13.1 DONE!! Sunday April 11, 2010

My first half-marathon.  I was a walker for this event, no jogging in my regimen this time out.

I was pretty nervous, not because I didn't feel well-trained (Thanks to Team in Training!!), but because I had jimmied my low back on Thursday afternoon.  Then I had to work Friday and my back was spasming & really a mess after work.  But I went to my Chiropractor, Dr. Paloma, who worked a back miracle!!  I felt great starting the race!

We couldn't have asked for better weather! Cool but not cold, no coats needed.  Slight overcast, but could see blue sky peeking through and not windy.  Perfect!!

Race shirt & bib:

And back:

But really I figured we couldn't fail since our Fairy Godmother was out on the course with us! (aka Heidi, our Team in Training Captain)

There was lots of pre-race comaraderie - this is Theresa, Coach Sue, Tami, me & Nancy (L to R).

And there were lots of creative ways that people brought their honorees with them. (This is Theresa.)

I was very happy to have met my fundraising goals, and the thoughts of people's support helped me though the miles when the legs were tiring. 

Having a walking partner really helped too.  Tami and I are very compatible in our pace speeds, so we stayed together.  Strength in numbers!! 

We're all jazzed & you can tell I'm nervous!

Then only about a mile into the race my left knee starting giving me a sharp pain.  This was completely new, hadn't had any hint of knee problems with previous training!  But we reached the gradual uphill incline and my knee liked going up hill a lot!  One of the TNT race course helpers gave me a little packet of BioFreeze which I applied at my first "pit-stop" (4 mile mark).  Then we proceeded down the hill back toward downtown.  I very quickly decided I am a big fan of BioFreeze.  After it had a little time to work, I had NO pain at all!  And it held me through the whole course! 

We've heard people say that the halfway mark in a half-marathon is the 10-mile mark! It's because those last 3.1 miles are the hardest.  And they were right.  I could feel my pace slowing.  We walked about 15 - 15.10 minute miles for most of the first 5 miles then lagged down to 15.30-40 minute miles.  After that we pushed our pace to 15 minute miles for about 2-3 miles but couldn't keep it up.  From mile 9 through 13 we were really slow, creeping over 17 minute miles part of the time.  But we knew we would finish before 11 am, so that was good enough for our first effort.  

More importantly, when my legs were tiring and the "parts" were achey, we talked about the reasons why we were doing this effort.  So other daughters don't have to watch their moms die of cancer, as I experienced in high school.  So other parents don't have to watch their kids struggle with chemo or worse.  So doctors & nurse practitioners don't have to tell their patients that dreaded news.  So some day there is a cure.  We kept saying if little kids can get through chemo, we can handle a little bit of achey stuff!!  Some day that miracle will happen and we ... and all of you who have supported me in so many ways ... will have been a part of it.    GO TEAM!

Training - the last month!

The last month has been a whirl!
Training, adding a mile a week until I did 11.5 miles on March 26, our biggest training week.
As we added miles, I found it hard to do any additional activities - too tired & joints were sore.  That is UNTIL I hit 11.5 miles, which felt great!  Guess I had to get over that hump...and do LOTS of stretching.

Then we started our "taper" and today only(!) did an 8-mile training.

This was our 10.5 mile training day 2 weeks ago, me with Tami and we needed our hats to fend off the bright sunshine!

And hard to believe we're ready!  But we are, we've trained hard, including the wet, blustery day today.

We have been very thankful that we've had such a mild and beautiful winter in which to train. 

Today somewhat made up for it!  Note the sudden appearance of coats & hats and some shivering!

We had our send-off party/potluck Wednesday 3/31 and received our coach's instructions and "words of wisdom" as we go into our final week of training.  

The centerpiece is made of cookies.  Too pretty to eat!!  But there were lots of other options (I love potlucks!)  And we're required to eat plenty of carbs to fuel our training, don'tcha know! 

And, Kim, one of our Honored Teammates, a beautiful woman who is a survivor herself.   Each time we meet, we make note of the Reason why we're doing this.  Kim is one of our reasons!

The big day is a week from tomorrow!!  Hard to believe it's already here. 

We just have one more short group training before the race.  Next up: 13.1 miles!!