So today I had the pleasure of running the Maryland Half Marathon with Erin (her first half!) and I doubled this race as my Rock Your Socks Half hosted by Ms. T. I signed up for this race last week, completely on a whim and I’m so happy I did! I knew Erin was getting a little nervous and I was excited when she agreed to let me pace her to the end! Plus, the course literally passes in front of my house…with the start being less than 10 mins away so why not! I ran an easy 10 yesterday to a make a total of 23.1 miles for the weekend! More than I’ve ever run in two days before! So that was pretty cool =) This recap will probably get long…as they all do so bear with me =)
The weather was calling for on and off rain and storms all morning so I texted Erin letting her know we might be in for a wet race but no worries! I was getting her through this race if it killed me, or her, or both of us. So I spend last night picking out an outfit (went with black tank incase it poured…no chance of during see through), my pink plaid running skirt, and my running skirts compression socks. Then it was up to be to pick out the shoes and headband. I have a great deal of both so it was tricky. Ended up with the pink and black argyle sweaty band and decided to go with my Newtons! The first race in these! Laid everything out and went to bed early.
Wake up was 5am. I like to have enough time to hang out in bed for a few, eat something slowly, get dressed, and wake up a bit before races. My dad was nice enough to drop me off at the start (MD fairgrounds) so I didn’t have to worry about parking so I was there by 6:15. And of course…it was raining. Actually it was pouring so unfortunately I opted to leave the camera at home =(. I did; however bring The Stick so I stretched, rolled, massaged, etc. my knee. Luckily there was plenty of hung out space under cover so didn’t have to get soaked before the start. I ran into Nike Neal who “yelled” at me for running another race but we wished eachother luck and I was off to find a bathroom before finding Erin. I’ve been to these fairground manyyyy times before so I knew about the indoor, running water bathrooms that are hidden in the second level of the stands so I headed up. NO ONE was in there! Wow I lucked out! And then I got my text from Erin. Yay! I found her and a TNT friend Becky, we hung out for the last few minutes and headed to the start.
elevation map for the course
I knew Erin had a time goal in mind but I knew this was going to be a ROUGH course. I live in this area and run it alot so I knew about the massive, killer, awful hills that were in store for us. These are long grueling hills, lasting for miles but I knew we could get though them as long as we got mad at them (thanks Zoe!). I told Erin one last time that she was gunna nail this race and to get excited! Finally we were and past the start line! I noticed we were going out a bit fast in the first mile but Erin said she was feeling ok so I didn’t want to slow her down. We weren’t going crazy fast, about 30 sec/mile faster than goal pace but we were holding strong. Mile 1 flew by and before I knew it we were at the first big hill at mile 3. I had been talking to Erin prior to the hill trying to get her mentally prepared to take it on. The benefit of running a race literally in your own neighborhood if you know all the little pieces so I was able to tell her when the bad parts were coming, when we were coming up to an easy part, etc.
Let me tell you…this girl does great on hills! We were playing the “cone game”. You know, when you pick a cone to push hard to and then pick a cone to take it easy to. But we would get to our goal cone and she would say “ok let get to another cone” and then “ok I got one more cone in me!” and would speed up a bit! I was so inspired by her awesome attitude during these brutal hills! We finally made it to the top of the hill and we had a decent down hill decent to get ourselves back together. We were running next to a pair who were also running their first half and we were always either right in front of or behind them the whole time so we got to talk to them a bit. I was just doing my best to talk Erin through it and get her distracted for the BRUTAL hill to come and mile 7. We got tons of compliments on our outfits too =)
aren't we cute?! even if we are soaked and tired!
The next few miles were pretty uneventful but I was trying to get Erin ready for the 3 mile hill we were about to hit. I told her up front it was going to start off with a small grade and gradually get steeper so to hold back a bit at the beginning so we could push it through the rough patches. Again she was killing the cone game. I kept telling her to get mad at it and she cracked me up everything she called the hill a “son of a bitch!” all with a smile on her face. About a mile into the hill I could see on her face she was starting to hit a bit of a wall. Her hip was starting to act up, as well as the balls of her feet (my feet were completely soaked from mile 1 on) but I didn’t want to let her completely stop unless she had to (I know for me once I stop its reallllly hard to get your head back in it). I kept trying to talk to her about random stuff to distract her (I was probably annoying as hell) and we were doing great. Erin was really pushing her limits and a few times I had to remind her not to push toooo hard. We paced back a bit to get back on some more regular breathing. I know from experience (aka the DISASTROUS Baltimore 5K last October) that once your breathing is really off its reallllly easy to get panicky and discouraged. I just kept reminding her she was going to finish this thing! We talked about how having a time goal is great but for your first race, your goal should really just be finishing and enjoying it.
Well let me tell you, that hill laster foreverrrr but we made it! Erin really pushed the last little piece of the hill and I was impressed! I knew the TNT water stop was approaching at mile 10 (my dad and a few of my TNT friends were volunteering!) so around 9.3 I told Erin I was going to run ahead to grab someone’s camera and get a picture of her. I got to the stop just in time to tell everyone what Erin was wearing and to cheer for her on her way through and then I saw her coming and we grabbed a quick photo.
I told her to take full advantage of the water stops...take time and hydrate! That's my dad in the background in the purple shirt =)
me goofing it up for my friend Heather =)
Alright mile 10 down…and I tried to get Erin pumped that we had nothing but a 5k left! Her longest run before this half was 11 miles so once we got past mile 11 it was cool because every step she took was setting a new distance PR! I knew she was fading but there was NOOO way we weren’t making it to the finish. Once we passed the Mile 12 marker she said “ok lets get this last 1.1″ and we did! She was really challenging herself and I told her not to go out too hard because, as I told her at the begining, I was making her spring the last .1! Sprinting over the finish is the coolest feeling and I had to get her to feel it!. We rounded the corner into fairground and up to the track (the last .1 was on the race track!). Once we hit the track we were off! I looked at Gracie and let Erin know we were hitting a 7:07 mile pace! We flew over the finish at 3 hours 5 mins. and she had the biggest smile on her face! We got our water and Mylar blankets and I asked her “can you believe you just did that!” and she said “no!”. She kept thanking me for getting her through it saying she didn’t think she would have made it without me pushing her but the truth is it was all on her! She’s the one who pushed through the pain and exhaustion and conquered something she never had before. And I reminded her that it wasn’t even 10 am yet and we had just run 13 miles. We headed to the bagel station and then the MEDAL STATION! Gotta love that one! And these medal are huge!
I was am so proud of Erin and what she accomplished! Her first half in the rain and with over 5 miles on pure uphill! Congrats girl! You ROCKED it and I had a blast doing it with you! Thank for letting me hang! You rocked it and can’t wait to do more runs together! A graduation, job promotion, and first half marathon all within 8 days! Go congratulate her HERE. Now!
So there ya have it…this is my second half in two weeks earning me Half Fanatic Status! Thank T for the awesome virtual run! I went home, showered, and went and got a pedicure with my mom (the nail place is right next to a TCBY so I actually got a pedicure while eating frozen yogurt…awesome post race event!) =)
feet still swollen
Goodness did I need it…my left big toe is still only about half of a nail but at least it looks a little better now. Can’t wait to read everyone else’s recaps! Thanks for bearing through my wordiness! And spelling and grammar mistakes. I’m too lazy to proofread.
