I finished 13.1 miles!
The mini marathon is over, and I'm still alive. 
I went to bed late the night before ( screaming child), and woke up just about every hour the entire night. I was so anxious to get out there and just get it over with. I woke up around 6ish, ate an orange, got dressed, and headed out with Amanda and my Dad. He dropped us off close to the start line, and I had a terrible stomach ache, and headed straight to the porto- potties ( sorry if it's TMI). 
The lines were SOOOO long, we stood there for at least 15 minutes, and left because it was 7:15, and we wanted to head to the starting line.I was SO nervous to start the race all by myself, but was mentally ready for it! I didn't let any of the " what am I doing?!?!" or " I CAN'T DO THIS!" thoughts into my head at all, and knew I had to finish!
The only bad thought I had was "OMG, when will I be able to stop and use the bathroom?!?!"
I went to bed late the night before ( screaming child), and woke up just about every hour the entire night. I was so anxious to get out there and just get it over with. I woke up around 6ish, ate an orange, got dressed, and headed out with Amanda and my Dad. He dropped us off close to the start line, and I had a terrible stomach ache, and headed straight to the porto- potties ( sorry if it's TMI). 
The lines were SOOOO long, we stood there for at least 15 minutes, and left because it was 7:15, and we wanted to head to the starting line.I was SO nervous to start the race all by myself, but was mentally ready for it! I didn't let any of the " what am I doing?!?!" or " I CAN'T DO THIS!" thoughts into my head at all, and knew I had to finish!
The only bad thought I had was "OMG, when will I be able to stop and use the bathroom?!?!" The first mile was spent dodging walkers. How they got into corral B & C, I have no clue! My pace was right at 10 minutes the first 2-3 miles. I hadn't trained on ANY hills, so mile 2-4 being in the park with hills slowed me down a little bit. I love the FCA posters with bible verses on all of them up until their power aid station! They made me smile. I also loved that most of the water stops had mini water bottles, so I carried them almost until the next stop, and drank all along the way. Once we got out of the park, the drizzle had turned into a little harder rain. I saw some potties right outside the park, debated stopping, THEN saw like 15 people in line. I didn't wanna add THAT much time on, so I kept going. I saw some people along Southern Parkway that we knew, and said a little "hi" as I ran past. Then around mile 6, the sun came out, and the drizzle stopped! I was already 8 minutes behind my pace at that point, but wanted to try to get my pace back up, and only finish 8 minutes later than I wanted.I kept looking for another potty, and the only other one had a massive line too. I had NO clue how I was going to finish like this haha. FINALLY 
once in the infield at Churchill Downs, the bathrooms were open!!!! It added a few minutes onto my time, but I had to stop =(. Once I got out of Churchill Downs, I kept waiting to see my baby boy and parents.....but I never found them where they said they'd be. Turns out they had a flat tire ( my dad ran over something when he dropped us off). Once I got to 8 miles, I knew that's that farthest I had run, and that was my 'goal'. I did NOT want to walk as much as I did, but I did the best I could. The last 2 miles were MISERABLE! I thought FOR SURE I had missed the 12 mile marker, and there was NO way that mile was THAT Long. haha AND THE HILL at the end was killer! Some guy was like " WWWHHHYYYY DDDIIIIDD THEY PUT A HILL RRIIIGGGHHHTT HHERRREEE???", and it gave us all a good laugh at the end. There were so many turns, and when I thought we were almost done, we went up another block and turned again.The worst part was--seeing a ton of people already walking back to their cars with their medals! FINALLY, I saw a mile 26 marker for the full, and knew .2 left, and I need to kick it up to finish. Well, I turned the corner, saw the finish, and took off. THEN I got like 20 steps away from the finish and thought I would die. haha 
Seriously, I finished 20 minutes later than I wanted to , and am embarrassed of my time, compared to others that I know who ran it. THEN I think, I've always hated running, and I have ALWAYS been slow! With taking a few minutes off for my bathroom break, and calf stretching a few during the last 4 miles, I finished right around 2 1/2 hours. At least that's a starting point! And the next time I run one, I will have a time to beat. I'll try to get at least 1 or 2 more weeks of training in, so my body doesn't die at mile 10. I will also run with someone hopefully. I think it would make a world of difference running with someone, and also having people cheer along the way for me. MAYBE I can get Luke to do one with me! ! !Let me know if there's any good half-marathons coming up! In the meantime, I'm hoping to be running some 5ks with some friends. The best part of the day was after I was over the stomach sickness, and Amanda was done throwing up ( I think we ate bad food!) I ordered some Papa John's thin crust!!!! YUUMMY! After burning like 1500 calroies, who cares what you eat!
once in the infield at Churchill Downs, the bathrooms were open!!!! It added a few minutes onto my time, but I had to stop =(. Once I got out of Churchill Downs, I kept waiting to see my baby boy and parents.....but I never found them where they said they'd be. Turns out they had a flat tire ( my dad ran over something when he dropped us off). Once I got to 8 miles, I knew that's that farthest I had run, and that was my 'goal'. I did NOT want to walk as much as I did, but I did the best I could. The last 2 miles were MISERABLE! I thought FOR SURE I had missed the 12 mile marker, and there was NO way that mile was THAT Long. haha AND THE HILL at the end was killer! Some guy was like " WWWHHHYYYY DDDIIIIDD THEY PUT A HILL RRIIIGGGHHHTT HHERRREEE???", and it gave us all a good laugh at the end. There were so many turns, and when I thought we were almost done, we went up another block and turned again.The worst part was--seeing a ton of people already walking back to their cars with their medals! FINALLY, I saw a mile 26 marker for the full, and knew .2 left, and I need to kick it up to finish. Well, I turned the corner, saw the finish, and took off. THEN I got like 20 steps away from the finish and thought I would die. haha 
Seriously, I finished 20 minutes later than I wanted to , and am embarrassed of my time, compared to others that I know who ran it. THEN I think, I've always hated running, and I have ALWAYS been slow! With taking a few minutes off for my bathroom break, and calf stretching a few during the last 4 miles, I finished right around 2 1/2 hours. At least that's a starting point! And the next time I run one, I will have a time to beat. I'll try to get at least 1 or 2 more weeks of training in, so my body doesn't die at mile 10. I will also run with someone hopefully. I think it would make a world of difference running with someone, and also having people cheer along the way for me. MAYBE I can get Luke to do one with me! ! !Let me know if there's any good half-marathons coming up! In the meantime, I'm hoping to be running some 5ks with some friends. The best part of the day was after I was over the stomach sickness, and Amanda was done throwing up ( I think we ate bad food!) I ordered some Papa John's thin crust!!!! YUUMMY! After burning like 1500 calroies, who cares what you eat!
Amanda after finishing.
No comments:
Post a Comment