Monday, March 30, 2015

The Love Run Half Marathon

My alarm buzzed at 4:55am. I was well rested, being in bed and asleep by 11pm on Saturday night. I brushed my teeth, washed my face, and geared myself up for the race ahead. CW-X compression pants with my Chelsea FC shorts overtop. Under Armour compression shirt with my Phoenixville PAL Boxing t-shirt overtop. Shock Doctor compression socks over my pants. Finished off by my Under Armour jacket, Brooks winter headband, and Brooks PureFlow kicks. It was a bone chilling 28 degrees with a wind chill in the teens. I brought a pre-race jacket and knit cap. 

I had a breakfast of sprouted grain toast and organic peanut butter, followed by brown sugar pop tarts in the Jeep on the drive down. I left the house at 5:50am and parked in a parking garage around 6:40am. I drove around 10 minutes to find a close spot. The street parking was only for 2-4 hours, so I chose a parking garage. I parked about 10-15 minutes walk away.

I made my way to the race and was happy I brought my jacket with me. They had a bag check, so I didn't have to carry it with me. Then the wait. I checked my bag at 7:20am. It was cold. My fingers got numb, then my toes. I took refuge in a tent from the wind. At 7:40 I made my way to the start line. It was separated by mileage pace. I entered as a 8:30-9 minute mile and took my place. I made a little small talk with a few people around me and started to feel the warmth of the sun. Soon enough it was 8am, and we were on our way.

The first 2 miles were a cluster of runners trying to find their pace. We started at the Philadelphia museum of Art and ran towards City Hall and Chinatown. I felt my pace was decent, not super slow, not super fast either. I started to feel my fingers and toes again. Honestly, the first three miles were a bit of a blur other than the scenery. Art museum, City Hall, Chinatown, independence Hal. Then we headed down the Schuylkill River Trail. Before I knew it I was at mile 5, right around 41 minutes. Then around mile 6, the hills came. The hills were nothing to write home about, but still it took it out of you. I refused to walk and ran my way through the elevation part of the run. It was a long, slow elevation. I swear, close to a half mile. I pushed through and saw the first runners starting to walk. And still I ran. 

I remained on pace of a 8:45 mile till mile 10. My legs felt they were running through concrete. They ached. I had two options in my head. Walk a bit or not be able to drive or walk back to the car. I stopped and walked around 10 and a 1/2 miles for about a minute and a half or so. I knew if I walked too long, I wasn't going to want to run again. Two and a 1/2 miles seemed like an eternity away. I started my slow jog again. My leg knee started to bug me and my legs were sooo tight and heavy. I promised myself I'd keep running till about 11 and 1/2 miles, and then I'd walk again. I really started to worry that my legs would be too shot to drive home. I also knew my pace was most likely would take me over 2 hours. I stopped and walked about two plus minutes and I could see the 12 mile marker down the trail. I bucked up and started to run again. I pushed through the 12th mile and got a bit of a boost with the crowds of people cheering everyone on. I finally saw the finish line and could not wait to cross. The time read 2 hours 3 minutes and 41 seconds. I was honestly happy with time. I think even if I didn't stop to walk that I still would have been over 2 hours and limping back to my car. I was just happy to finally be FINISHED.

I got my well deserved medal and grabbed some water. I was walking like a newborn fawn. My legs were spent. I kept walking so I wouldn't tighten up. I grabbed a food bag and demolished the soft pretzel inside. I finally stopped to stretch out. I was so off balance. After stretching I picked up my bag at the gear check and decided to start making my way back to the parking garage. My knee was still bothering me and my legs were like jelly. At least my shoulder felt fine. After I got to my car I stretched out for another 5 minutes. I hopped in the Jeep, destroyed a bottle of Propel and busted open my bag of Apple pop 'em rice cakes. I felt fine driving home, made it back by 11:30, and took a long, hot shower.  I ended up napping on the couch with Victor in my arms a few hours later. My legs didn't feel that awful. They hurt, but I could walk fine. Thank you compression pants! And probably good I did stop and walk a little bit. It would have sucked if I really pushed it and still came in like seconds over the 2 hour mark.

So I finished my first half marathon! And had a really good time in both senses!! I'm so happy I did it!! All my training did pay off. Maybe next year I beat that 2 hour mark.

I would have taken more pictures but my phone died out at mile 10. Imagine my delight of having dead legs in the middle of Philly, not sure if my legs would last for the drive home. I was too tired to really worry! 







2 comments:

  1. Hey, congrats, nice finish time! Despite your training setbacks and everything. Legs feel better? When's your next one? :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. My legs are okay. Having some tightness and soreness. I have a 15K trail run on 4/18. Hope I can do it!

    ReplyDelete