I came. I ran. I conquered? Not quite!
I mentioned on Friday that I’ve been fighting some kind of bug all week. Downing Airborne and DayQuil helped a lot. I felt fine when I woke up. No sneezing, no coughing, no headache or mystery fever. Check! The weather was perfect for running. It was about 45 degrees. Check! After a few pre-race pitstops (couldn’t find my Body Glide so I had to stop at WalMart for an alternative, left my IPod shuffle at work so I had to get that), I made it to the race on time. Check!
I walked the .8 miles to the race start and was greeted by DiscoDiva and friend. I waved and quickly headed to the potty line. I always get nervous before a race, no matter the distance, so I always have to go. I entered the line at 7:25AM and waited and waited and waited. I finally made it to the start line with 20 seconds to spare before the horn went off.
I was very nervous about crowding with about 2000 runners, but I found my spot and settled in quickly even in the first mile. I was scared that it would crowd up even more when we arrived at the trail head but again everything was fine. I felt great during the first few miles, I had a nice uncrowded pocket of space to run in and I was on pace for a great finish.
I never really get warmed up during long runs until about 4 miles have passed. At that point, the exhaustion and heavy breathing slows down and I hit that groove where everything is perfect. That feeling never came as Mile 4 and Mile 5 passed. At Mile 6, I felt like I was struggling even though I was still on pace. I had planned to take my Clif Shot Bloks at that time and I hoped the energy would help me. I found myself mentally needing to reach the halfway turnaround point (this was an out and back course) so that I could know that I was almost finished.
The Bloks didn’t help me. At Mile 7 I found myself wishing this race was over. I started to walk just a little during the miles. I just felt tired and had no energy reserves. My body wasn’t hurting and my legs felt fine, I just felt like I was working with 75% of my usual power. I guess I didn’t beat that bug after all! I felt a little cold which isn’t normal for me after running this long. My mental game was not on. I wasn’t that far off pace for a 2:02 finish, but I couldn’t muster up the energy to keep pushing.
My split times tell the story. I’m usually a negative splitter (meaning that I run the last miles of a race faster than the start). My target pace was 9:21 min/miles which I should have been able to hold. On Saturday, I ran:
Mile 1 – 9:43 (first mile, crowding)
Mile 2 – 9:25
Mile 3 – 9:14
Mile 4 – 9:13
Mile 5 – 9:22
Mile 6 – 9:54
Mile 7 – 9:53
Mile 8 – 9:52
Mile 9 – 10:20
Mile 10 – 10:16
Mile 11 – 11:01
Mile 12 – 10:35
Mile 13 – 9:55
I started walking more and more and nothing could seem to make me want to go faster. I tried to give it a little more oomph at the last mile because I just wanted to be done with the whole thing.
I felt terrible when I crossed the finish line. I haven’t felt so awful after a workout since the one time I forgot to eat before doing a personal training session. I just wanted to sit down and put my head between my legs. I wished The Mister was there but it was too cold for Lewis to come with him still getting over pneumonia. I waited 20 minutes in a long line to get some nutrition to help me feel better only to find out there was no water or Powerade. SMH. I stumbled to the bus which thankfully dropped me off near where I parked. I was in no condition to walk another mile back.
My watch finish time was 2:06:23 or 9:38 min/mile and my official chip time was 2:05:39 (how is this possible?). That is right on target for what I thought I could do when I first started training. However, I’ve gotten better at running since August and I know I could have done better. I finished, but I didn’t finish victoriously and that kind of sucks. I guess considering I wasn’t really well that I did a great job. I just wish my body had co-operated because this could have been a great race for me. The weather and the course was perfect.
Oh well, I do have the Thanksgiving Day Half to make it up to myself! Plus, I earned the right to put that 13.1 sticker back on my car. 
Congratulations! I think you had a great run. We are so hard on ourselves! I’m guilty of it, so I won’t fuss at you for being too hard on you, LOL.
I tried to post gospel suggestions multiple times but my comment refused to post. I’m glad you got some good suggestions.
