This weekend I ran my first ever Half Marathon!
This is what the shirt looks like- very patriotic. Of course, I already lost mine.
The night before the race I was a mess of emotions; tired, excited, nervous- you name it, I was probably feeling it. I only slept for about 4 hours; I kept waking up, checking the time, making sure my alarm clock was actually set, double checking my bag, etc. At one point I decided to read “I Run Therefore I Am Nuts” , the chapter that I opened up to was about how he couldn’t sleep the night before his first marathon, it was a little reassuring that I wasn’t crazy. It was also a little creepy.
For the race, we had perfect weather, it was in the 50′s, maybe low 60′s by the end, and cloudy. The night before the weather channel said it was going to be 80 degrees and sunny by 7am, so we were all very relieved that it was cool.
This is before the race, I was so nervous that I couldn’t even pee, and about half way through mile 13 I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to hold it until the finish line. I did, don’t worry.
I really enjoyed the course, it was scenic and my dad was able to tell me about the history of different parts while we ran. The only shocker were the number of hills this “flat course” had. Hills wouldn’t normally bother me, but when everyone said “it’s a flat course” and then I’m pulling myself up a hill in mile 11, I was… frustrated. Also, if you were one of those people; I put a curse on your family.
I did really awesome miles 1-8, possibly a little too awesome. Miles 9-11, were okay, but I had to slow down because my stomach was really hurting, and no matter how great your legs feel and the rest of you feels, it just really sucks running with an upset stomach. 12 and 13, I fell apart. I literally, had nothing left in me, I was running on empty and slowed down drastically.
I finished the race in 2:38:38 For my first race, I’ll take it. I never stopped, I never walked, I never even puked, so I’m calling it a success.
It’s been 3 days since I ran and I’m already ready for another.
Another really cool part about this race? 
It was a family affair.
This was my Aunt and Uncle’s first half marathon too, and they kicked some serious butt.
Fun Fact: Running 13.1 miles makes it acceptable to drink beer at 9:30am. Reason #190 why I’ll keep running.
2 Comments
i used to be this way. i’ve gotten a LOT more melolw about my running/my goals/my “failures”. it’s no fun to be so uptight about it! it’s not like we are getting paid for this right?yes it is good to have expectations of ourselves and to aim high for goals. but don’t wallow in a ditch over a ‘bad’ race there will always be bad ones! (i say ‘bad’ cause a 1:31 is freakin awesome) hope you can find peace soon! you are an amazing runner jesse.
Hey! Enjoy your 17 minute PR! Take it from me who’ve run 20+ half mntorhaas, one day you’ll regret not enjoying this massive PR, because one day, even a minute or 30 second PR will be so so hard to come by! So yeah, be happy that you kicked butt, be happy you got a great time, and be happy that you left some room to do even better the next time!