BUT! As I mentioned in my other post, I was determined to do the Grand Forks Wild Hog half marathon in September 2017. I figured I might just keep putting it off, I so just registered hoping the fact that it was coming up would motivate me to get my butt out there and train properly.
SPOILER ALERT: I ran maybe a handful of times this summer on my own, 2 5ks (the Insane Inflateable 5k and the Run for Your Buns 5k) and the half marathon snuck up on me in no time. Before the event, I had never run more than 6.2 miles and to be honest, I was absolutely terrified that I would literally die or have to walk almost the entire thing considering I had to start walking parts of my 10k in Fargo around mile 4.
The worst part of this whole weekend was my lack of support. Remember how I bragged up and down how great my husband was about coming to all my races and being supportive? Well, he passed his bar exam (yay!) and was sworn into the North Dakota bar that same weekend. He could not miss it and while I was sad to not be there to support him being sworn in, I was equally sad he was not here to support me.
On Friday, I psyched myself up as best I could and went to pick up my packet. Got my 5k and half packets and t-shirt without incident (thank God). While I was waiting in line, I chatted with the guy who owns See Dick Run, our local running store. I asked him for suggestions on what the best fueling gel was and he suggested GU Roctane gels. I bought an orange (creamsicle I think) and a blueberry pomegranate.
The 5k went well, I think I finished around 40 minutes which was good. I could probably have finished a little faster, but I intentionally held back to save my energy for the next day. Overall, it went well, not great, not terribly. I almost twisted my ankle on during the first mile, but other than that it was okay. Afterwards, however, it was really depressing to go home by myself, make pasta, and eat alone. There was no one at the finish line to greet me and the silence at home was near deafening.
On the bright side, I was able to get into bed super early that night, make a bangin' playlist for the half marathon, and surprisingly was able to fall asleep fairly quickly. For 6 years and almost 10 10ks, I haven't been able to sleep the night before but somehow, a half marathon that I didn't train for was no big deal to sleep before. Go figure.
The next morning, I woke up early, got dressed, and drove over to the start line. Here's the thing; I enjoy the Fargo marathon, but it IS a pain to drive an hour, pay for a hotel, have to drive another hour or so to the Fargodome, walk half a mile to and from the parking lot to the start line....Fargo is wonderful, but it is significantly more work than the Grand Forks marathons. It took me less than 10 minutes to drive from my house to the Wild Hog, park my car, and get to the starting line.
I did however at least have some company at the starting line. A coworker of mine from the Wellness Center was also running the half, also with less training than she wanted (yet still more than me!). I decided to have a gel at mile 4, and the other at mile 8, figuring once I got to 12, 13 would be super easy. I just wanted to cross the finish line.
I was able to run the entire thing!!! The only times I walked was to drink water/gatorade and to eat a gel. Figured a few extra seconds wasn't worth choking on my water by trying to run while drinking. I finished in just over 3 hours; I was hoping for 3 hours or under, but I saw the pacer for 3 hours slowly creeping away from me so I knew from the start I was going to be over. Luckily for me, they added a full marathon as well so I didn't look quite as pathetic as I thought I might.
I crossed the finish line, they announced my name, and I damn near burst into tears. My friend Ryan works at the Wild Hog and does a lot of the planning and set up for it. He happened to be handing out water, and congratulated me; I managed to keep my tears in until I found my best friend who came to wait for me at the finish line. I did in fact cry when she hugged me because I was so proud of myself and I was just so happy to have someone at the finish line cheering me on.
I went home to shower, she went to pick up some food and movies (The funniest thing was when I got out of my car at home after the half and my smart watch said "you've hit your activity goal with plenty of time to spare. Want to step up your goal for the day?" I JUST RAN 13.1 MILES, WATCH. Do you think you're funny? PISS OFF!). She came over and spent the day on my couch with me watching movies, since there was little else I was physically able to do. I spent the time during the movies stretching and using my roller (Ethan bought me some cool rolling pin thing that you use on worked muscles....apparently MMA fighters swear on it) and I was surprised at how well I was moving the next day!
Don't get me wrong, I was pleased as punch and thrilled to say I RAN a half marathon, but my statistics were....not great. I was 460th out of 472, 276th out of 286 in the female division, and 83rd out of 85 in the female 20-29 category. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! BUT I finished and ran the whole thing! Plus, now I have statistics to compare the upcoming Fargo half marathon too. Because I'll tell you something else; I thought I'd either say "yep, I ran a half! Now back to 10ks!" or I would be hooked on halfs...I am hooked on halfs!
Since 2012, I've run seven 10ks, a half marathon, and over twenty 5ks. I am looking forward to doing as many 5ks as I can find, 10ks if I can, at both the Fargo and Grand Forks half marathons every year. That half marathon really reignited my love for running. I have been running semi regularly with my roommate Brian. He's the best running partner I've had so far; he shows up every time, doesn't try to talk, and keeps pace with me instead of taking off on me. Overall, I'm really looking forward to running more miles than ever in 2018!
