The first official half marathon I was to run has come and gone and I have the medal to prove it!
This was not very easy at all, and really, I wasn't 100% ready for it...but I did the best I could in getting ready for it as it approached, and I am NOT upset with my finish or overall performance.
Running is still relatively new to me. I have only been doing it for about a year, and only very seriously since mid-August. At that point, running 2 miles continuously without stopping to walk was a major chore. On Saturday, the day before the Half Marathon, I did a 2 mile WARM UP RUN. It's been nice to look back and see the progress I have made...and it is definitely rewarding.
But that wasn't the only thing I took away from this weekend. This weekend gave me everything I needed out of it, and I am a much happier person for it.
I got to see old friends, made some new ones, and spent some real, quality time with someone that I need in my life, but has been missing for a while. I think they need me in theirs as well, and this was to both our benefit. I'm just leaving my discussion at that because it wouldn't be right to put any more out there - this was for both of us, and I think we are both happier now.
Back to the race itself!
Ok, so for those of you who don't know New Orleans that well, let me just tell you that it is not just the French Quarter that makes up the city. In fact, that is such a small part of it that if you ONLY spent your time there you would be doing yourself a great disservice. With that said, I am going to be as descriptive as possible in raising your geographic understanding about where the race took place...google maps will help, too...
The race itself started in the CBD (Central Business District). The CBD is just south of Canal St. The Quarter is just north of Canal, as a point of reference. The starting line was on Camp St and Poydras - a big street in the CBD...3 blocks south of Canal.
The route went west on Poydras to S. Rampart (about 4/10 of a mile) where we made a left and headed south. After about a another 4/10 of a mile, we made a left on to Howard ave, and then made a left onto St. Charles...this leads us to the 1 mile marker.
The route took us through the CBD, the Warehouse District, the Garden District and Uptown...at which point we hit the Audubon Zoo - and turned around. This is about the 4.5 mile mark.
Run all the way BACK up St. Charles and at about the 8 mile mark we make a quick right, then a quick left on to Magazine st. Then we once again do a quick right and a quick left on to Tchoupitoulas. Say that 3x fast ...
We cross Canal st on a diagonal and wind up on St. Peters, and now in the French Quarter we proceed up Decatur for the entire length of the Quarter, which isn't all that long in retrospect. We run past Jackson Square and RIGHT PAST Cafe du Monde....and I really wanted to stop and get a beignet - until we passed another place where bacon was sizzling and smelled soooo good. But no, I was running...
Once we hit Esplanade at the top right corner of the French Quarter, we make a left...this is about the 10 mile mark. 3 miles later, we are in City Park, and 1/10 of a mile later, we are done.
So that was the course...
As to 'How I did it', well that story is interesting and fun:
The race start time was 7:30am, and I went to bed about 10pm on Saturday, but didn't fall asleep til about 11pm I guess. That was ok, though, as I seem to do ok on long runs even when I don't get a full 8 hours the night before. I was resting all week as much as possible (as much as I could being that I was on the road for work) and carbo loading all week, so I figured I had good energy stored up.
Got up at about 4:45 am in order to eat and be able to digest before the race. Had a couple of banana's, a protein bar, and a cup of coffee. Hopped in a hot shower and rinsed off/warmed up my muscles a bit. Tried to be calm and keep focus. I got dressed, packed a bag, and off I went. It's about 6:45am.
I strategically picked a hotel that was about 2 blocks away from the starting line, and being the Intercontinental Hotel, it didn't suck. Hotel points pay off every now and again :-)
Of course, there were thousands and thousands of people there. The 10k was about to kick off at 7am, so all those people were lined up and ready to go. I walked a block over and found my spot in corral 20. As I was making my way down, I did my normal warm-up: super light jogging for about 5 min or so...lunges, dynamic stretches, deep knee bends, etc. All this I learned to do a bit later in my training, but I am glad I learned! Helped me recover faster after runs, and helped me be pain free during them.
