Train for a race. Check. 13.1 to be exact.
However, things didn't exactly get off to a smooth start for my first (and probably only) half marathon. The race was in a town about an hour outside of my hometown, and rather than drive up there at 330am, we decided to head up the night before and stay overnight in Spearfish. We get our things together, and in true Stephanie fashion I realize I forgot my race pants at John's families house. (and on our way to retrieve the forgotten pants, I realize I forgot my wallet at my parents house....I'm a Disaster with a capital D folks). I gather said pants and wallet, and while on our way up there my dad
(the half marathon pro) happens to read that we should pick up our race number/packet no later than 5pm Saturday night. The current time was 430pm Saturday night and it was an hour drive.... we weren't going to make it. We find out that no numbers will be given out on the morning of the race, so, we panic a touch. Lyndsey and I end up finding a phone number and contact on facebook of all places, and we are able to arrange to pick up our numbers. Crisis number 1 averted.
EEEK, here it is.
So after hunting down our race numbers we head to an Italian restaurant and pick up some carbs to go and head to the hotel room to put on sweats and relax. We go to bed early, and despite some air conditioning snafu where Lyndsey somehow turned down the AC to 59, I sleep pretty well. We wake up and head to what we think is the correct meeting place, at what we think is the correct time. Due to some awful grammar, we (and about 15 other women) are in the wrong place at the wrong time and the bus has already left. Yeesh. So, we scramble for directions and grab two other women who need a ride up the mountain. We make it in time, and crisis number 2 is avoided.
Thank goodness, things begin to improve from there. We arrive near the starting area, where we talk to the two other ladies that rode with us, (which did I say this race was ALL ladies....awesome awesome awesome! Not only was it less intimidating, the race shirt's were a woman's fitted t-shirt as opposed to small mans t-shirt that only family would see in the early mornings after crawling out of bed)who happened to be sisters as well. We make our way out and take a last trip to the port-o-potties all the while trying to stay warm. The start of the race temp was something, like 44 degrees. That is approximately 30 degrees colder than anything my legs had endured in years.
The race itself was... man, I don't even know how to describe it. Incredible doesn't do it justice. I was so tempted to take my phone out of my running belt and sacrifice some time on the clock, just to take pictures. It was just that picturesque. The scenery, my music, the comradery of running with all these other women who had, in the previous months put their body through rigorous training ...it all made for a surreal experience.
I didn't go in with a specific finishing time in mind, more just a couple generic goals. Number 1, Finish. Somehow get my body across that finish line. Number 2, complete the race without walking. That was it. And I did it. Both of them! It was, just as I expected, physically exhausting. Nothing has quite pushed my body to it's physical brink like giving birth and running this race. During both of those physical trials repeating mantra's helped me a ton ( for those interested...labor: " I can do anything for 90 seconds" since most contractions last no longer than 90 seconds. 1/2 Marathon: " I am stronger than this challenge and this challenge is making me stronger"). I also thought about my boys numerous times as I ran. In a way, I felt that I owed it to them to perform well. They were my training partners over the course of 3 months. They ran with me on all but one training run, including those long weekend runs. I wanted to make sure the hours they spend in the stroller were be worth it.
Although my boys were there day in and day out for my runs, there is no way I would have even run the race had Lyndsey not agreed to do it with me. Knowing that she was planning to run the race held me accountable during my training process and while we didn't run together, having her there running at the same time in the same race gave me an emotional comfort and peace during the race.
*beginning of the race
*in such good company!
Due to the ridiculous o'clock start time, my parents were going to stay home with my boys and take them to church instead of schlepping them up into the hills to see us race. However, My dad and Ambrose surprised Lyndsey and I by coming up and meeting us at the finish line. It was an amazing sight to see my dad, but seeing Ambrose standing with him brought tears to my eyes.
My parents worked with the boys on making a sign for Lyndsey and I :)
It was an amazing experience, and I literally haven't ran a mile since (but I'm not being a total slug, I've been trying a couple classes out at my gym....we'll see. I usually always go back to running).
