the Halfer

Yesterday I took a step toward completing a life goal; I ran a half-marathon (the Salt Lake City Half Marathon). My life goal is to run 1 full marathon at some point in my life. I'm thinking it would probably be a good idea to knock it out within the next few years rather than try and get in shape at 45. . . so anyway running a 1/2 marathon was a good start. (Yes I know, most readers will think "why does a fatty like you want to run a marathon?!!" I know, I was in the "Clydesdale Division").

I finished the race in 2 hrs 45 minutes. I feel I was actually pretty under-prepared for what I was getting into, and if the soreness I'm feeling today in my legs and feet are any indication I was extremely under-prepared, but I finished with a respectable time even though I ended up walking 2-3 miles of the 13.1. I heard somebody say before the race started that their goal is always to finish the half before the winner of the full marathon finishes and I thought to myself "the winner of the full marathon will be done before I'm halfway!" Well, I did better than I thought as the marathon winner passed me when I was at mile 11, only 2 miles to go. So using that as a barometer is probably a realistic goal for next time, beat the guy that runs double the distance! Actually watching the winner pass was pretty cool, he was pretty much gliding along at what would be faster than my full-sprint speed, so to think he could do that for 26 miles is super-impressive.

I say under-prepared because I didn't train as well as I wanted to. From what I've read you're supposed to run nearly every day building up. Due to my work schedule I could usually only fit in a couple days a week plus a run on Saturday mornings. Thanks to my sister Jackie for running with me every Saturday! I ran 8 miles two Saturdays in a row but about 10 days in advance of the race I tore my calf pretty bad playing basketball. I was planning on running at least 10 the Saturday before the race and ended up just resting trying to heal up in order to make an attempt at running. So the farthest I went prior to the race was 8 miles which I think is not enough to be able to gut out and actually run the extra 5 miles, which was the case for me. I ran the first 6 1/2-7 miles and then my legs and feet were killing me so I walked 1/2, ran 1/2 the rest of the way. I felt like I had the energy to run but I was in too much pain to run, and feeling it for sure today.

The race itself is actually a lot of fun, there are people along the streets almost the whole way cheering you on, and just the feeling of running with a huge crowd all trying to accomplish the goal was pretty cool. It is a fun atmosphere to come to the finish line and see the big crowd at the Gateway cheering you through. Sadly Cannon had to go "potty" at the perfect instant such that Rachel had to take him to the restroom and missed me cross the finish line. What a bummer, but such it is with sweet kiddies!

The funniest part of a marathon? Everybody there at 6 am lined up to use the porta-potties (called "Honey Buckets" I guess) to make sure they're cleared out of any impeding bowel movements prior to the big run. Pretty hilarious to be standing in line with a couple thousand people all waiting and using a couple hundred porta-potties. I talked to a couple people who said "I don't do porta-potties" but then I would see them along the raceway in line for a porta-potty along the route, now accepting the fact of life! Why they didn't just go before the race is beyond me, maybe they learned for next time.

I don't know if a full marathon is in the cards this year with all we got going on (baby, finishing the basement, etc.) but hopefully I can improve my conditioning for another race later this year (and lose a few lbs for sure!) and get to the life goal soon. It was a good beginning.