Finished the Half

What a day! It was 15 degrees this morning and WINDY! I wore layer after layer and wasn't sure until race time about what I would finally decide on.

I had on a running tank top, a long sleeved running shirt, a long sleeved fleec pull over, and a running jacket plus 2 pairs of pants! And nothing came off during the race except for the gloves. It was hard. I'm glad I did it and I'm glad I finished. But it was hard! For my first 1/2, I'm happy, especially given the conditions.

My final chip time was 2:42:06. Even though I tossed out expectations, I really did want to finish in under 2:30. I knew I wasn't, so being about 12 minutes over that isn't too bad.

I'm tired and I'm sore. I came home and showered and tossed on sweats. That's it for me! I'm beat! Struggling to keep my eyes open now, just after 4:30pm. I did some good stretching and took some Advil, but I know I should stretch some more. Sadly, I just don't have the energy to move right now! I'm surprised I'm even able to type.

One great story from today.... as the race was getting ready to start and the runners were lining up, I started chatting with a woman who was running, Claudette. She flew in from Texas just for this Half Marathon in NH. After checking her out on the race results (not too tough when she is the only person from Texas running in a race in NH!) she is 66 years old. Her time was 2:27:02.

She had set a goal for herself. Claudette runs in a different half marathon every month. Her goal? Run a half marathon in every state. Today was number 36! She's doing Alaska in July and Vermont in August.

What a great goal and an unbelievably amazing accomplishment! She travels all over the country seeing different areas with her husband and is in fantastic shape and health. I found her and her story so inspirational.

Claudette said that today's half marathon was the only state who had a half in February where she hadn't already run. I'm not sure she was thrilled to be in frigid temps knowing it was 70 and humid back home in Austin.

I haven't registered for the rest of the races I am supposed to do yet. The Great Bay Half Marathon is in April. I heard it is a hilly course. That might be good for me to do before Boston and I think it might help me mentally too to do another half marathon. If I see improvement and if my time is faster, I will feel that much better about going into the marathon.

As of now, I am nervous! I was slower than I wanted to be today and this race just kicked my butt! I ended up walking quite a bit more than I planned on and more than I had hoped to walk. I just lost all steam and all energy. Plus I was SO dehydrated. I wish they had more water stops on this race. There were only 4 and I really needed more. I was taking water double fisted. Stop one at 2.8 miles I only took one. At stop 2 at mile 6 I took a water and a gatorade. At mile 8.7 I took 3 waters! Then at mile 11 I took 2. I was done by that point. My legs were shot, my lower back was throbbing. I knew I was done. I tried my best to keep up a good walking pace. Considering I walked completely from mile 11-13, only being 12 minutes over what I wanted wasn't too bad.

But I need to keep up the training. This was a starting point. I have 8 weeks to go for Boston. I need to continue on the outside long runs and really push myself. If I can run longer and take fewer and shorter walking breaks, then I think I will be alright. I need to increase my overall distance too. Next weekend when I do a long run, I want to try for only 12 miles to build my confidence a little, but hopefully do those 12 miles solid. I am going to ask some friends for help to get me through. I'll see if some of them are around to run a 3 mile portion with me and then have someone waiting when we return do the next 3 miles with me. My fingers are crossed!

Now I am off for a nap or some mind numbing TV. Today was fun and it was an experience. I finished my first half marathon and I had fun with it. That was the overall goal and that was a success.