I know! I know! I don’t know how to NOT be hard on myself sometimes. SMH.
Don’t make me come to ATL and beat you up.. YOU DID FANTASTIC especially while you aren’t 100%!!! even though I know we are always harder on ourselves than we should be.. I’m still gone fight you!!! LOL
you conquered that 13.1 and ran a fabulous time while sick!!! GET IT IN!!! oooh thanksgiving day??? girl you are making sure you can eat all the sweet potatoe pie!! LOL
Great job!
LOL! I burned 1800 calories on this run somehow according to my Polar watch. I’m eating whatever I want on Thanksgiving.
Hey! Sorry you weren’t feeling well, but you did great nonetheless! You ran and finished strong. It’s not like the wheels completely fell off! You pushed through and made it. Fantastic job!!
I actually saw you during the race. You had made the turn and were on the last half, and I was still on my way to the turn.
) My goal was less than 3 hours, and I finished with seconds to spare. My energy was pretty much gone at mile 11. There was water when I finished, but I had to walk too far to get it. I think somebody had gone to Kroger and bought water. I feel pretty good about my performance. It could’ve been better, if my training was better, lol. I might do this half marathon next year.
Best wishes with the Thanksgiving half!!
I shouldn’t complain because this wasn’t a bad race like my full marathon where I was really really off of my goal time. I’m just disappointed that I got sick when I should have been able to really do well. What can you do though?
You should have yelled at me or something! I needed some good energy at that point. I was so done by Mile 10.
How does a race run out of water?!? I have never ever ever seen that happen before. The people on active.com (self included) are crucifying the organizers.
You ran sick and still whupped that course…way to be! don’t be so hard on yourself.
You rocked it! Congratulations!
You rocked it too lady! You didn’t train and you wanted to bail but you completed the course and you were not last. I told you!
I didn’t want to break your stride by distracting you, or mine for that matter, lol. I did well (for my level) in the first half. I did begin to wish that they would have indicated that how far it was to the turn as we were approaching it.
I read those reviews on active. I keep checking to see my official finish time and pics. I’m beginning to wonder if there is a problem with recording the times. The ending was really a fail, but I’ll probably give them one more try next year. I will run with a full water bottle though, which I hate to do b/c of the weight. Oh well. I was just glad i didn’t have to walk to my car (parked at Floyd Middle). I seriously would have bummed a ride w/ a stranger rather than walk.
@ Disco Diva – you didn’t train at all?! You must be a natural athlete!
I so needed to know where the turnaround was! I needed to know mentally at that point that I could finish.
Results are up now on active.com! And a volunteer explained what happened with some of the supplies. I had water with me in my CamelBak but I really wanted PowerAde. I was hoping the electrolytes in that would make me feel better. It was kind of scarce on the course and I’ve never run a race before that didn’t have that at the finish.
I parked at the school too and I was nearly in tears thinking about walking all the way back in the cold. I totally would have ridden back with another runner as lightheaded as I felt. I was so thankful for that shuttle that stopped at the school.
wow, what an excellent, excellent time! And you did it SICK?!?! girl, you are BAD, lol! Congrats on the race!
I didn’t realize I was sick until I was in the thick of things or I may have re-considered. I guess it had been a long time since I’d exercised for that long of a time period so the energy level wasn’t there. A cold bug isn’t always a showstopper for me.
I just saw the finish times! The first guy to finish was smooooooking! When I saw him coming back, I wondered if he’d really made the turn, lol. But as for me
, I finished 1608 out of 1690 total participants and 222 out of 231 for my age group. Congratulations to everyone, lol!! I’ll do better next time.
@Deljah..If you saw me you would CLEARLY know I am not a natural athlete.
Its really a shame when the goal is to be Not Last…o well…it gives me A LOT of room to improve!
Congratulations!! You did the dang thang! Just think what you can do when you are 100%.
Hope you and your lil man are feeling better today.
Thanks! He’s feeling much better…I’m still kinda blah.