Mission Accomplished: My First Half Marathon
Monday, 2. February 2009
Today is one of those days that I’m very thankful to have a desk job. Walking around is not high on things I am currently looking forward to doing.
After much anxiety and curiosity as to how I’d fare in the Surf City Half Marathon, the results are in.
My overall time was 2:09:31 (sorry to those I lied to on Facebook when I claimed I finished at 2:08:00. That was according to my Nike Plus and it was slightly off). I finished 4,375th out of 10,743 runners; 1,946th out of 6,513 women runners and 344th out of 1,005 in my age group.
I truly had no idea what to expect. Some days I would go out for a run and feel like crap. Sometimes, you just don’t have it in you. All I was hoping for was to feel good as I started the race.
I can’t describe the feeling of being around so many people who are all trying to do something big for themselves. The support of everyone is overwhelming. There were “fans” lining every part of the streets throughout the race. There were signs and cheering and bells and bananas and whistles. There were people with prosthetic legs, people in wheelchairs, old people and young people. It was amazing.
The first six miles of the race seemed to fly by. The miles seemed to trickle off, one by one, and before I knew it, I was at mile 7 and feeling amazing. I saw so many things that would remind me of a friend or someone else, and that would lead to me drifting off in thought and killing like five minutes. Below are some of the things that kept me occupied. (I’m leaving a lot of thoughts about different people out so as to not completely bore you with what went through my mind for 2+ hours).
1. The very first song that came on my Ipod was OPP. For reasons I can’t really explain, that made me think of Whitney for the first five minutes of the race!
2. At some point I saw a spectator wearing a Dartmouth sweatshirt. That made me think of Rob and how far he has come in terms of fashion. Essentially, I trailed off to my college days of working at the Emerald and remembered how lazy, poor and unhealthy I was in college.
3. Early on, I saw a group of women all wearing the same pink and black tank tops. On the back it said: Mommies in Motion: Mom’s For Fitness. That made me think of Brittany, Lamb and AJ (I don’t know why, but I equated mommy runners to mommy bloggers) and how it would be so fun to run a race in Michigan (although, nofuckingway would it be in February) and how they could bring all their kids and they could make cute glitter signs for me. And then I thought how weird I am for actually considering these people friends, so much to the point that I would consider a trip to Michigan.
4. At one point, there was an older woman who was standing on a chair with these clackity clack noise maker things. Now, she wasn’t yelling, “KEEP MOVING” as my most favorite Oregon women’s basketball fan used to do, but it was close enough, which made me think of Chris Hansen. Which then made me think of Belle Hansen and how I don’t understand what happened to the last 7 years of my life. The fact that Belle is 7 makes me realize that Chris and I go WAY back.
5. I was quite pleased with my attire. Nothing was irritating me or rubbing in such a way that gave me discomfort or required me to stop for some vaseline. That made me think of Jane and how I was basically wearing mostly stuff I had been given by her for Christmas. Which made me think of Christmas and how I used the treadmill in the garage one day because I was so determined to stick with the training. That just made me realize how I happy I was that race day was here. All of the training was finally paying off.
6. I saw a few women wearing Carlsbad Marathon shirts from the half marathon that Erin and Natalie ran last weekend. That got me to spend about 10 minutes trying to think of a team name and corresponding shirt that Erin, Natalie and I could use for when we run the LaJolla half marathon in April. Suggestions please.
7. I thought of Angie Sit about 400 times. She made me this on my Facebook page:
First of all, do you know how hard it is to use Facebook graffiti? But, that’s Ang for you. Always so crafty. So supportive. Such a good friend. I was thinking of trying to find a half marathon to do with her. I mean, she does full marathons, but maybe she could humor me.
Everything felt great for the first 9-10 miles. After that, the miles seemed to take at least an hour. I had asked Laef to try and be around the 10 mile marker because I might need him. But, we decided against it because he’d then be 3 miles from the finish line and I’d rather see him then. I don’t know if it was fate or what, but just after I crossed the 10-mile marker, Jack Johnson’s “Better Together” came on the Ipod. That’s kind of our song and it definitely made me feel a little better.
From mile 11-12 I was starting to fade. I kept telling myself that I could run 2 miles in my sleep. And, although I was still running about a 9:50 pace, the 12th mile seemed to take at least 20 minutes. When I hit mile 12, I had to talk myself up a lot. I wanted to push myself to finish on a high note, but my legs were just not feeling it. And, then, with about .7 miles to go, I saw Laef. I got a burst of energy, smiled and waved and got very emotional. He took the following photo and later told me that I had bad form. It’s true. As you can see by my hunched over look, I had the form of having just run 12.5 miles and desperately wanting to get that last .5 over with.
And, I did it. I finished the last .5 without stopping or collapsing. It is one of my greatest accomplishments to date. I know it’s not a full marathon, but it’s fucking hard. More importantly, it’s the first hobby that I’ve ever started and finished. It’s the first time that I really wanted to quit something and didn’t.
Here are some of the after shots:
First thing I did was get my phone from Laef and text my peeps. I was excited!
