My First Half Marathon
Copy and pasted from my running blog:
Yesterday, was my half marathon! I woke up at 5am, brushed my teeth, changed, ate breakfast with Ron (my breakfast consisting of plain oatmeal with honey, a banana, and half a powerbar), tied my hair, put on contacts, and then went out the door. Ron and I picked up Jasmine and her two friends, who were all running the half marathon too. We got to the starting site around 6:10am. Jasmine and her friends didn't have safety pins for their bib numbers so I followed them around trying to find some.
I had to go to the restroom, although I held it in because I didn't think I needed to go that bad. I was wrong. However being a good distance away from the restroom and it being close to race time (6:30am), I didn't want to leave the starting line. Once the race started, I was quite uncomfortable, afraid to move. By the time I finished the first mile, there existed a porta potty. The line was long, so I skipped it. I did this at almost every mile because I didn't want to waste running time by waiting in a line. I was able to do this because apparently I didn't really need to go anymore. Long story short, I did this until I finished 11 miles! Amazing right?
Overall, the half marathon was one of the most exhilarating events ever! I had so much fun. I was scared I'd get too tired in the first hour and would stop a lot, but it wasn't like that at all. I had all this energy! I think it had to do with being in the motion of the race. Everyone just keeps running, that I don't want to stop. It must have been 3 to 4 miles before I really stopped and walked for a bit. It was a relaxing run a majority of the time. I was just watching all the other runners run. Everyone was of different size and age and coming together to just run! It was great! We started in Newport near Fashion Island and ended in Costa Mesa at the OC Fair and Event Center, going pass beaches and environmental reserves. It was nice, except for the gloominess of the weather, but that must be because of how early it was.
It was not listed how many miles we finished until the 8th mile. I prefer it this way. I don't want to know that I only ran 1 or 2 miles so far because it's daunting to think about how many miles I have left. I started dying on the 11th mile... But I think stopping to use the restroom helped me recover a bit. As I continued my run, I thought I was still on the 12th mile, so I started walking. However a girl tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Cmon, you're almost there!". I was very confused, but I started to run anyways. She was right! I finished in no time! I have no idea why the 12 mile sign wasn't posted.
Anyways, as I approached the finish line, I was scanning around for Ron and my other friends. No one. I was afraid that would happen because I gave them a wrong estimate of when I would finish (between 2.5 to 3 hours) and they're all prone to being late haha. I finished my run in about 2 hours and 27 minutes! Once I finished, I received a participation medal. After my race, I got lost searching for my friends for an hour, forgetting that I had Ron's cell number written on the back of my bib number (I didn't have my cell on me and had to ask people)! When I did find everyone (Ron, Alex, Grace, Steph, Jenny, Bevelyn, and Daniel), we took pictures. Then we (Ron, Alex, Grace, Bev, Jenny) went to IHop! Yum!
After my race and all that good stuff, I napped for 2.5 hours, waking up to pain and soreness in my ankles, calves, thighs, lower back... Iced everything I could!
I woke up today, and it's even worse. The pain starts from my shoulders, going all the way down my back down to my legs. My abs also hurt. I was afraid of going up stairs for my classes... What I found out was that going down stairs is even more painful! When I got out of my bed today, I could barely walk... But thank god I stretched and I was able to move easier!
Will I do this again? Definitely. 3 months of training sucks, but running the real thing was awesome! I won't be running again in the next two weeks and when I do run, it'll only be 1 to 2 miles. It's time to do other things than running... Like racket ball, tennis, and swimming. It kind of sucks to think that my race has now ended and I won't be running any new race soon... In a way it feels like a waste of training so much only to lose all that running fitness again. Oh well, that's how life works. I'm going to try to stay fit though in a different respect, even if my incentive to run as often as I did is now gone. At least kickboxing class is still around to force me to go to the gym. :D
Here are my results:
Yesterday, was my half marathon! I woke up at 5am, brushed my teeth, changed, ate breakfast with Ron (my breakfast consisting of plain oatmeal with honey, a banana, and half a powerbar), tied my hair, put on contacts, and then went out the door. Ron and I picked up Jasmine and her two friends, who were all running the half marathon too. We got to the starting site around 6:10am. Jasmine and her friends didn't have safety pins for their bib numbers so I followed them around trying to find some.
I had to go to the restroom, although I held it in because I didn't think I needed to go that bad. I was wrong. However being a good distance away from the restroom and it being close to race time (6:30am), I didn't want to leave the starting line. Once the race started, I was quite uncomfortable, afraid to move. By the time I finished the first mile, there existed a porta potty. The line was long, so I skipped it. I did this at almost every mile because I didn't want to waste running time by waiting in a line. I was able to do this because apparently I didn't really need to go anymore. Long story short, I did this until I finished 11 miles! Amazing right?
Overall, the half marathon was one of the most exhilarating events ever! I had so much fun. I was scared I'd get too tired in the first hour and would stop a lot, but it wasn't like that at all. I had all this energy! I think it had to do with being in the motion of the race. Everyone just keeps running, that I don't want to stop. It must have been 3 to 4 miles before I really stopped and walked for a bit. It was a relaxing run a majority of the time. I was just watching all the other runners run. Everyone was of different size and age and coming together to just run! It was great! We started in Newport near Fashion Island and ended in Costa Mesa at the OC Fair and Event Center, going pass beaches and environmental reserves. It was nice, except for the gloominess of the weather, but that must be because of how early it was.
It was not listed how many miles we finished until the 8th mile. I prefer it this way. I don't want to know that I only ran 1 or 2 miles so far because it's daunting to think about how many miles I have left. I started dying on the 11th mile... But I think stopping to use the restroom helped me recover a bit. As I continued my run, I thought I was still on the 12th mile, so I started walking. However a girl tapped me on the shoulder and said, "Cmon, you're almost there!". I was very confused, but I started to run anyways. She was right! I finished in no time! I have no idea why the 12 mile sign wasn't posted.
Anyways, as I approached the finish line, I was scanning around for Ron and my other friends. No one. I was afraid that would happen because I gave them a wrong estimate of when I would finish (between 2.5 to 3 hours) and they're all prone to being late haha. I finished my run in about 2 hours and 27 minutes! Once I finished, I received a participation medal. After my race, I got lost searching for my friends for an hour, forgetting that I had Ron's cell number written on the back of my bib number (I didn't have my cell on me and had to ask people)! When I did find everyone (Ron, Alex, Grace, Steph, Jenny, Bevelyn, and Daniel), we took pictures. Then we (Ron, Alex, Grace, Bev, Jenny) went to IHop! Yum!
After my race and all that good stuff, I napped for 2.5 hours, waking up to pain and soreness in my ankles, calves, thighs, lower back... Iced everything I could!
I woke up today, and it's even worse. The pain starts from my shoulders, going all the way down my back down to my legs. My abs also hurt. I was afraid of going up stairs for my classes... What I found out was that going down stairs is even more painful! When I got out of my bed today, I could barely walk... But thank god I stretched and I was able to move easier!
Will I do this again? Definitely. 3 months of training sucks, but running the real thing was awesome! I won't be running again in the next two weeks and when I do run, it'll only be 1 to 2 miles. It's time to do other things than running... Like racket ball, tennis, and swimming. It kind of sucks to think that my race has now ended and I won't be running any new race soon... In a way it feels like a waste of training so much only to lose all that running fitness again. Oh well, that's how life works. I'm going to try to stay fit though in a different respect, even if my incentive to run as often as I did is now gone. At least kickboxing class is still around to force me to go to the gym. :D
Here are my results: