Half Marathon Madness!!!

Hey kids!  Happy Thursday!!!!  I hope this finds everyone well and that everyone is enjoying the warm weather that seems to have struck our lovely nation!  I don't ever remember it being 80+ in the middle of March, but I am NOT complaining!  I am SO happy warm weather has finally graced me with it's presence!  

So you may be able to tell from the title of this post that I accomplished a HUGE goal on Sunday!!!!  I ran (and finished) my first half marathon!!!!  The Publix Georgia Marathon and Half Marathon is one of the premiere running events in Georgia and I can VERY proudly say that I crossed that finish line!  My official finish time was 2:02:19 which is even more of an accomplishment for me considering I did not train outside; I'd been training indoors on the treadmill.  I was very nervous about the hills I'd be running Sunday morning as I only did a few outdoor runs over the course of my training plan.  My "training" plan consisted of runs ranging from 4 miles up to 12 miles.  After deciding to run a half marathon, I knew I needed a training plan to follow.  Because I also knew the Publix Half was less than 12 weeks away, I had to slightly tweak my plan and actually entered on Week 7 of the program.  After printing my training program and comparing it to the runs I'd logged from my official start date (Dec 27, 11), I realized my runs pretty closely correlated to those of the training program which made me feel better about training for the half marathon.  The weekend before the Big Race calls for a 12 mile run and because I wasn't planning to run the Publix Half Marathon this past weekend, I never logged the 12 mile run, only got up to 10, which also made me a little nervous.  After thinking about it though, when you've run 10 miles, what's another 5K, right?!  So I didn't do the long run as the training program suggested, but nonetheless, I completed 13.1 miles, something I never EVER thought I'd be able to do!!

Hubs met me at the finish line with  a big wave and a HUGE smile on his face!

When I decided at the beginning of 2012 to run a half marathon, I initially chose the Publix Georgia Half Marathon as my goal.  I didn't think I was going to be able to run it though because the registration fees had become very expensive ($100+) so until the end of last week, I'd pretty much written off my chances of running this event.  Until my great friend Shannon came through to the rescue!  She forwarded me an email from a coworker who was selling her bib for the early registration fee ($55, MUCH more doable for us!) and next thing I knew, I committed to buying her bib!  Thank you thank you thank you Shannon for thinking of me in that moment!  (On the same day, I also managed to register for an entry into the Atlanta Color Run which has been sold out for months- that's next weekend- stay tuned for fun pictures and commentary!)  After I committed to buying the bib and as the next few days progressed, I got more and more anxious, more excited, just READY for Sunday to get here!!  

To prepare myself for the Big Race, I skipped my strength training class on Thursday and Saturday (did do the abs portion on Saturday though), but did an easy 4 mile run.  Friday, I did my usual 5 mile run and on Saturday, did another easy 4 mile run.  After my run and class, I went straight to the Race Expo at the Georgia World Congress Center and for lack of better words, it was one of the coolest things I've ever attended!  There were vendors everywhere, ranging from running companies to representatives for other races (local and far away) to food and nutrition companies, the list goes on!  I did end up buying a few things- a few running shirts that were on a closeout sale from One More Mile Running (including the shirt I wore for the race) and of course my 13.1 sticker for my car (it's tie dye awesomeness) as well as a few magnets!  I also bought some Gu- a nicely packaged gel with a consistency I cannot even begin to describe but contains the perfect burst of energy needed to finish a long run!  I tried it on Saturday to determine if my stomach would accept it's oozing thickness of terrible flavor.  My stomach reacted like normal- no complications!  I then relaxed by the pool with a good book for the rest of the afternoon, ate a nice, healthy dinner with some good carbs, and Tom and I watched movies the rest of the night.  I was so incredibly anxious for the race that I needed distractions throughout the day and sleeping was difficult.  I did finally manage to contain my excitement though and fell asleep but was wide awake after the first alarm went off!  No snooze button needed whatsoever!

Race morning couldn't have come soon enough for me!  After soliciting a few friends in the running community over the previous days, I made a mental note of everything I needed to do.  I ate a protein bar first thing in the morning to give me some energy, drank some G2 for electrolytes and hydration.  I made sure my bag was packed with everything I needed both pre- and post-race.  I made sure I was 100% ready for this race.  On the way to Centennial Olympic Park, Tom and I enjoyed a nice morning car ride together where he offered many words of encouragement to calm me down.  I was just ready to be at the starting line!  After Tom dropped me off, I made that last minute potty break, warmed up a little by running around Centennial Park to the gear check tent, then made my way to my start corral!

