Disclaimer: Do not try this at home! I wouldn't recommend to anyone to run a half marathon without training for it. It is hard work, and it is hard on your body. This is just my story of why I chose to do what I did. You'd have to be a few fries short of a happy meal to try this, and I am not endorsing that anyone should do it. I do happen to be a little crazy, and I enjoyed this experience. However, do not try this at home without consulting your physician first!
I went home and googled "how to train for a half marathon in two weeks". Well, guess what? No one had a training program for building up miles for a half marathon in two weeks! My confidence in myself was sadly lacking, and I told Roger that maybe I should just give the ladies back their money. The next day I decided to go out and see if I could run six miles. Although six miles is a far cry from thirteen miles, I needed to know if I could at least go that far! I made it, but I still was very unsure about actually signing up for the marathon.
Over the next week, I thought about it, prayed about it, and increased my core strength training exercises. I know from my past running experiences that having a strong core will prevent several injuries. I wouldn't be able to put in the miles needed to train for this half marathon, unless I was going to kill myself trying. I also cut out all soda and sugar in an effort to give myself as much of a jump start as possible! I just did what I could do, and I signed up to do it. Roger and my friend, Jenna, had far more confidence in me than I did! But running a half marathon is on my list of goals for 2015, and I knew I probably wouldn't get another opportunity!
The weather forecast for race day was predicted to be rainy, but this is a rain or shine event. Although it did rain quite a bit on Friday and during the night, Saturday was overcast and 58 degrees. Perfect weather for running a half marathon in my opinion. I texted a few of my friends about the race on Saturday, and I asked for specific prayer requests. I've been struggling with a UTI all week, so I knew that I might have to take advantage of those porta potties on the course! My sister, Hannah, gave me some suggestions of some medicine that might help, so I tried out those this week. Although the UTI is much improved, it is still not completely better. It's challenging to run when you feel like you need to pee!
Roger was not supposed to be on any of the morning flights on Saturday, and we were both thankful that he would be able to cheer me on at the race. However, that is not how it worked out! He ended up having a flight at nine am. On Saturday which meant that he needed to be at the airport at eight am. But the race was starting at 6:30, so what about our kids? Thankfully, the office ladies told Roger that the kids could stay at the office while he flew. While I was thankful to have that dilemma solved, it also meant that Roger wouldn't be able to see much of the race. We both agreed that waking the kids up for the start of the race would be pointless. And the race was going to be coming right past our road, so at least the kids could see a brief glimpse of mom. I was bummed a bit as Roger is my biggest cheer leader, but there was nothing that we could do about the situation.
Saturday morning came early! Since the race was starting at the city park, I just decided it would be the easiest if I just walked there by myself on race day. I walked to the park at 5:30 am., and I wondered what I had gotten myself into! Who runs a half marathon without even really training for it? Would I be one of the last people to cross the finish line? Maybe I should just go home and go back to bed? But I kept walking to the park. After all, running a half marathon is on my list of goals for 2015, so I needed to get it done. It was a nice morning at about 58 degrees and overcast.
Here are some things I learned at this half marathon:
1) IF you are going to run a half marathon without training, you should pick someone to be your buddy thru it. It would've been a lot funner to have a running buddy (Jenna Shubert) along to whine and complain about how hard it is, and what where we thinking!
2) I will probably never be one of those runners that carries a hydration backpack. In the first half mile, I realized that I needed to avoid the runners that had those backpacks. Why? Well the sound of the water sloshing in the pouch made me need to use the bathroom even worse! (Definitely avoid those people if you have a UTI!)
3) I'm really thankful that this race had porta potties at the mile markers three, five, seven, nine, and eleven! And, no, I didn't stop at each one!
4) This is a fun course! It has a few hills (the one at mile nine seems impossibly long, but the course is beautiful! I think I had an advantage by knowing the route of the course and having run parts of it as it made the miles go by faster.
5) Because the bike pacer (the person in the very front who leads the racers in a race) went the wrong way at the very beginning of the race, we ended up running 13.8 miles instead of 13.1 miles! I heard my phone buzz me a text during the race, but I wasn't going to pause or slow up to look at my messages. It was the race association sending out a text saying that everyone would be running a bit longer today. During the race I wondered if my running app on my phone was off because my app was not lining up with the mile markers of the race and that would be why! I learned that my body can run farther than I would've imagined it could go. I walked through the water stops at miles five and nine...and used the porta potties at those stops too. Other than those walking breaks, I didn't stop running.
6) Running a half marathon is like having a baby...how is that? Here is my anology:
1-3 miles are fun and everyone is having a good time. Just like when the first easy contractions start and you are so happy to finally be having a baby!
4-6 miles are a little more intense. It's becoming hard work, and you are wondering if you are up for all of this. Just like in labor when you are wondering how long this might take, and should you get an epidural now.
7-9 miles you are seriously wondering about your sanity! You are wondering why you signed up for this, and whose idea was this race?! Just like in labor when you are thinking about forgetting the epidural and just telling the doctor to give you a c-section!
10-13 miles you realize that you are almost to the end. You've at least run three miles before so you know you can finish...even if you started walking. As in labor, this is comparable to the "getting ready to push" stage as you realize that soon you will be holding your baby in your arms.
13.1 miles...you did it! You are so relieved to finally be done, and you tell yourself that it wasn't that bad and that you'd do it again someday. This is like the part when you finally hold your baby in your arms, and you smile with love at your baby. Then you look up at your husband and say, "it wasn't too bad, and look how beautiful he is!"
It is a sense of accomplishment to run a half marathon. And although I am sore a bit today, and I am very, very thankful for my husband, kids, and friends that encouraged me through texts or calls. I am going to include how I did in the race. I'm not trying to brag by any means, but I do want to have a memory of what I accomplished yesterday.
I placed #326 out of 1072 runners. I was the 156 woman to cross the finish line, and I placed 33 in my age division of women ages 30-34. There were 187 women in this age catagory. I did much better than I anticipated that I would do. I ran 13.8 miles in a time of 2:19:11.
While I wouldn't recommend running a half marathon without training, I have no regrets about doing this one. It encouraged me in ways that I didn't know that I needed to be encouraged, it renewed my confidence in what I can do, and my husband's unselfishness was once again seen as he encouraged me and challenged me to take on this half marathon. I am blessed.
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