Coeur d'Alene Half Marathon

It was Thanksgiving weekend but I remember it like it was yesterday. It was when I made the decision to run a half marathon for the first time...and do it this spring. A big goal for someone who's never run a race, has less than a year of running experience (without much consistency) and has never run further than three miles. Ohhh, baby, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I'm so thankful I had friends to give me some direction and encouragement because this girl didn't have a clue.
I chose a Hal Higdon training plan because he looked like a friendly, grandfatherly type that wouldn't steer me wrong AND more importantly, his goal for me was the same as my goal for me..."To finish and want to do it again." So I bought some new gear, including some rubber attachments for my shoes so I could run on snow and ice. Yes. Snow and ice. I subscribed to Runner's World, bought some books, googled, asked a lot of questions.....and ran.
The weekend of the race was a busy one. On Friday I met my friend, Gretchen, for dinner. She's run a fair share of half marathons and I was thrilled when she sent me a text message the next day saying she was going to run it with me in place of her long run. Then the day before the race we had a big BBQ at our house, celebrating Zac's birthday. I wasn't really thinking about what I was eating and how it might affect my run the next morning...or my sleep that night. Yes, you guessed it. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't believe it as I lay there watching the hours pass. I slept about three hours before my alarm went off and I was devastated at how tired I felt. Suck it up, baby, it's race day!



My amazing family gets up without complaining and drives me to Coeur d'Alene at 6a.m. Traffic was a little slow so Christian stops the car to let me walk to the starting point. Amazingly, as I am getting out of my car I hear my sister call my name. Victoria is there, armed with her camera and video camera, and I'm pretty sure she's more excited about this than I am. Everyone needs a sister like her, just to keep life fun :) We find Gretchen and her parents, talk as we stretch, pose for pictures... It must be adrenalaine, or maybe the Aleve, I'm starting to feel pretty good.


The race begins. I'm focused. Gwen Stefani is singing 'escape' on my ipod and I'm reminding myself to go slow which really is not a problem for me. The first few miles were a cake walk...I felt great and we started passing some of the quick starters. Gretchen and I laughed a lot and that made the miles pass faster. I can't really give a mile by mile account of the race, but I can say some highlights were that my Dad and Ann met us on the course at five different points to cheer us on and having them there made a huge difference in how I felt. Around mile six we see a woman sitting in a lawn chair in her front yard, smoking a cigarette and spraying the runners with a garden hose. This was seriously so funny to me I almost peed my pants. I fell into a cadence for awhile and felt the urge to run faster, but I kept at my same pace thinking I should save my strength for the long haul. Maybe that was a mistake, I don't know. Gretchen was an amazing cheerleader to have by my side throughout the run.
All was well until somewhere on mile 8 when I got a nasty sideache. I decided that at the next aid station I would walk with my water cup and let it ease out. From that point, I was strugging. I don't think I'm the type of runner that benefits from taking walk breaks. It's just too hard to keep myself going after I feel that relief and all I want to do is stop.
From mile 12 on I seriously hated everything, did not feel a sense of community with the other runners, the songs on my ipod were annoying, I didn't want the spectators to cheer for me, Gretchen was pulling everything she could to inspire me to keep going...I hated it. The last half mile we could hear the names being announced as runners crossed the finish line. Gretchen was excited about this and I didn't get it. A half mile might as well have been five miles as tired as I was.
Finally, I can SEE the finish line. I know that soon I will have accomplished my goal and finally, I am inspired. As we cross the finish line and they announce my name... Now I get it! That is such an amazing feeling. I hug Gretchen as she goes to find her parents and I'm sure apologize for making them wait so much longer than usual.

My family was there to celebrate the finish with me and with the exception of a few nasty blisters, the pain is over.
I didn't make a specific time goal, but thought I'd come in about 10 minutes before I did. That's ok, because I met my other goal...I want to do it again! And now that I know what it's like, I think I'll be able to sleep the night before.
On a final note, thank you SO much to my family, for helping out so I could have the time to go running. Thanks to everyone who came and supported me on race day, that was a huge encouragement. And thanks to my friends who gave great advice. You all have been instrumental in turning a 37 year old mother into...well, a half-marathoner!