My first half marathon!

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Sunday, I ran the Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon for the first time, it was also my first half marathon. I started the race with Bobby, his brother Jon, and my friend Lacy. As far as official races, I’d only ever done 5k races before this. As far as training, the furthest I’ve run this year is just under 6 miles, and only once. I hadn’t run any other races this year. Needless to say, I was incredibly nervous to run this race that I signed up for about 10 months ago. When I registered back in January, I figured I’d have plenty of time to train, and I did. The problem is finding/making the time to train properly. I think I just didn’t try hard enough.

That said, I am very happy with my race results. Aside from water stations, and snapping a few photos, I didn’t stop running until after 10 miles in. Let me tell you, I was very surprised that I managed that. Not only had I not run very far previous to the race, but it was also very cold. Thankfully, I managed to dress very well for the race. I finished 13.1 miles in 2 hours and 20 minutes. I definitely surprised myself with that time.

As with a lot of things lately, I learned some things about myself and was reminded of others. I learned that when I’m determined, I can do a lot more than I think I can. I learned that smiling can make all the difference to help push through non-injury pain and discomfort. As a lot of snarky signs reminded me, I paid to run this race. Those snarky signs were some of the things that made me smile. The spectators all along the route were wonderful. Whenever I saw children holding their hands out for high fives, I went out of my way to pop over and give them high fives. I know that, as a kid, it would make my day if someone did that. Actually, I gave everyone high fives, I just went out of my way for the kids. High fives are fantastic. I also reminded myself that I don’t need a soundtrack to run, apparently I don’t get bored easily. I ran the vast majority of the race alone with no headphones. Lacy broke away pretty quickly, Bobby’s brother didn’t take too long to take off, I stuck with Bobby for a bit, but I pretty soon broke away. That was a bit momentous for me because we usually stick together during races, but since I had done more training, I really wanted to see how well I could do and I wasn’t ready to stop running. So, I kept going, and I’m glad I did.

There was one almost terrible thing that happened. As I ran down the road from the tunnel after coming back from Canada (the uphill coming out of that tunnel was BRUTAL and I was feeling rough), I saw a man lying on the ground with people all around him, one of whom was giving him chest compressions. I was so jarred by that, and I wondered the whole rest of the race if that guy was okay and hoping with everything I had that he was. Lacy sent me an article later on that said that he was fine, most likely thanks to the people who stopped to help him and the speedy first responders. I realize anyone would be concerned, but I’m not exaggerating when I say I started crying a little bit.

I honestly didn’t realize how much endurance I have until this race. Like I said at the top, I haven’t done any other races this year, and I hadn’t run nearly far enough to be properly trained for this, but after I had run 10k of the course, I felt fantastic and I made a goal of running the entire thing. At about mile 10, my hips started becoming very sore and my legs were fatiguing, so I switched my goal to finishing as strong as I could, but not being upset if I needed to walk because I didn’t want to risk injuring myself by going too hard. All in all, I’m very happy with how I did. I got over the finish line in a pretty decent time, got my medal and my food, put my jacket back on, plopped down on a curb and ate the most delicious banana and drank the most amazing chocolate milk ever. Then I texted Lacy and found her and Jon, and we chilled at the after party with our coffee until Bobby arrived just under an hour after me. I also ran into a friend and former co-worker and chatted for a bit, which was really cool and unexpected. I already know that I want to do this race again next year with the goal of training better and being able to beat my time. I don’t know what it is, but I love running, and this race was exhilarating. I think I’ve experienced this runner’s high that I hear so many people talk about. It was such a surreal experience, more than I was even prepared for. The self-discovery, the accomplishment, the awesome scenery both in Detroit and Canada, the wonderful volunteers and spectators, being there with people I care about, everything was just so fantastic.