Half Marathon report (cross-post) ...

Hi everyone! I posted this on the exercise and fitness board but thought I'd share with my fellow Maybies too!!! ............. Hurray, I did it! I finished my first Half Marathon today!!! I had to get up really early to drive out of town to get to the race. My stomach was in knots which meant I couldn't eat hardly anything. And I'm the type of person who needs to eat before I run! Anyway, the race started off great ... although it was advertised as a "rolling hills" course ... sooooo not!!!! I mean, the entire course was rolling hills but between miles 4 and 8 there were some monster hills! And somewhere around mile 4 my toes started getting that feeling like blisters were forming. I tried to ignore it and managed to climb the hills, loving the downhill portions! But around mile 7 my leg twisted funny as I stepped down and it pulled my groin muscle. Ouch, it burned so bad!!! At that point I was nearly in tears because I didn't want to quit and start walking. But it hurt bad! So I tried to walk but that really didn't help so I managed to kick it back into a slow running pace. I tried running as much as I could and then take a very short walk break. This maneuver got me through mile 12 ... I thought I was going to die! But at the mile 12 marker I felt an enormous pain in my blistered toes. I knew that one of them had popped but what was I to do at that point? I had 1 mile to go and I told myself I was going to run that last mile and get across that finish line!!! And I did ... I crossed the finish line with a time of 2:42 ... I really wanted to finish in 2:30 or less but I figured that running with a pulled groin muscle and bad toe blisters made my finish time okay! Anyway, I took a look at my feet after that and 6 of my toes are just enormous blisters. And that one blister did pop and tore all the skin off with it so I have really beautiful toes right about now! Haha! And now I'm hobbling around from a pulled groin muscle but that is not about to wipe the grin off my face because I FINISHED!!!! It's amazing how I struggled through nearly half of the race but yet I would sign up to do it again in a heartbeat!!! I posted a couple pictures on my profile ... --Deanna

Hi Deanna WOW - AMAZING - FANTASTIC - FABULOUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! You really rock girl oops don't do that with your poorly groin and toes!!! I bet you are but not - too pumped up for that hey? I am sooooo proud of you, finishing, with injury in a great time too. So you didn't get to 2:30, but so close and with injury I think it counts. At least you know next time you'll ace it. Thanks for sharing on here with us. Now when is your next one? And the full marathon???? hehe big hugs to my running mentor and hero Ruth

Hi Ruthie!!! How's your running going??? I sure wish we lived by each other so we could be running partners!!! Deanna

Ha ha, there's no way I could keep up with you speedo. I'm finding it frustrating as I want to progress quicker than I am. I'm not very good at pushing myself beyond my limits, and am finding it hard to get past that first bit, where my legs are aching, I'm hot and tired only after a few minutes. I have to really give myself a 'talking to' to keep going. I have started going a bit quicker now so instead of trying to go further and mix it up that way for a change. How great would that be to live near each other - I'm sure you'd whip my butt into gear hehe.

I think that you should get extra points for finishing with injuries. Could you have imagined this 2.5 yrs ago?

oh my gosh if i were any more proud of you people would think i birthed you myself! You not only went for it and succeeded in a fabulous time but you did it wounded, dang that's just awesome! What is next for you my dear further farther or just faster at this point? Is there something that you can do next time to ensure your little piggies don't get wounded, what do other runners do? I'm so proud of you Deanna YOU ROCK!!!! Hugs, ANDI

oh my gosh if i were any more proud of you people would think i birthed you myself! You not only went for it and succeeded in a fabulous time but you did it wounded, dang that's just awesome! What is next for you my dear further farther or just faster at this point? Is there something that you can do next time to ensure your little piggies don't get wounded, what do other runners do? I'm so proud of you Deanna YOU ROCK!!!! Hugs, ANDI

Thank you so much, Andi! I don't know what is next for me ... just more running! I've found some more "fun" runs this summer ... like trail runs, adventure runs, etc. I just want to have fun! I'd like to do another half marathon in the future but I want to do some fun ones first so I don't get burnt out! It's a lot of work to train for the big runs and right now I'm too tired! Haha! How's the Rumba going??? Deanna

what exactly is an adventure run? It's called Zumba and i took a few classes hten stopped i'll start again after next week once the kids go to camp and i hvae more free time. ANDI

Zumba! Never heard of it ... it sounds sassy!!! An adventure race is like a one day version of Amazing Race. They have clues you have to solve along the way, etc. It sounds fun! Deanna