San Antonio, TX – Rock ‘N Roll ½
It has been 10+ years since I ran a half marathon. At that time, I was a young, inexperienced runner, who really did not train properly. Over 10 years later, including 2 babies, I was ready to tackle this again (with the help of Sharon Styles & a wonderful group of training friends). The journey was not easy at times, but I was ready for this race. I put in the time, trained hard, and suffered a few minor setbacks along the way. Suddenly, it was taper week…yahoo!!! I felt pretty brutal during this week, sluggish, sore & mentally unprepared. Most of that left me the second we landed in San Antonio. I was excited as hell! The days leading up to the race were filled with incredible memories with 5 of my best friends. We shopped, ate, walked & ate some more. The day before the race, I was careful to hydrate well. I ate appropriately, took in electrolytes & rested a bit. Race morning was busy, but things went smooth. As soon as I caught sight of the corrals, I felt my nerves full force. I have never experienced a race with this many people before. It was overwhelming, but I felt ready. Before I knew it, I was running. It was a bit surreal at first. I had promised myself that I was going to “take this all in”. I wanted to read signs, give high fives, enjoy the scenery and architecture…and I did exactly that for the first 15km. In those first 15km, I experienced an emotional rollercoaster. I remember looking at my garmin at kilometer 3 thinking, oh my god, I am soaked in sweat already. Then I looked again at km 5 and thought, I am not at race pace, and I can’t go faster. It took me about 3 km to accept that I had to let my time goal go. It was not going to happen. I was doing the best I could under the hot & humid conditions.
At 15km, I began to have a few struggles mentally. I was taking in water & electrolyte, but my stomach was cramping a bit. Pain cave….now I completely understand this statement. I don’t have much memory of the last 5 km of the race…one foot in front of the other. I thought of my kids and husband at this point, and recalled the horrific labor I had had with my first son. I remember that pain like it was yesterday & I told myself, if I could endure that, I could surely run another 30 min. That helped me focus. I was also lucky enough to have one of my best friends, Lara, running not too far ahead of me. She became my focal point. We talked to each other briefly & she encouraged me in so many ways. The last km of the race was so difficult, especially the last hill before the finish. But, somehow I made it & saw the finish line ahead. I crossed the finish with Lara. We looked at each other & smiled. Thank god that was over! It wasn’t long after that I began feeling nauseous. It was a quick run to the porta potty. Alone in the potty, I allowed myself a small emotional breakdown. I cried tears of joy & physical exhaustion. It took a couple hours for me to lose the nausea & tummy troubles, but it wasn’t long and I felt myself again.
Now that I have had time to reflect, I learned a lot from this race (mostly about myself): I executed well, and I allowed myself to let a time goal go mid-race, but remained focused & positive. I also learned that I needed to take in more electrolyte during that race, as I think I may have suffered the effects of dehydration after the race. Although conditions were not easy, I can say that I did the best I could on that day & for that, I am proud!
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