Las Vegas Blvd "The Strip"
Sunday, December 4, 2011
Start Time: 5:30pm
To say I was nervous for my race is an understatement. On Saturday night before my race, I woke up around 1:00am and could not go back to sleep until close to 5:00am. I was a mess pretty much all day, it was a blessing and a curse that the race started so late. I had all day to prepare and I had all day to be nervous.
I had most of my stuff ready to go the day before, I just had some final preparations the day of. I took about an hour nap after I showered and I left the house at 2:45pm to pick up my sister Megan at 3:00pm. I wasn't sure where we would have to park if my plan to park at the Mandalay Bay was foiled, so I wanted to have plenty of time.
As it turned out, I took the back entrance to the Mandalay Bay and we got right in, parked on the 6th floor, the roof and were inside by 3:45. We immediately got situated with 10's of thousands of our closest friends in a convention center area of the Mandalay. We had plenty of time to sit and relax, stretch, check-in on FB, use the restroom, etc. I ate my last granola bar at around 4:00pm and I stopped drinking water around then too. I still used the restroom 5 times before the start of the race though, nervous pee-er, I guess. :o)
We headed over to bag check just before 5:00pm, which thankfully was inside so we didn't have to head out into the cold too early. We pulled out the last of the gear we'd need to run and checked the rest, then headed outside. It was chilly. It wasn't too bad when we mingled in with the crowd, but it was in the 40s and it was chilly. We stopped at a Port-A-Potty to get the last of the nervous pee out, and heard the gun go off signaling the start of the race while we in line. Since we were in corral 34 though, we weren't too nervous about not being there, but wanted to head over as soon as possible.
We found our corral, stretched a bit, took a few pre-race photo's and tried to focus. Honestly, at this point, moving up ever so slowly towards to start line, I was hardly nervous at all. Mostly excited and only slightly anxious. As we got closer and closer I could see that the "wave start" had long since been forgotten and every one was just running as soon as they crossed the starting line. Megan and I squeezed hands one last time and we were off.
I felt like I took off like a bullet and I actually remember putting my arms out straight down by my side, taking a deep breath, and telling myself to slow down. I did NOT want a repeat of my 5K in March, wherein I ran so fast I had to physically walk to catch my breath.
My 2 goals for the race, albeit not lofty at all, were:
1: finish in under the time limit of 4 hours
2: not walk AT ALL
Pretty low expectations make for a non-stressful race. And even then, I was nervous at accomplishing both. :)
I found myself getting caught up in the middle of the "walkers" which was mildly annoying because they were impeding my running flow. I moved more to the left so I could get into more of a groove with the "runners" and I found that to also be annoying because every one of them was passing me and I was getting discouraged. I ended up settling into a nice pace somewhere in the middle, closer to the walkers side, having to dodge a few walkers here and there. Oh, and trying not to get discouraged when some of the said "walkers" were passing ME. Show offs.
Of course (of course!) I forgot to press the button on my watch when I crossed the start line, and finally remembered after 1 to 2 minutes had passed. This wasn't too detrimental, mostly just frustrating. As I passed mile 1, I was astonished to see that I was running at a pretty good pace and instead of getting scared and mentally slowing down I found myself trying to keep that same exact pace for miles 2, 3, 4, etc.
At one point, a PACE RUNNER passed me and the sign said 4:10. I freaked out, and almost stopped running. My number 1 goal was to finish in under the 4 hour time limit and this guy just passed me with a 4:10 sign, so there was no way I would finish. I am surprised I didn't turn around. In my head, I knew I had something wrong because my watch was clearly telling me I was running 15 minute miles and the would put me WAY closer to finishing at 3 hours, rather than 4 hours. Eventually, I realized that the 4:10 was from the START of the race, like if I had crossed the pad at 5:30 when in reality I didn't start until closer to 6:15. I at least wasn't going to get kicked off the course for finishing after the cut off. :) ***this just in*** It was probably a MARATHON pacer that passed me, since they had joined the course at that point.
The adrenaline of knowing I was blowing my time out of the water kept me going. That, and the thought of my husband getting my text updates of my splits, and knowing that I was blowing my time out of the water.
