My first half!

Yesterday was a big day for me - I'd been thinking about it and even dreaming about it for months.

I was so nervous/excited when R dropped M & I off in Perrysburg. I couldn't wait for it to start! I had an extra ten minutes to be nervous because the half started late! I was happy that my sister was there at the starting line with us.

When the race started, I was thrilled. I wasn't scared at all crossing over the Maumee bridge. Around mile 2 there was a turn around near Sidecut park. M passed by me and gave me "five." I was so impressed by how fast he was going!

Miles 1-6 were amazing. I was running at a nice steady pace and I felt like a million bucks. The weather was gorgeous (well, maybe a little hot), my music was great, and I felt happy and pain free.

My mind was totally clear and I was in the zone. I wish every single one of my runs could feel like those first 6 miles. When I looked at my watch at mile marker 7, I couldn't believe how well I was doing. It looked like I was going to finish about 30 minutes faster than my goal time!

Then my mind started to wander a bit. Miles 7-10 were just ok. They were more like my normal training runs. I was starting to feel a little tired and started counting how many more miles I had to go. My speed started to decrease and I walked through the water areas. I had gatorade, water, and a few of my shot blocks. I was still doing "fine" and figured I would still finish about 15-20 minutes faster than my goal.

Right around mile 10 both of my calves got a sharp pain (cramps) in them. It hurt pretty bad so I slowed to a walk. After only about 30 seconds the pain went away so I started to jog. This went off and on for a couple minutes when I decided that my cramps were being caused by my knee sleeves. I knew my knee sleeves were working because my knees felt perfect, but I thought maybe they were putting extra pressure on my calves and causing the cramps. So I quickly pushed my knee sleeves down by my ankles and started the running/walking combo again.

Just a few minutes later I felt an excruciating pain in my right calf and my right foot that brought me to a complete stop. Then my right foot completely locked up into a charlie horse. I wanted to scream it hurt so bad. I couldn't even move my foot or toes AT ALL. I sat down on the curb, took off my shoe, slipped the knee sleeve off from around my ankle, and tried to massage the cramp out of my foot. The massaging didn't help so I just sat there for what felt like forever but was probably only a minute or two. (Just as my cramp was subsiding a police officer came over to make sure I was ok.) Then I took off my other shoe, took off that knee sleeve, and put my shoes back on.

That was the worst of it (luckily my foot didn't totally lock up any more after that) but miles 10-13 were painful and slow. I spent them alternating walking and jogging with a group of three other ladies. (One of whom was also cramped up.) We took water, gatorade, and gels from all of the stops in those last 3 miles (not sure how many there were).

At the very end of the race, with only .2 miles left to go, one of the girls that I was running with said, "Is your name Brooke?" I nodded "yes" and she told me someone was yelling for me. I was only thinking about how much my cramps hurt and how disappointed I was in my time that I didn't even hear my mom yelling for me!

Mom came over to me and started running by my side, supporting me and trying to get me to run faster. But unfortunately, I was already going as fast as I was able to!

After I ran down the final hill, I was surprised to see M (and S!) had stayed even after he had finished the half and had waited over an hour for me to finish! M also ran me in to the end and pointed the way to the finish.

I was so happy to finish and see my family! I was so glad that R, my parents, S & M were all there to watch me cross the finish line. But I was also SO DISAPPOINTED that the clock time said 3:11, which was well over my goal time of under 3 hours. I'd never felt like that before - proud AND disappointed in myself at the same time!

But I was thrilled when we got home and I checked the GCM website and saw that I had actually reached my goal and finished in 2:59:39!!! (The clock time had been set to "marathon time" about two and a half hours into the race - half marathon time was 10 minutes different because we had started late.)

Although I'd originally thought I might start training for an upcoming marathon, yesterday's half showed me that I'm just not ready for that yet.

So my new fitness goals are:
1) Increase my speed so that I can run the Race for the Cure in September in under 30 minutes.
2) Strength train.
3) Learn to swim so I can do a sprint triathlon. (I can "swim" in the sense that I love splashing around in ponds and pools but I can't do laps well at all.)
4) Run another half sometime this fall in 2 1/2 hours.