and I after the race. Note our huge grins! The experience of a LIFETIME!
Race on!
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