As you can see from the chart below, I did slow down some (which is very frustrating to me) but overall I can not be disappointed in my times.
Distance (split) - Total Time - Overall Pace - Split Pace
- HH:MM:SS - MM:SS.S - MM:SS.S
3.1 (3.1 miles) - 00:47:21 - 15:16.5 - 15:16.5
6.2 (3.1 miles) - 01:34:05 - 15:10.5 - 15:04.5
10 (3.8 miles) - 02:30:48 - 15:04.8 - 14:55.5
13.1 (3.1 miles) - 03:18:34 - 15:09.5 - 15:24.5
Every single training run I did towards the end had me running 16, 17, even 18 minute miles. SLOW huh! I mentally freaked myself out on my long runs and kept a really slow pace so I wouldn't tire out. Something about the race made me go all out, keep an even pace the entire time, and not worry so much about injury, or even being able to walk the next day.
I also think seeing every single mile marker pass by me, and knowing exactly how far I'd gone, helped. I run better when I know where I am and how far I have left. I doubt myself big time, otherwise.
Believe it or not, the race itself went by really fast! It was all a blur really and even though I was running for 3 hours and 18 minutes without stopping it felt like 15 minutes. I could not believe it when I was half way done. I could hardly believe it when I got to the 8 mile marker. I actually counted to 5 on my fingers and realized that I was running 5 miles 2 days a week on a regular basis, and that was all I had left. I was on top of the world at that point!
I saw my sister up ahead between miles 10 and 11, and as I finally caught her I put my hand on her should and she looked back and smiled. We ended up running the last 2-3 miles together and and man were they tough. I definitely hit a wall. There's no telling if I would have hit the wall if I'd been alone, I did have a pretty amazing pace going. But the farthest I'd ever run in my training in my life was 11 miles. My knees hurt, my legs hurt, my arms hurt. I hurt. I knew I was close to the end, but I needed to just get there already. As my stats tell, the last 3 miles were definitely my slowest, but that's just something to improve for next time.
My sister pulled ahead in the last 10 seconds and sadly I could not muster up the energy to sprint like I usually like to do for my finishes. I took my headphones off in the homestretch so I could listen for Evan cheering me on. Thankfully, I saw him, and my not-asleep-like-she-should-have-been daughter. I swelled up with emotion the moment I saw them both, and even thinking about my husbands huge smile and loud cheers in this very moment makes me emotional, all over again. I got tears in my eyes as I ran past them, so thankful that I was able to see them and they were able to see me.
There was about 100 feet to the finish line and I gave it all I had. I crossed the pad and immediately started looking for my sister. I saw her up ahead, she had finished about 20 seconds before me, and reached out to hug her. I lost it. Shoulders shaking crying ensued and I could not believe we finished. We ran a 1/2 marathon. And survived.
We made our way through the crowds, got a bottle of water, smiled for a post race photo-op. Could hardly walk or move or breath without cringing in pain but every ounce of pain was worth it. I could not wait to see my husband and to see what I had a feeling would be an amazing time, for me anyway!
We found them (Evan, Brianna, mom) waiting at the letter "M" and they were all 3 smiling and waving. Big hugs, kisses, and a few more tears before we started limping our way to the exit. I could not believe it was close to 10:00 at night and our daughter, who is usually asleep in her bed by 8:15, was still awake, but I'm also glad that I got to see her smiling face.
My sister and I said goodbye to the three of them so they could get B packed up in the car, and Evan could get her home. Megan and I had to get our stuff from gear check, hobble to the car, and eat some post-race celebratory grub. We were going to go to Hash House again, like she did with Evan after their race last year, but opted for some good ol' In-N-Out instead. I was feeling a little queasy but it ended up hitting the spot.
I was definitely sore through Tuesday, with the worst of my pain being withing 1 minute to 24 hours after the finish. But things started looking up around Wednesday. I'm still on cloud 9 over my time and I don't know how or why it happened but I'll take it.
Until next time, when I try to beat 3 hours. :)
