Week 22, Completing a Half Marathon

Several months ago, I decided it would be a great accomplishment to complete a half-marathon. Why? I really haven't figured that out -- but I will say there is a great sense of accomplishment having now finished one -- the Fontana Days Half-Marathon on Saturday, June 4th.

The training was tedious. I've been waking up early and running on my own on weekdays since January and doing long runs with April every Saturday. Some of these training runs were great fun. We ran for miles by the orange groves and beautiful homes along Victoria Avenue in Riverside with Sarah and her friend, Jessica. A few times we ran with Heidi from her house through the hiking trails to Lake Perris and then across the top of the dam watching the birds, fishermen and water skiers as we did.

We were all looking forward to the run on one hand, but, I have to admit, I was pretty scared. There was a posted minimum pace to keep and I wasn't sure I was up to maintaining it for 13.1 miles. But, hey, if I didn't finish, its not like people would have called me on it. Nobody but me really cared how I did or if I even did it at all-- but for me, it meant a lot to get this thing done!

On Friday night, the whole family and some of Sarah's friends joined up for a Pasta Loading party at the Spaghetti Factory in Riverside.

On Saturday morning, we got up at 5 to be in Fontana to catch a bus which drove us up, up, up Lytle Creek Canyon for the cold start of the race. April and I stuck together and did our best to help each other mentally prepare for this great challenge. We enjoyed visiting with a lot of friends while we waited for the race to actually begin -- and we stayed to the back of the pack -- knowing we weren't going to be sprinting with the superstars -- not even at the beginning. It was here where I spotted the weaker-looking runners -- the elderly and obese. Knowing they were there in the field, gave me comfort in thinking that I should at least be able to stay in front of them.

It was there that April's friend, Holly Hull gave us the great-looking, pink, Run Like a Girl shirts to wear from her family business http://www.thresholdcycle.com/. It was sort of like we were sponsored -- even though it was just a free shirt, it was cute and it made all of us who wore them look really cool. I've always been a little bit envious of runners with matching shirts -- it gives the impression that they're regulars at this and really good at it. And, well, every group has to have one person who's the slowest -- for our Run Like a Girl group, that was my role.

From the cold start at 7:30, it was all downhill -- literally. My strategy was to take a walk break at each of the watering stations set up every two miles -- to hydrate well and walk for a minute or two while I made the most of the little paper cups of liquid. That strategy worked really well for me and the mile markers just seemed to keep flyin' by for the first 7 or 8 miles-- even though I lost April at mile 2 or 4 (I can't remember which) because I didn't want my middle-aged strategy to hold her up.

The last 5 or so, the mile markers were no longer flyin' by. I started doing a walk/run combo after mile 8 and then when I passed mile 10 I just put myself into a slow run trance, just staring at the pavement in front of me and just kind of zoning out. I guess you could call my state semi-deliriousness at that point.

Finally, as I got within a quarter mile or so of the finish line, I saw Heidi in the distance waving at me. She ran back up the street to meet me and run down with me for a few minutes. I have to admit, I started crying when I saw her coming toward me. I cried because I was happy that this self-imposed ordeal was almost done and that I had actually done this very hard thing; and I cried partly just because I love her so much and really appreciated her coming back for me. I guess the delirium had something to do with it too.

Heidi and me running into the finishing zone.

I'm seeing that finish line ahead and nothin' can stop me now.

Oh, this was the best part of the entire day.

I'll always remember the great feeling of running over those timing sensor carpets! My time was 2:33 -- not bad for a lady running her first half marathon at almost 52 years old!
It's over -- and here I am with my support team April, Heidi (me) and Sarah-- I love these daughters of mine. Thanks for dragging me along with you girls!