Now, it's about 7:20am, I'm all warmed up, ready to go. It's a nice morning - about 55 degrees and it will get to about 70 by midday. No real wind save for a light breeze, sunny, just basically perfect conditions. I am pleased.
I am NOT pleased by the music playing over the PA system...for a Rock N Roll Marathon - in the south, no less - I expected to hear Lynyrd Skynyrd, The Allman Bros, Zeppelin, or maybe Muse, the Foo Fighters, anyone that is on rock radio today...
NOPE! I think they had on 'Now That's What I call Music' vol 195...with songs like 'I cant feel my face when I'm with you', and 'Turn Down For What', and, of course, 'All About that Bass'. UGH!!!!
I put on Aenima by Tool on my headphones and turned the volume WAY up.
Now, they have us leaving in waves, but these waves were NOT being let go all too fast. And I was in number 20. They were averaging 2 min+ in between each wave...so I didn't get off the line until about 8:20 or so. At this point, all the warm up I did had gone away. I tried keeping warm and moving around and such, but I could only DO so much by this point.
Then, I felt it...I had to pee. Kinda badly. But now there was no time to go, and we were about to start off the line. I just tried to put it out of my mind and not even think about it, and for a while I was really successful with it. More to come on this...
They call us up to the starting line. "Ok runners, 30 second!" says the gent with the British accent at the podium...looking very warm in his nice jacket. I bet HE had a restroom nearby, I thought. "15 seconds!" Ok, no more thoughts about peeing...gotta run now.
"10...9...8..." Etc. The horn goes off and we start running. Immediately I felt like I needed to slow down...I was cold again, as I said, and I didn't want to hurt myself, so I had to put the adrenaline in check and just maintain a slow, steady pace...
Mile 1 - 11min 15 sec - I felt ok-ish with this...it was still faster than I wanted to go right from the outset considering how cold I was. I was shooting for 11:30 or even 12 min for the first mile. After warming up I tend to pick up pace anyhow and wanted to settle in at about 11:15. But, I felt really good, and I was definitely warmed up. ***As a point of reference, when I run 5k's I like to be in the 9:15-9:30min per mile range...I run DECIDEDLY slower over long distances.***
Mile 2 - 11min 11 sec - This was perfect. If I could settle in to a rhythm here I figured I would be golden. Still felt good. Stopped at the water station even though I wasn't all that thirsty but I wanted to make sure I stayed hydrated. At this point we are running through the garden district area.
Mile 3 - 10min 48 sec - ok I was feeling a little too good. I was picking up the pace and passing people when I shouldn't have been thinking about that. It was way too early to waste that kind of energy so I had to slow back down. I really have to pee.
Mile 4 - 11min 20 sec - and a sign says 'porta potties ahead'. And I did a happy dance inside...until I saw there was ONE porta pottie...and a long ass line...Fuck it...I'll keep going. DAMN!
Mile 5 - 11min 07 sec - picking up pace because I had to pee!!!! I wanted to get to a porta pottie as fast as I could. I know there would be a line, but if I made up time here I would be ok.
Mile 6 - 12min 45 sec - AHHHHHHHHH... Empty!!! I felt a million times better and felt I could really go on now...BUT...before I stopped, I had JUST gotten into a killer rhythm and felt really comfortable. Now I have to find it again...and that pee brake took a WHILE...added at least couple of minutes on to my time. DAMN!
Mile 7 - 11min 05 sec - Felt good again especially after taking care of business, but I think I was feeling a little TOO good. This was the second fastest mile I ran in the entire race and it may have been too much too soon.
Mile 8 - 11min 19 sec - time was back on track but I knew that I was running out of energy. I had switched to drinking Gatorade and had downed a couple of GU packets (runners know what I am talking about) throughout the race but I knew the fun was ending for me... At the end of mile 8 I entered the French Quarter.
