my first half-marathon! and we didn't burst into flames! XD XD XD
*squees running*
Was able to complete my first half, three months after my first 10K… but not without some crawling. :P
The run started out at 5:20AM before sunup. We were shown the race route on a wide screen monitor and I remembered thinking, “Wow, that’s a pretty long way to go. Oh good, we’re passing by a cemetery. Maybe I can steal a nap in there.” :P
Put myself at the back of the pack to avoid getting trampled by the visiting Kenyans and other pro runners. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing despite training setbacks in the prior month. I told myself I’ll be okay as long as I have my trusty hydration belt and my trusty mp3 player (which I call my “cowPod” because it’s in the shape of a cow’s head) to keep my spirits up.
As it turned out, my earphones weren’t working properly! All treble, no bass, vocals like they were recorded in a tin can. Argh. I wish I had brought Miffy’s Sennheiser earphones instead. But hey, be ye grateful for whatever you have and work with it the best way you can. So I sucked it up and ran straight for the first ten kilometers and things still felt pretty good.
Halfway through, we climbed a flyover, crossed its entire length, went down on the other side, did a detour and crossed it again. After the tenth kilometer, I began to do 30-second to one minute walk breaks when it felt like more like dragging your feet than running.
I followed the advice from another member at runners about splitting the 21 kilometers into seven bite-sized three kilometer mini-runs. That really helped keep things manageable. :D
The sun was already high at this point and I’ve been pouring water on my head at every water station. The earlier wave of runners had used up all the sponges and the ground was littered with them. I wish there was some way they could have collected the used sponges from the earlier runners so they could be re-used by the stragglers. Ah, but no matter. After dumping a cup of water on my head, I’d be dripping for a few seconds and then be all dry again. It was that hot, playing around at 96-97F. Good thing I didn’t bring Miffy’s Sennheiser earphones or I’d have ruined them.
There was one instance when I dumped a cup of water on my head and my eyes started to sting. I furiously rubbed my eyes with a bandanna and found it odd that I was wringing out white milky liquid from the cloth. It's not water! I must have mistaken a non-colored sports drink (think Pocari Sweat) for water. I knew my spidey sense was tingling when I thought it weird that this "water" looked pretty foggy compared to the others on the table. Trauma.
Funny thing though, after having poured water on my head a number of times, my busted earphones began to work properly again. Most odd. And in the last five kilometers to boot.
I finally crossed the finished line in 3hrs 2 minutes. Not a hard one to beat next time, so yeah I’m still happy with it. :D
Just cruising along. :)
Everything's still A-Ok. Thumbs up, a wink and tongue out. ;P
Miffy was so bummed out that he couldn't join me (he also registered for the race). No thanks to his boss who wouldn't approve his vacation leave so he could fly from the other end of the country to run with me. And he was so worried that I was doing this on my own but he cheered me on every day until race day. :D So to cheer him up, I wore his race bib under mine and flashed our secret code- clue: Two letters from the American sign language, forms the name of the sixth note in the C Major Scale, and if repeated nine times means "I *heart* you". ;P
The snailrunner's heroic crawl to the finish line. :D
Waiting at the finish line was the shiny medal, a free dri-fit shirt for the 21km finishers (apart from the singlet that came with the race kit), more freebies (granola bars, sports drink and a can of tuna!) and a free tub of Hagen Daz ice cream. And since Miffy had registered but was unable to run, I get to use his race bib to claim his goodies and his ice cream too. Yeah!
Was able to complete my first half, three months after my first 10K… but not without some crawling. :P
The run started out at 5:20AM before sunup. We were shown the race route on a wide screen monitor and I remembered thinking, “Wow, that’s a pretty long way to go. Oh good, we’re passing by a cemetery. Maybe I can steal a nap in there.” :P
Put myself at the back of the pack to avoid getting trampled by the visiting Kenyans and other pro runners. I was feeling pretty good about the whole thing despite training setbacks in the prior month. I told myself I’ll be okay as long as I have my trusty hydration belt and my trusty mp3 player (which I call my “cowPod” because it’s in the shape of a cow’s head) to keep my spirits up.
As it turned out, my earphones weren’t working properly! All treble, no bass, vocals like they were recorded in a tin can. Argh. I wish I had brought Miffy’s Sennheiser earphones instead. But hey, be ye grateful for whatever you have and work with it the best way you can. So I sucked it up and ran straight for the first ten kilometers and things still felt pretty good.
Halfway through, we climbed a flyover, crossed its entire length, went down on the other side, did a detour and crossed it again. After the tenth kilometer, I began to do 30-second to one minute walk breaks when it felt like more like dragging your feet than running.
I followed the advice from another member at runners about splitting the 21 kilometers into seven bite-sized three kilometer mini-runs. That really helped keep things manageable. :D
The sun was already high at this point and I’ve been pouring water on my head at every water station. The earlier wave of runners had used up all the sponges and the ground was littered with them. I wish there was some way they could have collected the used sponges from the earlier runners so they could be re-used by the stragglers. Ah, but no matter. After dumping a cup of water on my head, I’d be dripping for a few seconds and then be all dry again. It was that hot, playing around at 96-97F. Good thing I didn’t bring Miffy’s Sennheiser earphones or I’d have ruined them.
There was one instance when I dumped a cup of water on my head and my eyes started to sting. I furiously rubbed my eyes with a bandanna and found it odd that I was wringing out white milky liquid from the cloth. It's not water! I must have mistaken a non-colored sports drink (think Pocari Sweat) for water. I knew my spidey sense was tingling when I thought it weird that this "water" looked pretty foggy compared to the others on the table. Trauma.
Funny thing though, after having poured water on my head a number of times, my busted earphones began to work properly again. Most odd. And in the last five kilometers to boot.
I finally crossed the finished line in 3hrs 2 minutes. Not a hard one to beat next time, so yeah I’m still happy with it. :D
Just cruising along. :)
Everything's still A-Ok. Thumbs up, a wink and tongue out. ;P
Miffy was so bummed out that he couldn't join me (he also registered for the race). No thanks to his boss who wouldn't approve his vacation leave so he could fly from the other end of the country to run with me. And he was so worried that I was doing this on my own but he cheered me on every day until race day. :D So to cheer him up, I wore his race bib under mine and flashed our secret code- clue: Two letters from the American sign language, forms the name of the sixth note in the C Major Scale, and if repeated nine times means "I *heart* you". ;P
The snailrunner's heroic crawl to the finish line. :D
Waiting at the finish line was the shiny medal, a free dri-fit shirt for the 21km finishers (apart from the singlet that came with the race kit), more freebies (granola bars, sports drink and a can of tuna!) and a free tub of Hagen Daz ice cream. And since Miffy had registered but was unable to run, I get to use his race bib to claim his goodies and his ice cream too. Yeah!