My First Half Marathon - With Photos!

After my first 10k last September, I was pumped up and eager to find another race to try. I signed up for the Eugene Half Marathon, which was seven months down the road on May 1st. I figured that should be enough time to train. I bought the Jeff Galloway book and was run/walking with the best of them, increasing my long runs by a mile every two weeks.

Then, I got cocky a couple months ago and ran the whole 13.1 on the treadmill, jumping up from my previous long run of 9 miles. It turns out that wasn't such a great idea after all, as I found myself unable to walk the next day. I figured it was no big deal, and in a week I'd be back to normal. Weeks later, I was still unable to run without considerable pain. After seeing an orthopedist (which was not very helpful) and much research on my own, I was certain that I was suffering from ITBS.

I hadn't ran in like a month, and I only had a few weeks to go before my half marathon. After reading that weak glutes could be to blame, I started doing leg lifts, and some other glute strengthening exercises. I also started running again, 4mi twice a week, and 6mi on the weekend. I modified my gait so that I wasn't flexing my knee as much, and landing with my foot more under my center of gravity and springing off more. My hamstrings really hated me for that. After every run, I would ice my legs, pop a couple Advil, and roll my IT bands with a foam roller.

All that leads up to this past weekend. I had long since given up on getting a decent time, and was in survival mode at this point. I just wanted to finish. The race started at 7:00 am and it was freezing! It was 32 degrees outside at the start. Luckily it warmed up a bit by the end. I planned on taking a one-minute walk break at the start of every mile. I soon realized that my Polar FT-60 and S1 Footpod were severely overestimating both my mileage and my pace (I've since calibrated it). If that wasn't enough, I found myself needing to use the porta-potty's not once, but three times during the race. My pace at the 10k split was 11:26 ... nowhere near the 10 minute mile pace I was hoping for. At the nine mile mark, I decided to just go for it. I gave up on the walking breaks and set out to pass as many people as possible before I came to the finish line.

When I hit the 12 mile marker, I just started running flat out. I gave it everything I had. As I came down home stretch, my iPhone randomly decided it would be a good time to play the theme song from Rocky ... "Gonna Fly Now". I'm not big on fate ... but this was pretty darn motivational. As I entered the track at Hayward Field, the crowd was cheering, the announcer was announcing stuff ... It all felt very surreal. Then again, that could have been enhanced by a lack of oxygen to the brain or something, as I ran with all my might to the finish line.

I managed to finish a mere 2:20:01 after leaving the starting line. My overall placement has been updated since I got my printout after the race. Last I checked, I had finished in 2,298th place! :drinker:

The funny thing was, the guy that won the full marathon did it in about 2-3 minutes longer than it took me to run the half marathon. But since he was in corral A at the start of the race, and I was in corral B, he actually left the starting line a couple minutes before I did. What that means, is that we essential crossed the finish line at the same time, a fact I was oblivious to until I saw the picture of the guy crossing the finish line on the website of the local newspaper, and then saw a blurry version of myself right behind him in the next lane. So uh ... It turns out all that cheering and announcing and whatnot was probably for that guy.

The entire event was a blast, though I'm still recovering from it. The knee / IT Band isn't bothering me at all, which is great. The quads are still sore, and I've been more tired than normal this week, but I'm sure I'll be back to the grindstone by next week. And that's a good thing because I'll admit, these last 6 weeks or so of self-rehab and struggling to figure out the limits of what I can do have led me to neglect my calorie intake somewhat and MFP in general. I'm sure my scale weight is higher than my ticker weight, but I'm hoping in a week or two that will normalize.

Three weeks ago I vowed that if I could just get through this ... I'd never have to run again. Today, I found myself online looking for upcoming races in my area! :laugh: