I Survived!

13.1 Miles. I survived. I made it. I loved it!

We (me + roomies) all piled into the Suburban and hit the road on Friday. We got to Em’s house around 8 and started cooking! Time to load up on carbs. On the menu: pizza and pasta. We couldn’t decide between one or the other, why not make both? Mmmm, delicious.

I could barely sleep, probably a little nervous/excited. I woke up before my alarm went off at 6:30, fixed my breakfast and was ready to Go.

Things started off a little rough. With the high for the day being an expected 45º accompanied by clear blue skies, I thought I’d be fine in my usual stretch-pants and a cute (New!) sleeveless running top from Target. I thought, despite the freezing cold morning temps, that it would warm up. Or at least I would warm up while running. Wrong.wrong.wrong.

LB and I turned out to be the only not-so-smart ones in the bunch. The only ones who weren’t wearing long spandex pants, or thin zip-up jackets, or even long sleeves, and gloves/hats/head warmers/etc. Ehhh, oops.

Luckily, LB had a light sweatshirt that she decided to wear, and gave me her little mittens so I didn’t lose my hands by the end of the race. Which definitely would have happened. No doubt.

Before we started, I realized my iPod was so cold that the touch-pad wasn’t working. I couldn’t select a playlist. Therefore I wasted time creating an Awesome ‘Exercise’ list that was over 3 hours long to keep me running running running.

Luckily, at the last minute it cooperated and let me scroll down to my songs. Starting off the race with a little Beyonce and some “Check on It”. Yeaaaa.

The trail started off with a big hill, and with each step up my left sock slid a little bit lower. I tried to stop and pull it up (this has never happened before, why today? why why why!), but it just slipped right back down. Fine, sock, have it your way. I ran the next 12 miles with a sock right below my heel.

Luckily it didn’t fall all the way off. And surprisingly, after about 5 miles it didn’t bother me.

I could feel my pace settle in and get comfortable. Right around 8 min/mile and content. A few songs always make me giddy and I speed up a little bit. Like “Can’t Stop the Beat” (Hairspray!), “The Queen & I” (Gym Class Heroes), “Romeo’s Tune” (Keith Urban) and “Glamorous” (Fergie). That gives you a small glimpse into the random-ness that is my ‘Exercise’ playlist. I loooove it. The music died right in the middle of the new Miley Cyrus song, and I had been waiting for that one. Gah.

Luckily, it lasted about 12.5 miles before that happened. For the last stretch I was left to my own thoughts.

It went by pretty fast. I never felt too tired, never had the urge to walk, and never wondered how soon it would be over.

The goal had been set the night before. I had no idea what would be a “good” first 1/2-marathon time. I wanted to have a goal, but it had be something reasonable so I wasn’t too disappointed if I didn’t get it. I decided on just finishing under 2 hours.

Coming around the last turn, the timer came into focus. 1:48:40. I got so excited. I made it in 1 hour and 49 minutes!

Then, after two bottles of water, two bananas, and grabbing bagels for the road, we headed off. We got in the car and drove right back to good ol’ Happy Valley. I slept a little in the car, and was excited for a shower, getting ready, and going Out. And that’s just what we did!