View from the Starting Line- 18000+ participants

When the starting gun sounded, I turned on my music (which somehow managed to change playlists and turn off the shuffle- put it back on the correct playlist but didn't care about fixing the shuffle at that point) and when I crossed the start line, it was on!  I paced myself nicely and enjoyed the scenery, volunteers, and spectators along the sidelines.  I ran through parts of the city I'd never been able to enjoy because we passed too quickly in the car.  I ran through 13.1 miles of neighborhoods within the city and some of the architecture I've never been able to appreciate was truly breathtaking.  The course started at Centennial Olympic Park, went through Five Points, Midtown, Little Five Points, Virginia Highlands, on to Midtown and Georgia Tech, finishing back at Centennial Olympic Park!  The crowds were encouraging, especially within the last mile!  I tried to sprint to the finish line and I may have very well been sprinting but I at that point, my legs were the consistency of Jello, so I'm not sure how much of a "sprint" I got in, but I pushed as hard as I possibly could to get across that finish line!  

After finishing, I continued down the finish lane where I found the most wonderful "sprinkler" spraying cold water on anyone that wanted it!  I stood under it for a good 30 seconds before moving on to where I found Tom, beaming with pride and waving like a little kid to get my attention!  He watched me cross the finish line but I was too focused on not trying to trip over the plastic casing that covers all of the cords and timing equipment that I didn't even notice him cheering me on!  After getting all of my things together and meeting up with a few friends that also ran the half marathon, we made our way back to the car to spend the rest of the day in relaxation!

Showing off my finisher's medal post-race!

I love shiny things!

The rest of the day proved to be very relaxing.  Tom and I got home, I took a LONG bath full of Epsom salts!  After that much-needed soak and cleanse, Tom took me to brunch to my FAVE brunch spot- Marlow's Tavern where I felt I could have eaten the entire menu 3 times (I was quite hungry after burning 1600+ calories).  Later that day, I relaxed by the pool with a friend and because my legs were still sore, I got in the icy cold water up to my thighs, which actually helped a LOT!  The rest of my day was 100% dedicated to getting in some R&R- I didn't feel like doing much of anything, just wanted to have a low-key afternoon.

Words cannot begin to describe the sense of pride I still feel about accomplishing such a huge goal.  Until recently, if you asked me if I'd ever run a half marathon, I would've laughed in your face, said something along the lines of "Do you see this body?  No way in HELL it could ever run 13.1 miles!", but look at me now!  I am an almost daily runner, somewhat of a gym rat, and because health and fitness have become such a big part of my life, I look back and laugh at my old sedentary attitude.  I'm still amazed that I was able to finish a half marathon and now that my legs have recovered, I can't WAIT to run another one and hopefully set a new PR!  Hopefully the next course won't have so many hills!  I plan to keep my current "training" schedule and run 4-5 times a week, 5+ miles at a time (4 miles on some days) so that I'm still in half-marathon condition when the next one rolls around!  I also plan to run more organized races this year.  I'm running a 5K Fitness Challenge in Roswell this Saturday (I got a free entry thanks to my Active.com Advantage membership- yesssssssssss!), doing the Atlanta Color Run (5K) next weekend, and plan to run the Historic Roswell Kiwanis Spring K Classic (10K) in support of a good friend's organization mid-April and hopefully will be able to make it to San Francisco for the Bay to Breakers 12K late-May for which my mom signed me up!  I've registered for the lottery for the Peachtree Road Race and should find out soon if our group is selected for that huge event!  I had a goal awhile back to do one race per month but when it got cold, that goal fell off the map- I'm not partial to outdoor cold-weather runs.  I'm hoping to reinstate that for at least the warm months!  I do love races as they are energetic and fun and they support the local community and charities!  Hopefully I can accomplish this goal and be able to check it off my Goal List when winter rolls around!  More to follow on that!

So far in 2012, I've accomplished 2 of my goals and the first quarter isn't even over!  I started my blog (thanks for reading) and I finished a half marathon!  I'm going to start looking into triathlons and hopefully can find a good training program for a good triathlon in late summer/early fall.  If anyone has suggestions, I welcome them!  Hope everyone is having a wonderful week!  Be back soon!

xoxo

Britt!