US Air Force Half Marathon 2009

Okay the week start out like this----Do I run. . . yes, NO, yeS, nO, yeS, no, YES, I will!

Well here it goes

I got up EARLY to eat. I had a bagel with PB and Jam and a banana with lots of water. I then laid back down for about 40 minutes. That was an awesome feeling. I left my sisters house headed to the race parking site. I should have arrived about 1 1/2 hours before the start. I got to the final exit and knew I was in trouble--the exit ramp was very long and both lanes were backed up onto the highway. SO I finally got to the parking to catch the shuttle at 8:10am. The start was at 8:30am. No I was not panicked or anything. I did have time to hit the port-a-john while waiting for the shuttle to pickup. Oh yeah, I also realized my Nike+ sensor was dead. Oh well, I needed the music and had my watch for my time. I got to the start at 8:20am and actually found my friend among the 10,000 runners in the area. That was definitely a GOD thing. There is no reason I should have been able to find her.

The national anthem and the flyover and then we were ready to start. The gun went off as did the people on the 13.1 mile journey. The temp at start was about 60 degrees. I wish it had been a little cooler. My first 3 miles were 9:00 miles. I felt great with my Berry Fusion Jello powder that I ate right before the start. Then I took a wrong step around the corner and my foot and heel were shooting pain. So I said to myself--now what do I do. I have a couple choices--walk which I thought I could still do and then run again if I could get my foot in order, sit down on the side of the road and hope that security came along. So I decided to see if I could walk and get my legs and feet back in order. It seemed to work. I then started running again and had not lost much time. We ran throughout base, through the General's housing, and such. It started to warm up more than I wanted but I still felt good. I was able to do the port-a-pot stop at mile 5. Then it was just a walk here and there to keep moving. My foot did not feel great by this point but was still pretty good. Then, with only 2.1 miles to go I had to stop. There was a marathon guy laying on the side of the road. Two other people came over and placed a call to the medics. They were 5 minutes out so I told them my time is nothing for me to concern myself with and that I would stay with him. He was talk (not much sensible, but talking and I could get a glazed over eye contact), then he rolled over and stood up and started to stagger along. I told him I thought that he should just stop because if he fell I would probably not be able to catch him. Then the medics came on their bikes up over the hill. YEAH! I am still wondering what happened with him once the medics arrived. I am sure he was under on Gatorade, nutrition, and water--all on his own doing because there were lots of aid stations.

So I do not have my official finish time because I forgot to stop my watch at the end. However, I am pretty sure I was under 2 hours 30 minutes. I had hoped after the wonderful start to be finishing around 2 hours. I am thrilled with my finish. I was praising the Lord the entire route with my iPod music and just thanking Him for allowing me to meet up with my friend after 20 years to run a race. She finished in just under 2 hours. Hurray!!!!