So today I ran the Waco Miracle Match Half Marathon. It was maybe one of the coldest days of the year. It even snowed on us some. But I made it. I am not a runner but I guess could be.
I started out pretty fast and it worried me that maybe I was going too fast. I finished the first 3 miles in about 40 minutes. The 5K's we had run I was doing in 45 to 50 at best. The race took us from the suspension bridge to Baylor campus and we did a little loop around Founders Mall and then back out.
I passed the Start/Finish line at a little shy of six miles I think. I was still going strong. The hills of Cameron Park were still in front of me. There was plenty of water to be had on the course so I rarely used mine, I'm glad I decided to just carry the one bottle. The volunteers were very friendly and had food as well.
Once inside Cameron Park, we turned uphill into the zoo. It was WAY uphill. This was the first time I really felt gassed. It was fun running through the zoo. I wish it had been warmer so that the animals would have been out, but it was a neat diversion.
The next stretch was through Proctor Springs and up into the residential parts of the park. I had never been down a few of these streets and saw some neat houses. It was a bit tough because by this point we were so spread out it was like going through the neighborhood by myself.
We popped back out into the park with a pretty steep downhill followed by an uphill. The full marathon also joined back up here so I was getting passed by some of the faster folks in the full. I can't believe how many times one of these guys passing me gave me a "Way to go" or "Good work" when they were truly doing the work but it was nice and I started trying to give them the "Way to go" before they could from then on out.
The 10 mile mark came after just about the worst uphill on the course but it was mostly downhill and after all I only had a little 5K left. Or so I thought. I looped around up to the Herring bridge for the last straight away and I was doing OK, I was doing OK at the 11 mile checkpoint, but suddenly the mileage started clicking very slowly. I don't know if it was because I could see the finish or what but by 11.7 I texted Amy that I was completely out of gas and was running on fumes. During the walk periods from there in, I kept telling myself that maybe I would walk two and run one but I was afraid if I stopped running I wouldn't start again. So I just kept pushing. When I came around the Suspension Bridge I was running and decided I would just have to run it on out from there in. I'm pretty sure the bridge tripled in length the closer I got to the finish. I could hear Amy hollering to me from across the bridge so I just kept going. I glanced over at he clock and I'm pretty sure it was about 3:15 and some change. I was really looking for 3:45 so I was quite pleased at the outcome of my first half.
I downed a powerade and a frozen snickers then a bottle of chocolate milk. I tried to eat a fajita that they were serving but I felt like I wouldn't be able to keep it down. We were waiting for Kelly to come in and that was the first time I was so cold it hurt. Once she finished we didn't stick around for long.
Today, I'm not doing too bad. It took me a few steps this morning for my ankle to start working but I went to the gym and walked on the treadmill for about 10 minutes before doing my normal workout.
Next up is the Austin Half in two weeks. That was supposed to be my first but you can't ignore your hometown race, can you?
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