Mission accomplished!
And what a weekend it was! There are so many lessons from the road! Suffice to say that it didn't turn out the way we had hoped, but it was sweet nonetheless! Let me recap...
We headed down to the race on Saturday afternoon after dropping the kids off at my mom's for the night (
thanks again, Mom!!) Ellie wasn't entirely happy with us for leaving, but I'm told she did great once she settled in! Phew!
We got down to the beach, checked into our little room for the night and headed straight for the Race Expo to pick up our bibs and race shirts. Surf City is a HUGE race and they really work hard to make the big event run smoothly! The expo was super neat....lots of venders and cool running gear to purchase! I got to pick up a new pair of sunglasses and a gear belt! Whoohoo! A couple of things I had been needing for awhile now. We were able to get our bibs really easily, despite the ga-zillion people who were there! I have to say, the people who put this race on are definitely organized!!
We left the Expo just in time to miss the downpour of rain that ensued! Oh how I was hoping that the rain would be done by the morning! Running in the rain is
not my favorite activity for sure! We drove the race course after that and I grew so excited for what was to come the next morning! The course was BEAUTIFUL...all along Pacific Coast Hwy, with expansive views of the ocean on one side and the wetlands on the other! Off in the distance on Sunday, when the rain had cleared, you could even see the mountains covered in snow. By far, the most gorgeous place I have run!
After checking out the course, we made our way to any early dinner at Bucca di Beppo (YUM!)and filled out bellies until we couldn't eat another bite!
It was still early when we finished dinner and being kid-less and all, we actually got to make a spontaneous decision (
imagine that!!!) to see a movie! Seriously people....I was so excited to just be in a movie theatre! I honestly can't even remember the last movie I saw in the theatre, let alone WITH my husband! Awesome! We saw "When in Rome". A chick-flick for sure, but Ty sweetly obliged (
though we didn't have much of a selection for the time slots we were there. Lol!)
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to prepare for the next morning and get some rest. I was surprised at how calm I felt and how easily I slept! I really would have thought I would have been a LOT more anxious, but I slept peacefully and woke up calm! Amazing!
5:30am came quickly. Again, I was so surprised to feel really calm when I got up. Before the last couple of races I've done, I usually feel jittery and anxious beforehand, but I hardly felt that way on Sunday! It was a welcomed relief, actually! We hydrated well, got ready and ate our usual peanut butter sandwiches before jogging the 2.25 miles to the start line.
With 20,000 runners, parking at the race was predicted to be a little nuts, so we opted to just do our warm up ON the way there. We jogged to the race and got to witness the most gorgeous sunrise along the way. (
The picture hardly does justice to how pretty it was!) The weather was simple p-e-r-f-e-c-t! Clear blue skies with big, puffy, white clouds! Beautiful!
As we got to the race, I was
amazed at the sea of people! There were lines of people everywhere you looked! Lines for the bathrooms...lines to check in your gear (
which we did 'cause the weather was a lot warmer than we expected!) and lines of people as far as your eye could see down the course. Amazing! The air was buzzing with excitement as we found our way to our wave corral. The race started in waves based on your predicted finish time so that runners could be spread out more along the course and so we could run with people at the same general pace. We were part of the 2:00:00 wave, as we had
hoped to cross the finish line around the two-hour mark based on our previous running pace. (
I finished the the two 13-mile runs I did in training at 2:08:00 and 2:01:00 so my ideal goal had been to complete Surf City as close to the 2 hour mark as possible.) Here we are just before our wave took off....
The first 3 miles were AWESOME. The pace felt easy and my body felt good. The energy of all the people running beside us was so cool! We jig-zagged in and out of the group, trying to find open spots on the road and pass the runners that we hindering us. There were SO many people! It was hard to find open spots to run! They had live bands playing at different spots along the course too! So fun! Things were looking good!
