Half Marathon

It's over. I did it. And I must admit I'm pretty darn proud of myself and my whole family. Here's how the race stuff went.

Saturday night:
Went to Nick's niece's birthday party and then drove to Florissant to get my mom's car so Nick and Andrew could ride around the race with two car seats. Got home around 9:30. Packed my stuff and laid out my race day stuff so I wouldn't have to scramble in the morning. Packed Dommie's diaper bag so we wouldn't need to worry about that in the morning. Went to bed about 10:30-10:45.

Sunday morning:
Woke up continuously all night for fear of oversleeping. Finally got up at 4:45. I woke up with a horrible cold!! Couldn't breathe. My nose was running. I felt awful and was really nervous about how I was going to run! But still I got dressed, put in my contacts and brushed my teeth. I went to Schnucks to get a package of bagels so I could have one before the race. I got home, woke Nick up, woke Dommie up and started getting him ready to get on the road.

We left our house about 5:30 a.m. and traffic was horrendous. Seriously. There were so many people headed to the race that we were going to be late! Luckily, somehow, Nick knows his way around St. Charles and we took a different route and we got there in plenty of time, close to 6:45 a.m. We found my sister, who was also running in the race and her husband and daughter. Dominick was wide awake and ready to go! He couldn't stop laughing! Just giggling and trying to play with Cecilia the whole time! I was glad he was so happy because this was going to be a long day.

Around 7, Angela and I left our families and lined up according to our pace. They had this "corral" for everyone to line up in. They had pacers who were running at specific paces the whole time so you could try to keep up with them and know how fast you were going. I originally lined up in the 11 minute mile pace, but with all the confusion at the start I actually started closer to the 10 minute mile group.

The RACE:
All in all, it went well! I had my iPod to listen to my newly added 'Half Marathon' running mix and starting was fairly easy. I could tell that my training has been paying off, because the beginning was sooo easy to me. The first mile came so fast, I couldn't hardly believe it. I had to keep myself motivated so I kept breaking the race down, mile by mile. When I hit the first mile (which were designated by big signs on new Lexus vehicles - VERY easy to spot) I told myself, you are 1/13th of the way there. You can do that 12 more times. No problem.

I hit mile 3 and felt amazing. It was good to know that I can do a 5K pretty easily now. I hit the 6 mile mark and felt great. Now I know I can do a 10K ok. I also took some of my energy Gu at the 6 mile mark for a burst of energy. The 7 mile mark was when things got a little dicey. The 7th mile was running on highway 370 over the Missouri river. It is a pretty constant hill...a long one...a big one. It was tough. That's when I lost my pace. I saw the 11 minute mile guy come up behind me. I wanted to sprint ahead and keep under 11 minute miles. But I had no energy. Or no extra energy I should say.

We hit the 8 mile mark getting off the bridge and I felt better again. We were on a flatter surface and in a more populated area so there were fans yelling. That is always nice. It makes you do better and feel better. That didn't last long though. The next few miles were boring after that short burst of people. We ran along the river by a corn field and then through a park for a bit. NO fans here!! And it was sooo HOT! No shade and we've been running for awhile already so it was tough. I had to take more energy Gu around the 10 mile mark to keep me going.

And I was still talking to myself! Once we hit 10 miles, I was thinking, It's only a 5K now and I KNOW I can do a 5K. It's nothing. Then I hit 11 miles. Only 2 miles. 2 miles!! That's really nothing. Although I had a brain freeze for a second and when I was approaching 12 I forgot if it was 11 or 12 and if had only been 11 I might have cried. But it was 12! Only 1 more mile!! We were running through historic St. Charles now and the people were showing up again.

One cool thing was that our numbers had our names on them so people kept shouting for me and even though I probably didn't know them, it made me feel great!

When the people started cheering, I started speeding up. I was running a lot faster now. When I finally saw the finish line (probably about .3 miles away) I started running as fast as I could. I had a new rush of adrenaline! I was practically sprinting the rest of the way! Right before I crossed the finish line, I saw Nick and Dommie cheering me on! It was such a rush. And I did it.

After the race:
After I crossed the finish line, I grabbed a bottle of water. Then I was handed my medal. As I was putting my medal on, I heard over the loud speaker that the first full marathoner was about to finish. That person was fast! I knew that this would happen. I was actually afraid someone from the full marathon, would beat me, and one of my goals was to finish before a full marathoner, so woohoo! One goal met!

I went to the place where Nick and I said we would meet and found Angela and Andrew. I sat on the ground, took my shoes off and the soreness immediately set in. Nick and Dom found us in a few minutes time, and we just hung out for a minute. I couldn't move. I can't imagine doing a full marathon.

The results:
These are cut and pasted from the official website. I'll put in parentheses what everything means.
277 (The place I finished in my age group of 25-29 year old women)
MEGHAN
ST. LOUIS MO
516 (my racing number)
25 (age)
1407 (overall finish place)
2:26:00 (chip time or official time)
2:32:22 (clock time or unofficial time)
06:21 (time it took for me to get up to the start line from where I was in the "corral")
11:09/M (pace)

I was (and still am) extremely proud of myself. I'm just so glad I stuck with it. And did it. And finished.

I had four goals in mind when I started this race.
1) Just finish!! (that was my main goal)
2) Finish before a full marathoner finished
3) Run the whole thing (except for walking through water stations)
4) Finish in under 2 hours and 30 minutes

And I completed all four of my goals!

It was such a great experience. I do think I'd like to do it again sometime. But for right now I'm sticking to basketball and kickball. I'm going to wait at least one week, maybe two or three before I go for another long run!!