Yesterday I ran my very first half marathon and I FINISHED!! I finished, I finished, I finished! And, I can confidently say I had a great experience! That's all I wanted! :)
Here's the low down!
Friday night we went to the Rock 'n' Roll Chicago Half Marathon race expo and picked up our bibs. Both of us changed our corrals. I was in 29 (the very last one) and I moved up to 23. Jon was in 17 and moved up to 6. At the expo I decided I wanted to try and run the half marathon in 2:30 instead of just crossing the finish line. We got ID'd and received our beer bracelets for our after race victory drink. When we got home we picked up the mail and both got good luck cards from Laura & Aaron and my parents. How thoughtful of them!
Saturday we pretty much relaxed around home (by relaxed I mean I was a nervous nelly all day). We got our race gear around (in all of my nervousness, I forgot to take a picture) and packed our gear check bag. We headed to church at 5pm. When we got there an usher asked us if we would bring up the offertory and of course we said yes (I'm pretty sure if you say no that's bad news down the line). However, once we said yes I realized we both had our MGD 64 beer bracelets on! Slightly embarrassing, but God doesn't judge, right? After we brought the gifts up we turned to one another and said hopefully doing this would bring us good luck for the race on Sunday.
We went to dinner right after church as we were planning on having an early night. Of course we had pasta and drank lots of water! We were in bed by 10:15pm.
Sunday morning's alarm at 4:15am came quickly. We got ready and hopped in a cab to head down to Grant Park for the race. Of course we were there before gear check even opened (I'm sure that doesn't surprise those of you that know me). It was nice to be there early when it was still dark and quiet. I just let my thoughts settle in and tried to remember how lucky I was. We watched the sun rise over Lake Michigan and then headed to stretch out.
About 5:45am near Buckingham Fountain.
It was only in the mid 60s for the start of the race. It felt great- especially after training for the last 8 weeks in ridiculously humid temperatures. Jon and I said our "good lucks" and "goodbyes" and we went to our respective corrals. My nerves set back in when we separated- I was now on my own and had my own 13.1 miles to conquer.
My parents came into town early Sunday morning to cheer us on. They saw both of us at our corrals before the race started. I was really happy to see them before I took off!
And, we were off! I was crossed the start line at about 6:43am. The sun was shinning and I had nothing but 13.1 miles ahead of me. I saw my parents at the 2 mile mark and they made me smile. It started to cloud up around mile 3 (I stopped off here to use the porta potty) and rained on and off for the rest of the race. It started raining quite a bit as I was running through Greek Town and the West Loop. I kept thinking it's fine, it will just cool me off and to keep going. I kept smelling bacon from restaurants and chocolate (there is a chocolate factory in the city). It was torture! At mile 5 I took the
GU Energy gel (chocolate flavor) I had in my shorts. When we were running back east on Jackson Blvd the sun came out and was really bright in my eyes, but was welcomed motivation! My knees/IT bands really started to bother me around mile 6. I knew I still had over half of the race to complete and I just had to push through.
Prior to the race Jon and I had discussed two potential meeting points in case he had to stop running (he's training for the Chicago marathon in October and has been having MASSIVE calf and IT band issues for the last month). He has literally been spending hours at night stretching, icing, heating, and working his muscles. When he can't run he's been keeping his cardio up by biking. He wasn't feeling 100% recovered going into the half marathon, but he wanted to try and keep an 8:30 pace to qualify for a corral for the marathon. When I passed our first meeting point (just after the 6 mile mark) and didn't see him I was excited- I really wanted him to do well.
Somehow my parents and I missed each other at mile 7. The stretch from mile 7 to mile 9 was fairly boring. Not much to see in the South Loop. I knew there was a GU Energy gel station at 9 miles (the other meeting point Jon and I had discussed) and I just kept telling myself to get to that point- it helped to break the race up in smaller portions. I got there and grabbed a vanilla bean gel. As I was walking and sucking the gel down, I saw Jon over to the side. My heart dropped for a minute for him, but then I got really excited that I had my husband with me.
Jon said he was in rough shape, but wanted to try to running a bit with me. I told him I'd walk/run the rest of the race with him if he wanted. For the next mile (which had NOTHING to look at) Jon would run ahead and snap pictures of me running. It was the perfect distraction.
What a funny picture of the two of us!
At about mile 9.5 Jon said he might have to stop and take a cab back to the finish line. I didn't want him to leave me. At this point I wanted to finish the race with him, but I could tell he wasn't doing well. As he was contemplating pulling off at mile 10, we saw my sister and her family. What a welcomed sight! Kate sprinted (Jon and I said to each other we could have used her energy at that point) ahead to get some pictures of us. We were just smiling and laughing at how hard she was running. She got some great pictures!
Probably my favorite race picture of us!
Jon told me he was in a ridiculous amount of pain and was going to stop off and catch a ride to the finish line with the Hanson family. I understood, but felt bad for him. I kept saying I'd walk with him to the finish, but he just answered that he knew I worked so hard for this and to keep going and finish strong. It was tough leaving him, but I knew those last 3.1 miles I ran would be for him.
So, I was back on my own. At this point I entered post training schedule distances and just kept praying I could make it (I kept pretending I just started a 5k race and I would be done in no time). About mile 10.5 they had a sponge station and gave out wet sponges to cool yourself off with. It was another really good distraction (remember how I said I broke the race up into smaller increments? Well, these distractions really helped with that). We ran through a tunnel at McCormick Place and as distracting as it was, it was difficult. It was dark and hot. Like really hot. When we came out of the tunnel I saw Soldier Field and knew we were close to the end. When we came back out onto Lake Shore Drive we had a pretty tough hill to run up and it started raining again. Most people around me stopped and walked, but I kept telling myself to finish strong and I kept running. At this point I figured we had to be almost done, but I couldn't see the finish line yet. It was so frustrating.
As we came back into Grant Park I knew we were in the home stretch. At last I saw the finish line!! As I crossed mile 13 I really put it into gear for the last .1 mile. I realize that sounds like a short distance, but after running 13 miles it felt a lot longer than a 10th of a mile. I was so proud of myself for finishing so strong. I hustled, I mean like hauled ass for that last bit. I had a little tear when I finished, but I was also smiling so big! I was on cloud nine! I had successfully completed my first half marathon and the only time I walked was when I was eat a gel or drinking water!!
Yesterday was one of the biggest accomplishments of my life. It ranks up there with marrying Jon, getting my first job at Chrysler, and finishing my MBA.
I had a PR of 2:27:29 and I beat my goal of 2:30!!!!!
I ran this race for my grandma Spindler who passed away from leukemia when I was in middle school. When it got tough running I just kept thinking she battled cancer for years so I can certainly run a half marathon for her. I firmly believe she helped me cross that finish line!
A great big thank you to everyone (family, friends outside of blogging, blog friends, Jon) who supported me during my training and the race. Whether it be answering running questions, commenting on my blog posts, saying a prayer for me, or providing encouragement, I could NOT have done it without you guys! THANK YOU!
