I did it! I finished my first half marathon yesterday! My time was 2:03:05. I know that many of you on here are still working towards achieving that goal. You can do it and it will be 100% worth it on race day! Here is my summary of the experience:

My overall consensus on the experience was that it was hard, but not as hard as I feared it could be! It didn’t feel any harder than some of my long training runs! That feels great and helps maintain my confidence that I can continue to increase my mileage!

I don’t think I would change anything that I did food/fuel/hydration wise to prepare. Everything I did seemed to work great. I increased my calorie intake by 300/day for the 2 days before the race. I also ate 70-80% of my cals from carbs on those days. I tried not to have too much fat or real unhealthy foods. The morning of the race, I ate oatmeal with a banana, almond slices and just a bit of maple syrup to sweeten it. I also had 2 cups of coffee I know that is risky, but my stomach is so accustomed to it that when I did my training runs I knew I’d be better with it! I ate half a pack of fruit snacks about 20 mins. before start. Those weren’t planned, but they were in my packet and I felt like I could use a slight bit of sugar. I took my fuel belt loaded w/ half water and half Gatorade (G2). I had 2 gels: a GU and a Powerbar w/ caffeine gel. I did the first around mile 6 and the second around mile 10. They definitely helped! The one w/ added caffeine definitely helped too at that point in the race (mile 10). I got only water, never Gaterade, from the stations. I only took water at about half of them, since I had my belt. My stomach did amazing – no issues! I didn’t even have to pee during the race (I swear I have no bladder, so that was an accomplishment!). I will stick to that basic formula for any future half races.

I was afraid that I started the race off too fast. I let myself fall behind a lot of people during the first couple of miles. It was scary, but I knew I had to monitor my pace. Since it was small, I don’t think there were many first-timers. Most people decide they want to do something like this for the first time because of a big event that they aim to finish. I don’t think they are like me and go searching for a small one the month after a big city marathon/half! Haha. I kept telling myself that I am NOT a pro and I have NOT been running for a long time, so I have to be smart! It was hard to slow down though because I was so excited! The first few miles went by really quickly. The first checkpoint was a little past the 5 K mark (they also had a 5 K going on, that started a little later). I felt great at that point!

Miles 6-7 were the most difficult. I felt good, but was starting to feel a little weak. I felt like I still had a lot of miles to go. I thought about walking a little. During my training runs I walked briefly to help get through. I did not want to walk though – I wanted to keep going! I actually made it the whole time without walking a single step, so I was happy for that! Then mile 8 hit. I think the first GU really kicked in and the 2nd checkpoint was around mile 8. I felt a lot better after that checkpoint. I knew that I was well over halfway finished! For awhile I kept telling myself that if I just did 8, then 5 shouldn’t be hard! I started to mentally think of it like a brand new run. If I was going outside for a 5 mile run, that would not be scary at all! That would be easy! My legs were really starting to hurt after that, around mile 10. It was all pavement, which was rougher than the surface on the trail where I usually run. The faster than normal pace during the race probably contributed. I just focused on the finish. I was so close! The faster I ran, the faster I would be done running! I kept reminding myself of that and my latest mantra “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done!” If I stopped when I was tired, I would never have gotten this far with my running! I told myself that I was going to be fine and my legs would keep going if I made them!

It felt amazing to cross the finish line! My husband took a short video on his phone and you see my arms go up in a quick cheer motion when I saw the time on the clock right before crossing! Hahaha. I was pleasantly surprised! They were cutting the timing chips off our shoes right after the finish. That was not a good time to make someone try to stand still! I kind of melted to the ground and sat because I couldn’t keep my balance while standing still. Lol! Then I got up and walked around the parking lot in circles for about 15 minutes until I was ready to be still. I enjoyed a little food and water and went on to celebrate and RELAX!!!

Every training run, every article you read, every encouraging quote and mantra, every nutritious calculation is worth it when you meet a big goal - whatever your goal may be!

P.S. My next two big goals are to finish a full marathon and to run a half in less than 2 hours! I'm not sure which I will meet first or how long it will take, but they will keep me going!