After all the training, hard work, early mornings, sore body parts, blood, SWEAT and tears, my FIRST half marathon is COMPLETE!!! November 3, 2012 will definitely be one of the most amazing days of my life – right up there with college graduation, my wedding day, and the birth of my son. haha I could not have asked for a more perfect day.
I really have to admit that tapering the last 2 weeks definitely helped - not only to recharge my body after a hard
week year of miles, but to also recover from my injuries: the road rash, the sprained calves, the sore shins... I ran probably my best run ever on Saturday morning. AND, I did not have any lingering soreness, blisters or pains afterwards. It seems so magical. I did everything right the entire taper period, from resting when my body needed it and drinking water until I peed every hour... it totally paid off in the end!!!
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| Expo green screen fun! |
The Savannah Rock 'n' Roll weekend kicked off with an awesome Expo. Joel and I went on the first day (Thursday) to pick up our numbers and race swag. I was able to change my corral from 16 to 12 (which didn't really matter, as I had come to find out). I'd never been in a huge race before, so the expo was an experience in itself! I picked up a bunch of freebies and samples, got our photos taken, signed up for free entries to other races, walked around and just took in all the energy. That night I went to a group dinner with my CREW training group - the ones who have gotten up with me every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings since June to run around dark Pooler neighborhoods and train out butts off! We have become a little tight-knit family!
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| Most of my Pooler CREW |
Friday, the day before the race was hectic - trying to get work done, trying to get everything ready and packed up since we were spending the night at Joel's parent's house, making soup for the pre-race dinner hosted by my other wonderful running group - Moms RUN This Town (MRTT), going to the dinner (sorry no pictures...
Katie's Blog has some good ones though!) and then coming back to drive to the in-laws with kid and doggies in tow. Set the alarm for 5:30am. I went to bed at my normal time (1am).
I woke before my alarm went off. Joel was awake too, I think. Took a while to get out of bed, but when I actually got up, my tummy had an urge to go. TMI, but you runners know what I mean. My day could not start off ANY better! I was worried about tummy troubles during the race, so emptying them out before the race was ideal for me. I had a glass of water, half of a banana and half of a Powerbar before we gathered our stuff and headed out. It was chilly that morning, but not cold enough that we needed our hoodies/sleeves at the start.
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| Newport running family! |
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| Our BEFORE photo! |
Joel's dad dropped us off as close as he could to Ellis Square, where I was to meet up with my CREW group to take a photo before we split off to our corrals. We passed MANY empty spots downtown! After the pictures, we trekked down to the bag check area, and took a few more pictures along the way. Bag check was very easy, it was just pretty far down from where we needed to line up. On the way back up to the corrals, we found the line for the Brooks VIP bathroom. The line was shorter than the port-a-pottys but still longer than I expected. Joel couldn't wait for me, so I kissed him goodbye/goodluck and off he went. I got out just in time to line up in corral 12.
I stayed up at the front of the corral and met up with Chris, a fellow CREW member, who was at the back of corral 11. As we moved up when the race started, he found others in our CREW and they called for me to come up and join them! It was nice to be able to start off my first half with the same people who I trained with for the past 6 months!
It was our turn to start and we were off! I stuck with Chris for most of the first half of the race. It was nice to have someone to chat with for those first miles. Made it easy! There was the first hill in the first mile, not so bad. After the 2nd mile, I think there was a water station. It was chaotic because the road was pretty narrow and there were people stopping right in front of you to get water. In addition to the narrow run-way, there were random cups on the ground that you had to dodge. Well I dodged them anyway - I didn't want my injury-prone ass to slip on one! The narrow water stations was probably the only bad part of my experience...
I stopped to walk for a bit after mile 4 to take my first Gu, then went back at it. We were headed back towards downtown. After we made the first left turn onto MLK (around mile 5), there was upbeat hip hop/dance music playing and it really pumped me up! Then I saw a huge line of kids with their hands held out and I made my way over to them and just ran down the line giving high fives!! WOOHOO!! That was the start of my surge!! It really got me going! The whole downtown part (miles 5-8) was just so awesome and packed with spectators!!! Especially along Oglethorpe!! I loved the bagpipers playing in front of the Cathedral (probably the best band out there on the course! haha). Around mile 8, I saw my friend and boot camp instructor, Kerrie who came out to cheer for us!
After the hustle and bustle of downtown, it was back to the neighborhood streets... after mile 9 we passed under the legs of a huge inflated Brooks rocker dude. Then I decided to take my second walk break to consume my 2nd Gu before entering the Gordonston neighborhoods, where I would be on the look out for Joel's parents and Liam! For some reason this part seemed pretty long to me. Maybe because I was searching and anticipating seeing my son. I knew we'd see them in between miles 10 and 11, but as we kept making turns and not seeing them, I thought they might have left already.... until I finally caught sight of them near the end of the 10th mile. I briefly stopped to give Liam a kiss. Then he says, "I want to go run with you mommy!" I didn't tear up like you'd think I would - instead I just said, "I'll be right back! We'll see you later! Love you!!!" and continued my journey. Then I hear some really sad weeping... that just kept getting louder even as I jogged away!! :( I felt like a bad mom... one lady runner came up and said, "Oh it just breaks your heart doesn't it?" And it did, but I just had to laugh. He does that every time I leave him! Apparently he did that with Joel too, so I'm sure seeing his other parent run away from him earlier didn't help me! LOL
After that little ordeal, I saw the 11 mile sign and knew that I was SO CLOSE to the end!! A couple miles to go!!! It started to split off to where the marathoners left for their 2nd half... it was very clearly marked and they had people along the course telling people as well. After the split, was mile 12!!! AHHHH just 1 more mile!!! This last mile was the longest mile EVER. First of all, there were a couple little hills on this stupid road. It was rough. My toes had become numb and my feet were just getting beat. I made myself walk a little bit before trying to finish strong. I wish there was as many spectators on this final mile like there were on Oglethorpe! I was trying to remember the succession of streets before Drayton (the LAST turn), but I just kept seeing a mass of people still lining the street ahead of me. Ugh. But it came up by surprise because I think there might have been a hill and then right after the hill was the final turn! WOOHOO!!! Just .1 mile left!!!
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| Where's that finish line? |
The last .1 was a blur. There were tons of people lined up on the sides cheering people in! I tried to sprint, but I don't think I had much left in me. I went as fast as I could, even slowed a bit to make sure my finish line photo was cute by posing. LOL I crossed under the gate and yelled out, "WOOHOOOOOOO!!!" I didn't cry like I thought I might (especially because just I started my period, haha - sorry TMI). I was just so HAPPY and overwhelmed and proud of myself!!! Especially when I looked down at my watch to see my time: 2:14:36!!!!!!! Holy $hit! I beat my goal (2:15)!
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| Finishing up strong! |
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| Pumped up at the finish!!! |
I went and got my medal and saw Joel! He waited for me, which I am glad he did because we got our finishers photo taken together! He didn't do as well as he would have liked due to an injury, but I am proud of him for finishing!! I met a girl who recognized me from Daily Mile, which was pretty awesome that we finished around the same time. I also saw my old Crossfit instructor, Kim at the end handing out medals and gave her a high five!
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| Finisher's photo with my man! |
After the photos and crowded finish line craziness, we walked straight down to the bag check area and got our bag. Bag checks are awesome! I changed out of my shoes and into my FitFlops... ahhh... my feet needed those! Got my phone and took an "after" photo of Joel and I and checked my texts and FB... although it was nearly impossible to get a good signal out there with all the people trying to do the same exact thing.
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| Our AFTER photo! |
We got our free beer and then headed over to the CREW tent for post-race congrats to my CREWmates and photos. Then we went over to the MRTT tent to catch up with the other MRTT runners from Savannah, ATL and other chapters, as well as rest, stretch, ice, drink more beer, and just enjoy the beautiful afternoon... We stayed and got updates on Jen - who was doing the Full (a first for her, too!) It was really awesome to watch her come in and finish strong - well above her expected goal!!!
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| Morgan and Jen... both big achievements at the RnR! |
This race was so unbelievable. I knew it would be a great time, but it really exceeded my expectations of a half marathon. I wore a custom-made Wonder Woman running costume (from the wonderfully talented Helen of
This Princess Runs) which got me lots of comments and "GO WONDER WOMAN" cheers along the way! Whenever I heard someone say it, I'd yell out "WOOOHOOO YEAH!!!!" and try to make eye contact with them as a thank you to let them know I heard it and it is keeping me going!!! The race support and volunteers were just so phenomenal. I would love to do this again next year!!!
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| My splits. I wanted to see those 9s at the end of the race, but I guess I started off faster than I should have. Oh well! I still ran a fabulous race! |
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(Thanks marathonfoto.com for the pics! I will be purchasing them soon!)