And then mile 3 hit. :( It was pretty much all downhill from there...metaphorically speaking of-course. It was around the 3rd mile marker that I started to feel weird. There really aren't other suitable words to describe it....I just did NOT feel like my normal self. I began to feel dizzy. My heart was beating harder than it should have been and by breathing more labored for the pace I was running. My Ipod even began to grate on me and I had to turn in off. My head began to pound over my left eye and I just generally felt crummy. :( I took in some water and a few energy beans to be sure it wasn't a blood sugar thing and kept on running, though noticeably slower as I saw our pacer runner and her sign for the 2:00:00 finish goal slip further and further away. Soon, she was far out of sight and so was my dream of finishing near the two hour mark. :(
By mile 6, I was walking and near tears. Frustrated and annoyed that my body was doing whatever strange thing it was doing. I felt nauseous and dizzy still and honestly so discouraged that I considered quitting right then and there (
which is SO unlike me!) It was then that my dear, sweet husband (
who had begun to experience some pain of his own in his knee, and who been graciously running s-l-o-w-l-y behind and beside me when I walked because jogging seemed to hurt him less
than walking) wrapped his arm about my waist and began encouraging me that I could do it. He reminded me of what I had written days earlier....that it wasn't about the clock at the finish line, but rather the journey that had brought us to this point. And little by little, as he spoke words of encouragement to me, we picked up the pace and jogged on a few miles further.
It took everything in me to keep from walking in those miles. My body screamed to walk. My gut cramped up, my head ached and I felt woozy. But I knew that each step I took got me closer to being done. And at that point, there was nothing I wanted more than to just be DONE!
Somewhere around the 8th or 9th mile, Ty's knee began to hurt so badly that he actually had to stop running and sit down on the side of the road. My poor husband! He was in some serious pain! He was pretty sure it was a deep muscle that was cramping in there, but he could not massage deep enough to relieve it. So, being strong-willed to the core and insistent that he finish, he pushed through a 9 out of 10 intensity pain and jogged on and off over the last 5 miles. I can honestly say that I have NO idea how he did it! My husband has a mental toughness that I cannot begin to understand!!! He is the most driven and determined man I know!! There would have been NO way that I could (
or would) endure that intensity of pain for FIVE miles! But he was determined to finish! At one point, he urged me to just run ahead, but just as he stuck by me earlier on, I was
not leaving his side! We were going to cross that finish line together....if it took us two and a half hours or two and a half days! For better or for worse, right?
Here are a few photos that I took while we walked. It really WAS a beautiful day! The surf was high, the air bright and sunny! You can see the throngs of people climbing the hill in front of us! There were SOOO many people! It was really amazing!
The last 1/2 mile almost made the entire journey worth it! As we neared the last mile marker, the roads became fenced off on either side and spectators lined the streets, cheering us runners on, clapping and whistling! We could see the finish line up ahead and as I looked from my husband's grimacing, red face to the crowd and then to the finish line, my emotions got the best of me and I broke into tears. I was just SO incredibly thankful to be done....to have it made it to this day...to this point....not only having endured a horrible morning of running, but to have come to the end of a half year of preparation for
this moment. So as we took those final steps across the finish line, we held on tight to one another's hands, raised them high over our heads and ran victoriously across the finish line with the clock reading 2:25:23.
So will I do it again? Yeah, probably. Well...actually...yes. I am already signed up for another half in September. But I think this whole experience has been a lot like childbirth. You need a little time to forget the pain before you even consider doing it again! Lol! But even today, just 2 days later, I already feel the intensity of the awfulness of the day slipping away and it is already beginning to not seem so bad. Amazing how that works, isn't it?!
In looking back, I am definitely grateful for the experience! I have learned a lot and gained a confidence in my ability that I lacked before. And more than anything else, I am grateful to have had this deep bonding experience with my husband! Crossing that finish line with him is a moment I will not soon forget!
Thank you, Babe for enduring all of that for my sake! I know you wouldn't have chosen to run a half marathon for yourself, but you sacrifically did it out of your love for me. Your support, encouragement and selfless attitude speak volumes about your character, committment and love for me! To have you there with me meant more than I could ever express. Thank you! Love you so!
