Tuesday, June 5, 2012

half marathon rehash

so i was asked if i could share what happened with my half marathon and how it was. well let me start by saying that previously the longest distance that i had run was the ten k that i did just after my birthday in may. that was a sunday. then the following tuesday i decided to see if i could actually runn a half marathon under the three hour limit.  so tuesday evening i set out and was able to complete it in two hours fourty six minutes and some odd seconds.my body had serious rebellion after that run. my stomach cramped, i had to run to the bathroom to throw up numerous times, and i was so dizzy i felt like i was drunk even though i had brought water with me to stay hydrated. it took about two hours before i started to feel normal again. and that folks was the last time i ran before the real race. i took about a week and a half off to let my body recover. race day i wasnt really nervous. i had bought two packets of gu and a water backpack that held two liters. i didnt end up taking the backpack because it was heavy and i didnt want to slow myself down. i did not end up using the gu either. a bunch of racers told me it upset their stomach and i didnt want to experiment with something new during the race. the race was really well organized. lots of water and gatorade stops as well as a lot of porta potties. the scenery was gorgeous and i was running the race with my friend ambreen. it was her first time running a half too and in her training, her schedule she used never took her above a ten mile run. we both had the understanding that if one was holding the other back that they didnt have to wait and could just go ahead. well we were doing great. before we knew it we were on mile ten. we had taken a couple potty breaks, well i did anyways, because wouldnt you know that aunt flow decided to visit a couple days before the race. a full two weeks early i might add. the last three miles were very very long. at one point i stopped running to walk because my right hip and knee were aching and a cop pulled up along side of me to ask me if i was ok. i said yes to which he replied that i had better get moving then. nice huh? while running i also used the cardiotrainer app on my phone to keep pace. that was an excellent idea and funny enough, our total run was about fifteen miles, not thirteen.of course the total length depends on where you run on the course because the distance is taken from the shortest part of a curve.

2 comments:

  1. Not sure what happened but let me finish my story here. Well the last mile was agonizing. You had to finish the course by going uphill. In fact the whole course was pretty hilly. It was funny because at one point I made the comment about where is this hill gonna top off and go down? They never really seemed to. Lol. I did finish by running and I was very grateful to get a finishers medal. A well earned one too. I did not throw up. My stomach did rebel a bit and cramp up but after I used the portal Potty I felt much better. I also did not get dizzy this time. However the rest of the day I limped all around because my hip and knee hurt so badly. My official time was 2:40:15. After I finished the race, I swore off of half marathons. Now two days later and not as sore, I am planning on running it again but this time better prepared. You can compare half marathons to child birth. After you run it and are in so much pain you swear you aren't gonna do it again. After a while the pain fades and you plan the next one. This though was the longest race that I will ever do. I don't see a marathon in my future. I will sport a 13.1 sticker on my car with pride! Next race is the 5k color run in July. I cannot wait for that one! 3 miles? Piece of cake!

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  2. Sounds like you were really dehydrated on that training run. That's the horrible part of training and running in the summer! I start training in July for my half. I haven't run longer than 5 or 6 miles in a couple of months, so this should be interesting.

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