Then I got a beer. Laef wasn’t allowed in the beer garden, so eventually I handed him my beer over the fence and we walked back to the finish line to meet my sister.
PDXprincess Says:
Awesome! Did Brooke run it too?
Allison Says:
Yep! She did! You’re next!
Whitney Says:
Although I will never again run a 1/2 marathon, this made me want to for about 30 seconds. Great job! Don’t trivialize the 13.1- full marathoners are fucking crazy anyway- 13.1 is more than enough to prove to yourself that you’re awesome, can do anything you put your mind to, and that you really do need that beer afterwards.
Jamie Says:
Congratulations! The energy you get from the crowd TOTALLY helps those first few miles feel like nothing… you can't really put that feeling into words…
I am doing a Half Marathon again in June ~ Seattle's
I hope the music can help propell me through miles 9-13! Ugh. The last mile SUCKS!
1st annual Rock&Roll.
Elisa Says:
wow, that so awesome!! I doubt I’m ever going to do that, but for a bit I felt like that’s all I wanted to do! very inspiring!
Smartass Milf Says:
Congrats!!! I am doing the 3 day walk in October and just started my training. Hopefully I can get through it just like you did. Way to go!
Lamb Says:
so first i was totally gonna write about the michigan race, but then i saw that last pic of laef. jesus, sorry, but id hit it. i dont care if that sounds bad. its the truth.
now that i got that out of the way, i would 98349823498% run a half with you in michigan. not even Fing joking. im pretty sure AJ would too. im not gonna wear some mommy badge tho. id rather put ‘gfy’ on my back and keep the other runners guessing.
Lamb Says:
1 more thing. i love headbands like its a job. so +5 cool pts to you for wearing one.
AJ Says:
You are awesome! Congrats! 2:09 is an great time. 9:50 miles after 11 previous miles is incredible!
And, if you come do come to Michigan, I will totally run a race with you. The Detroit Free Press 1/2 marathon goes to Canada and back I think. It’s supposed to be a cool run. Plus, they totally have a relay option, so if you only want to run 3-7 miles, putting together a 3-4 person team is always an option!
AJ Says:
Oh SNAP, Team GFY, I’m in.
Jamie Says:
I just realized that you ran the marathon with the infamous surfboard medal. Is it everything it is cracked up to be?
And I like lamb’s idea of GFY on your shirt. Maybe you can have some made.
Allison Says:
Lamb: I will let Laef know. Pretty sure that will make is year. Secondly, there’s a 50/50 chance I will be wearing some kind of headband on my wedding day.
AJ: Are you guys serious? there’s one in Ann Arbor May 31…Just sayin’. Whitney could come too.
Jamie: What is it supposed to be cracked up to be? I thought it was great. Perfect weather, good amenities throughout, etc.
Jason Bellamy Says:
Nice job, A-Ross. Half-marathons are great accomplishments. And they’re probably better for your body than a full. And it’s much more realistic to fit half training into your life than full training. So half-marathon running is a damn fine habit to have. I hope you get addicted.
Congrats!
AJ Says:
Um, I think Lamb’s due the end of April, her hoohoo will not be healed enough to run a 1/2 by the end of May. Yes, I just spoke for Lamb’s hoohoo. I figured, why not?
Whitney Says:
Perhaps you missed my previous post about not doing another half… j/k I might consider it but likely won’t be in A2 on 5/31.
Brooke Says:
I’m proud of us and especially proud of you! Was really glad we got to do your first one TOGETHER and can’t wait til you do your own version of the triple crown…I knew you would do great and it does become addicting!
Your eldest but slowest big sis…
Brittany Says:
I am so proud of you!
And Lamb, you are clearly becoming a 3rd trimester horn dog! I love it!
And yeah, get your ass to Ann Arbor, I’ll make the signs, and there better be another beer garden at the end!
Ben Hameen Says:
I’ve been waiting a few years to say this, because I didn’t really know how to broach the subject, but now that Lamb broke the ice, I’ll say it.
I’d totally hit Laef too. But I’d have to be the pitcher, not the catcher.
asit6 Says:
Let me first say that I’ve run A (one) marathon, so let’s not throw the S’s around too freely. Having done both, I’d say the half is the perfect distance. An actual doctor told me he thought that a full marathon is one of the worst things you can do to your body.
A half-marathon is a FANTASTIC accomplishment. It’s too long to just decide to do on a whim so you have put in your time to train. So really, just getting yourself to the start is more than half the battle. Finishing and feeling like ran as best that I could was bonus.
All that said, I’m so proud of you. With all the time you dedicated the last few months, I never doubted that you’d do well. I’m glad that I could provide some distraction for you along the way and hopefully most the 400 times I crossed your mind was positive.
We can run the Eugene Half on May 3. I start for-real training on Monday…
LiteralDan Says:
Congratulations, at a half marathon, you’ve already done much more than twice what I could ever manage, I am quite sure.
Anonymous Says:
So proud of you Allison. Fabulous job.
MEbby Says:
That was from me…my fingers don’t work today.
Anonymous Says:
Congrats! I’m thinking of running a half marathon for the first time. How long did you train for the race and did you train with a running group or on your own?