My First Half Marathon....Bridgeton, Park County, Half Marathon....

In a word...my first half was "Amazing".....I think I did really well, finishing the run in 2 hours and 22 minutes....actually, I thought that time was for 13.1, but according to a couple of guys that ran the race, that had worn Garmins, the course was mis-measured and actually was 13.4 miles.

The night before the race, we spent the night with hubby's parents...I made a huge pan of lasagna, garlic bread and a salad for dinner, and carbed it up....we then left for a drive that evening, driving around Parke County, looking at all the tornadoes that bounced around the area last Wednesday night....no one was injured, no homes were majorly damaged, but there were at least 12-14 mini tornados that skirted around taking lots of trees and power lines down. We also went to Bridgeton, driving the race route, planting a few water bottles on the way, as I was unsure how I would handle it if hubby couldn't drive ahead of me with water, where the aid stations were, etc...come to find out, I didn't really need them....the race had water at about every 2.5 miles, along with gatorade....I ended up carrying a water bottle in my hand, the entire race.....it was so hot out!

Anyway, the night before, after driving the route, the hubby, in-laws, Max and I went for an ice cream cone, then home to shower, relax and watch a movie. I was so nervous and apprehensive about the race the next morning, I laid awake, with insomnia, the entire night...so, that in turn, made me even more nervous...when my alarm went off at 6 a.m....I felt as if I was going to throw up...I got in the shower, the whole time mumbling, "I can't do this...I haven't slept, Omg, Omg....how am I going to run 13.1 miles on absolutely no sleep"....I made coffee, had a cup, along with a bagel thin, with peanut butter, and a banana and along with hubby, the mother-in-law, and my youngest son, Max...headed to the race....my mother-in-law had picked up my race bib and t-shirt the day before, so all I had to do was check in.

At 8:30 a.m., it was already 80 degrees out and we knew the temp was going to continue to rise...I honestly felt sick to my stomach. So, I had to go to the bathroom...figured I better, before the start as I have never been one to "go in the bushes"...lol. The line to the port a potty was 15 deep, 15 minutes before the race, so then the nerves kicked in even more, wondering if I was going to miss the start and be stuck in the port a potty...lol.
But, I didn't....got done and to the start line on time...

Here I am before the race:

You can see some of the storm damage behind me, to the bridge, the tree and the mill's roof....it was pretty bad, and along the course, the dirt road part, we did run into a litle storm debris, but nothing too bad, just tree limbs, etc.


At this point, before the race, I was deliberating the porta potty issue and swallowing back the nausea from my breakfast...yuck! I have in my hand my Gatorade pre-game fuel and 2 packets of Gu Gel, that I ended up safety pinning to my running skirt...I ended up taking one at Mile 5 and the other at Mile 10...I swear by these things...after taking one, I can actually feel it working in my muscles...they are awesome for long runs...I wasn't the only one...one dude was carrying his in his hand...I mentioned the safety pin thing to him before the start...but guess he was too much of a "dude" to want to do that, he said he would just carry his...so, I was like Whatever man, whatever...

The race started exactly at 9 a.m....no timing chips were used, so we just went by the clock....there was a total of 86 people running this half marathon, a small crowd to say the least, but I thought it was perfect....the age group varied...I would say the youngest was around 18 and up to a gentleman and a couple ladies in their mid to late sixties...so age wise, it was pretty diverse.

The first few miles went pretty good, there were a couple large hills at Mile one and Mile two, which most people stopped to walk up, so that slowed me down some, but by mile 3.5, I had found my groove and was doing pretty good, reaching mile 6 in 57 minutes.


Hubby and family went ahead of me every mile, has the roads were still open to traffic...there was no traffic control whatsoever, so we all kind of looked out for one another, yelling car every so often, for those few runners that were running on both sides of the road, down the middle of the road, etc....some of them to me, just were not paying attention....or just didn't care....I pretty much stayed to the left, facing traffic, as you are supposed to do, the entire way....one guy I stayed pretty much neck and neck with laughed, at Mile 5, when I seen the family again, and I told him I take my racing seriously and bring my own pitt crew...he busted out laughing...was pretty funny.....lol.

By Mile 8, there was another huge hill, I believe it was the largest one yet, and with the temperature being 88 degrees at this point, with 83% humidity....I was starting to slow down a little, stopped to walk a couple of times, as I started to feel a little dizzy....I was drinking plenty of water and a half cup of gatorade at every aid station, so I knew I was hydrating properly, it was just the freaking heat and possibly, my lack of sleep from the night before....By Mile 10, I took my second Gu Gel and once it kicked in, I picked up my pace.....I was determined to get through those last few miles without walking....By Mile 12, I seen the family one last time, told them to head to the finish...I would see them there in around 12 minutes.....(I hoped)....By the time I rounded the corner and seen the finish line ahead, I almost started crying...I was so tired, I just wanted to lie down on the side of the road, I said a quick prayer, reminded myself it was now "mind-over-matter" and pushed myself to run faster than I had ever run before....200 yds to the finish, I seen all three of my boys standing near the finish, watching for me and I ran as fast as my legs would go to them, high fiving them has they hollered and whooped, "Way to go Mom", "We love you"....carrying all the way to the finish line!
(sorry for the thumb over the top of the picture, hubby doesn't take pictures very well)...
I threw my arms up in the air, with pure joy, my eyes were all teary eyed, as I honestly could not believe, I had just ran and completed my first half-marathon.....
My finish time was 2 hours 22 minutes, placing 34 out of 86 people. Was probably less than that, since after the race I found out I had ran an extra .3 miles that I didn't realize...so lets say, that took and extra 3 minutes, my time was probably around 2 hours 19 minutes....after getting my medal, (which I forgot to take a picture of-I will try and do that later today and update this post with it) which I wished had included at least the date of the race on it, and getting another water....I found myself hugging everyone, getting my offical time, then heading to the "snack" table for a banana or something...but, to my surprise, actually dismay, they had hardly anything there for the finishers to replenish themselves...I was disappointed to find, that after paying $65 to run this race, there wasn't even a freaking banana to eat...just some stale bagels, a half eaten bag of M & M's that everyones hands had been in and some freaking twizzlers....thankfully, the Mother in law had packed a peanut butter sandwich, so I ate half of that, and rode back to the in-laws with my two older boys. Hubby went ahead with Max and his Mom, as he was anxious to get back to the house to watch the beginning of the Indy 500 race.

Once back at the house, I ate a banana, took a shower and pretty much did nothing for the next four hours....but visit with my family,refuel and rehydrate, watched the crazy end of the Indy 500 race, then hubby and I headed home, back to Lafayette....I went to take a nap about 5 30 pm, and slept until 8 a.m. Monday morning...I have never been so tired in all of my life....I was kind of sore Monday, but today, I am almost as good as new.....I am going to the gym tonight, but don't think I will run just yet. Just do the eliptical, some weights for upper body, then maybe start running a few short miles tomorrow.

All in all, I had a blast...and I am already looking forward to running another...Maybe the Indy Half Marathon in October.