Mile 9 - 12min 09 sec - Wheels start falling off the wagon...I start smelling beignets and bacon. Not hungry, really, but I want...WANT! Start to slow up a bit in the Quarter because it's the QUARTER and it's fun to look at...got some more water and make a left onto Esplanade.1343 1422 1254
Mile 10 - 12min 46 sec - needing to walk a little more. But this is when my GPS running app and the course itself have far different measurement standards...I noticed it around mile 3 or 4 but it wasn't that far off...NOW it was far off. My app told me I had 3.1 miles to go, but I was far away from the 10 mile marker! That was disheartening...I was tired and wanted to get going faster, but I kept getting demoralized over the last couple of mileage marks being off...
Mile 11 - 13min 43 sec - Kinda half walked, half run this mile...so beat...my shirt is dripping sweat a LOT
Mile 12 - 14min 22 sec - yeah, more walking than running at this point. I'm gassed...but I can see City Park off in the distance.
Mile 13 - 12min 54 sec - I'm totally out of juice, but I want to finish somewhat strong. I had a fantasy goal of finishing in 2hours 30 min. That was long gone, but I wanted to make it under my grouping time of 2hours 45 min. I started to slowly pick up pace, but I was feeling a little dizzy and seeing spots - yeah I know...not good. I was wondering WHY that was happening - usually it happens when I am dehydrated, but maybe I hadn't EATEN enough the night before? I don't know, exactly. I will have to figure that out with more training...
But I did push as hard as I could the last 1.1 miles. My feet were killing me, but my muscles seemed ok. However, as I was pushing more, my calves started to spasm, and I just had to coast in. It sucked. I just HAD to cross the finish line RUNNING though. I had to. I wasn't going to walk across the finish...or crawl...or fall... I needed to run across. I entered City Park, and about a quarter mile later I crossed. I was completely spent. I felt like I was going to pass out.
FINISH TIME:
My Nike GPS time - 2:36:44
Official RnR Marathon time - 2:42:55
(Distance was off by almost a HALF MILE between the 2)
Then I got my medal.
 | |
| The medal...and the beer. |
I took long, slow breaths and did NOT stop walking. I grabbed a water, a Gatorade, a banana, and a power bar and walked into the main area. The Preservation Hall Jazz Band was playing, and they were kicking ass, of course. Thousands of people were all over. Tons of booths, tents, etc. This was big.
I found a shady tree, sat down for a minute and drank my water. I started feeling a little better. I wolfed down the banana.
And then I looked up to the sky. Those of you who know me know I am not a very religious person at all...but I do believe there is someone up there watching out for me. I thanked him. For everything. For getting me through this alive, for giving me the determination to finish, for the banana I ate so fast I almost choked... I hung out for a minute, drank all the water and Gatorade, and then got my celebratory Michelob Ultra from the tents. So cold. So good. Lo carb, so it did nothing for what I needed except dehydrate me further!
I grabbed my stuff from the bag check and hopped a shuttle back to the CBD. Getting off the bus was HARD to do...everything was stiff by then...but I strangely didn't feel all TOO horrible. I took a nice, long, HOT shower, got dressed, got a double cheeseburger from McD's - I needed something FAST - and had a great rest of the day. No matter what I did it was going to be great, but it was great all the same, and exceeded expectations. I'm happy.
I got most everything I needed to this weekend, and I am very thankful for that. It went how it needed to go. Now, I move forward and look toward the next half marathon at Disney World on April 17th! I know what I need to work on, so that part is easy, but I have to make sure I don't forget what I have done well and keep that going.
Once again, this never would have been possible without the friendship, support, and inspiration of so many people as well as those who tell me that I've inspired THEM. I cannot even list them all here, and when I link to this post on Facebook I will probably forget to tag a couple of people. I apologize in advance! But...THANK YOU ALL for caring enough about me to follow me on this journey. The next race I dedicate to all of you and how you make me work harder...this one was for me, though.
Peace and love to you all...
- Mike
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