Capital City Half Marathon 2012

I had the bright idea to sign up for the Cap City Half Marathon in an effort to motivate myself to continue my training once the cold weather was gone.  However, I didn't anticipate that I would be sick for the entire month of April though.  So, after battling a nasty stomach virus and a sinus infection that lasted for weeks, I braved my second half marathon with a stuffy head and virtually no training.  Was it hard?  You bet it was but I found the strength to finish the race anyway.  

Part of my strength to race came from the fact that my best friend, Aaron, was running the race as well.  He lives a few hours away so we had planned on training together from afar by keeping each other accountable when it came to training workouts.  However, with me being sick, I did a lot more encouraging than I did running.  This was Aaron's first half marathon so I knew I wanted to start the race with him even in my sick state.

Aaron and I at the starting line.

The Cap City race is host to a 5K, quarter marathon, and half marathon.  Total there were 13,000 runners. The quarter and half marathon runners start in the same corrals and even run the first few miles together.  Aaron and I parted ways early on since he was running for time and I was running just to finish.  When I came upon the split for the two races, I was VERY tempted to take the route that said "quarter marathon".  At this point I had been coughing up flem every few minutes and thought that a 6.55 mile run sounded much better than 13.1  As tempted as I was to cut this race short, I continued on my path knowing that I still had 10 painful miles ahead of me.

The crowd before we started.

As the miles inched on, I was finally able to breathe.  The flem was gone, the snot wasn't constantly dripping out of my nose, and I felt pretty good.  The middle of the race seemed to zip by.  I remember enjoying the beauty of the course and wasn't focused on how many miles I had left to go since I wasn't miserable anymore.  Unfortunately, this nice run didn't last.

Remember how I said I hadn't really trained?  Well, that lack of training caught up with me at about Mile 9.  As we were heading back into the city, I noticed that my feet were starting to hurt.  "My feet out of all things?  They never hurt!"  Then I realized something.  I was running a half marathon in shoes that I have only ran up to 5 miles in at any given time.  Sure I've had them for several months, but with my lack of training, I'd never taken them out for a long run.  How could I have been so careless?  I guess it didn't really matter at that point.  There wasn't anything that I could do to fix it now and I still had several miles to go.  I sucked up the pain and continued on my way.  The way I see it, my feet were going to hurt whether I was running or walking so at least running would get me to the finish line faster.

Those last miles are a painful blur.  My feet hurt, some of the water stations didn't have water ready, and my thighs were starting to chafe.  I tried to focus on the positives.  I didn't really need water every mile, my iPod was still playing my run mix, and I had almost completed my second half marathon.  I pushed forward and climbed the last hill of the race knowing that after that I had a nice, straight half mile left to the finish.  Before I knew it, the finish line was in sight and I heard my fiancé, Scott, cheering me on.  I did it!  I had successfully completed my second half marathon.  

Aaron and I at the finish.  Congrats on finishing your first half!

After crossing the finish line, I quickly grabbed my finisher's medal and ice cold water before heading out to find Aaron in the crowd.  The funny thing is, I felt great immediately.  My legs weren't sore, my feet felt fine, and the chafing was minimal since I was walking.  The only thing I could think about was how hungry that I was.  Scott suggested we head to Rooster's for food and beer which was the best idea ever.  I ended up completely stuffing my face.

Amazing finisher's medals.  They are so heavy!

At the end of the day, it may not have been the most graceful race but I crossed the finish line.  I'm proud to have made it that far and have another medal to add to my growing collection.  I also learned a few running lessons along the way: 

1. don't run a half marathon in shoes that haven't been broken in; and 

2. don't run a half marathon in shorts that ride up if you value your inner thighs (spandex will be my new best friend).

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