Half-Marathon Completion

Sunday, April 26th, was the OKC Memorial Marathon. I ran the half-marathon, and had a goal of running it in 2 hours.
Despite the throngs of people (every running/walking event was sold out!), no parking spots (I had to make my own), and the mess of trying to squeeze into the starting corral (don't even get me started on this one!), I finally was ready to go. I was not able to find my friend, Stephanie, with whom I was supposed to run. We had agreed to meet at the 2 hour pace group, but I was not able to start with the group, and knew I would have to play catch-up. After the wait between the gun going off and eventually crossing the starting line, I elbowed (not literally) my way through the crowd to find the 2 hour pace group. Being at 5'2" it was hard to see over the sea of runners. I kept trying to look for the yellow ballons. A couple of times I thought I had seen them only to have the balloons turn out to be yellow hats that runners were wearing. I eventually found the pace group, thankfully, before we hit the first incline. Much to my surprise, I was sweating profusely, and we had only run a mile. It was very humid, and we started out with the wind at our backs. We had no breeze to cool us off.
I kept trying to look around for Stephanie, but I never did find her. Not even after the race. (We are already making plans to have a better meeting spot for next year.) I did, however, make some new running buddies along the way. I met one girl named Mary Beth from Norman. A 27-year-old mom running her first half-marathon and who couldn't find her running buddy (whose name was conveniently Kacie). I told her I'd be her buddy if she'd be mine. She agreed. We kinda made small talk along the way. We witnessed a guy have a run-in with a cone. The poor guy wiped-out on the road. As we all continued running some people behind us starting giving a friend a hard time saying they saw her push him. Everyone kinda chuckled. Mary Beth was suffering from allergies so while her body felt good, her head did not. I tried to keep her motivated. About mile 6 she hit "the wall". We were still pushing hard staying on the pacer's heels, and I think she was not as prepared as she thought. I told her she could do it. I kept trying to throw out bits of motivation. She said it helped, but she was already losing it. She told me not to let her hold me back. I felt bad leaving her behind, but I had set a time goal, and I seriously wanted to meet it. So, somewhere between mile 6 and 7, I lost Mary Beth. I kept on the pacer's heels. There were a couple other runners that had stayed up with us and I used the "regulars" and the pacer to help pull me. I told myself that the pacer was my anchor, and I was attached to her waist. I had to keep up, otherwise, she was going to drag me. Every water stop she stopped at, I did too. Any that she missed (which only turned out to be one), I missed. I was pretty much her shadow. She was especially helpful to have when we hit the wind head-on. It was hard to push against it, but she kept me going. About mile 9 I met another girl. She was from Bartlesville. She ran the half in 1:56 last year, but knew she was not going to better her time this year. She informed me that she felt sluggish from the start. She was glad to have caught up to the pace group, and knew she could finish in 2 hours. Somewhere between mile 9 and 10, I lost her.
At mile 10, I hit "the wall". I no longer had the motivation to continue. My knees were hurting; my breathing was horrible. I began questioning why I had signed up for the half and not the 5k. I really began hating running at this point, and decided to stop running forever after the race. I saw a medical aid station, and actually contemplated stopping and letting them haul me to the finish. I no longer cared to finish. I told myself that I still have next year to complete my goal. It would be no big deal to stop now. But in another swift second, I slapped myself out of it. I had already run the worst part of it. I only had 3 miles left to go. Plus, I had a goal to keep. I could not feel pleased with myself until I had finished. Somehow I made my legs keep pushing. The longest mile in my life was from mile 11 to mile 12. I knew after mile 12 the finish would be near, but getting to 12 from 11 was miserable. I had no energy. My legs hurts, my lungs hurt, my tummy even hurt. At mile 12 I slowed down. I no longer ran on the pacer's heels. I looked at my watch at one point and saw I was at 1:56. I knew I had 4 minutes to play around with. I was no longer concerned with making my time goal. I just wanted to finish. Once we rounded that last corner and I could see the FINISH line in the distance, I found my last amount of strength. I forced myself to look straight ahead at the finish line. And before I knew it, I was pushing it out...running fast...really giving it my ALL. I crossed the finish line with the clock reading 2:03 according to the gun time. But according to chip time, I finished that race in 2:00:28!!!!! I made my goal!!!
I felt miserable afterwards. My muscles and joints were tingling and buzzing. I was sick for the rest of the day, and was dehydrated. I had to drink a lot of Gatorade to replenish my electrolytes. Even as I write this, my abs and diaphragm are still sore. According to the results website, I kept a pace of 9:12. I've never run that fast for that long, EVER. This was a new thing for me. It felt great, and I can't wait to run my next half. Plus, I have decided to keep up the running. It turns out that it is much more rewarding at the end!