I finished the race, what more could I ask for. It took longer than my projected 3.5 - 4 hours. I was the 12th from last person to finish. But I finished and that's the name of the game for that race. This race had more challenges in it for me than other races I remember. Some of the more notable challenges were some guy stepping on my ankle just after the race started. He was running backwards looking for someone and stepped on me. I'm a big guy and somehow he still didn't see me. Next challenge came at mile three. I took a corner at the top of a hill and got my footing wrong and about twisted my ankle by not landing on the road. That was a close call. Another challenge was little to no shade, which just translates to it being hot. I wasn't anticipating it being around 75° - 80° for the entire race in October. If it were a short run the weather would have been great, but for 13 miles, that just made it a little harder. Around mile seven is when I hit my first wall. I was thinking about giving up, I was sore and tired. This is also when my watch went from timing just the miles to 1:1 run walk intervals. So every minute was a new lap. I just didn't have it in me to start my walk run at that point. Okay, I started it, but wasn't able to maintain it. This is also the time where the group I had been keeping pace with started to pull ahead of me. So I was a little disheartened because of that.
I was able to power through to mile 8, where a teen with down syndrome was running his 50th half marathon, in his 50th state. This was really encouraging to see someone work so hard. This helped me get out of my head and move forward to mile 9 - 10.25. I started thinking again that I should just give up, I was at the end of the group for the half marathon, when I passed by a police officer who had been directing traffic, that said, alright here's all the stragglers. That little phrase got me back in my head and then the hills started. I was told there was going to be a group from the Fleet Feet Running Club at mile 10, but didn't see anyone at the base of the hill where mile 10 was marked. I didn't see anyone as I went up the hill, and started progressing up another hill. I was thinking of calling Silvia at that point to come and get me. Around that time is when I saw the club cheering me on. They didn't know me from Adam, yet they encouraged me. They filled my hydro flask twice, I downed the first fill, then they did it again. Then they gave me ice for my hat and the back of my neck. It was what I needed to make it just far enough to stop, catch my breath and move on. I ended up stopping 5 maybe 6 times between mile 10 and the end of the race. By mile 12 I was in really rough shape, my legs were shot, my mind was shot, I was exhausted, and had to keep stopping for fear of tripping over myself. I was passed by 4 more people at the point. One woman stopped for a moment to make sure I would be able to finish. I must have looked like hell (if my finish line picture is any indicator I wasn't looking good). I followed this woman until she started running, I couldn't get my legs to work, it took a couple of attempts but I did run across the finish line to be greeted by medical personnel who promptly asked me if I needed help. They got me to the side of the road after the finish line, got me some ice, then a few minutes later got me to the first aid tent where Silvia and our little guy caught up to me. I was in rough shape, at least from my perspective. I thought I could get up and walk at one point, but then promptly sat back down because my legs weren't working. When I finally left the medical tent I made it across the way and down the road some where I let Silvia know I wasn't going to make it to the car with my legs feeling like they did. I sat on the grass for a while, got some calories in me and waited until I could feel my legs again, then got up and made it to the car.
So for my first race in a decade it was a success. I finished in spite of the challenges I faced. There were also some great things that happened. As I was on the last quarter mile a guy in a purple shirt said to me, "I know you'll finish!" then about a half an hour later he walked by me again while I was wearing my medal and said, "See, I knew you would do it." During the first mile I was feeling great, I was walking and at mile one my watch informed me that I had just finished my fastest mile in a few months. Which was good but I was going to fast out the gate which was not good. I got to go through an awesome neighborhood with some amazing houses. As I was in the medical tent, I put my medal on our little guy guy and got to see his smile. It means a lot to me that I didn't come in last. Now that it's a couple days after the race it's time to sign up for my next goal race, I will be doing Run From Yeti. I will be signing up for that now.
Thanks for reading.
-Riley
