Good. Now that you're back (or not, but then you wouldn't be reading this anyway), let's start at the beginning. I can't remember when exactly I decided that I might want to run my first half marathon this fall - though, actually, "decided" isn't the right word. "Coerced" is probably more accurate! Megan, my good friend and best running partner - marathoner, runner of 22 half-marathons, and two-time triathlete - and I had been running together since I moved back to DC almost a year and a half ago, and she declared back in January that the time was right for me to challenge myself with a longer race.
At that point, having started the NHS Couch to 5k program on December 26, 2011, I'd run a handful of 5ks, two 5 milers, and a 10k. (I recorded a vlog in late November 2012 about my first year of running, if you're interested, and then another just generally about being healthy a few months later, which is here.) Megan, our friend Jen, and a few of their running buddies agreed that the Diva series would be a good first half for me - they're very friendly to new and slow runners and it's all women so the atmosphere is really fun and encouraging. We all signed up for their inaugural race out in Virginia, and I started training.
The plan was to cross off another 10k, a 10miler, and a couple more 5ks over the spring and summer, but a stress fracture in my foot derailed a lot of that. I trained as well as I could regardless, but I wish I had more completed races under my belt before setting off on Saturday morning - I did not feel physically ready to tackle 13.1 miles.
But Megan, Jen, Melissa, Erica, Janice, and Kelly are all experienced runners with more than 150 different half-marathons and marathons to their names, and I knew I was in good hands. We arrived at the expo in VA on Friday morning and I had a blast soaking up all of the energy and checking out the merchandise stalls. I was so manic that they suggested I get a glass of wine with dinner to help me sleep that night; we were afraid the adrenaline would try to carry me through to the morning! But, after lunch, we spent four and a half (very successful) hours at the Leesburg Outlets and I had crashed down to earth by dinnertime. (If I could eat like this guilt-free every night... well, it might get me to sign up for another half!) I was asleep by 9:15pm, my alarm set for 5:15am.
Of course, I woke up, totally jazzed, at 11:57pm thinking, "Okay, I'm rested! I bet my alarm will go off soon!" This happened again around 3am, though I wasn't totally with it when my phone did beep at the proper time on Saturday morning. But I quickly got back into the spirit of things, and the first-time excitement returned in full force by 6:10, when we hopped in the car to drive the 12 miles from our hotel to the race.
Unfortunately, getting stuck in two hours of traffic sort of killed my buzz. See, the race started at a winery, and there was only one long road that led into the property; that road was also part of the course. The start time was 7:30am so we (and the thousands of other registrants) planned to get there for 6:30am and the road simply couldn't handle all the cars. Apparently the parking situation was also a disaster, though luckily we didn't experience that. We managed to get in and park by 8:15, but, because of the backup, the start time got pushed back to 9am. Everyone was furious - we entertained ourselves as we crawled along by reading the comments that other runners were leaving on the Diva Facebook page - and I think every runner blamed the officials' phenomenally poor organization for how they ran that day. (For those of you who don't run, a start time delayed by 90 minutes throws a total spanner in the works. We all ate breakfast before 6am, assuming that we'd be running at 7:30am, so we didn't feel properly fueled when we actually started at 9. Plus, though the weather was absolutely gorgeous for a run, we all thought we'd be done long before noon and so didn't dress for the sun and heat of running in the late morning.) I couldn't help but get excited again, though, as we ran into girls that my friends knew from other races and more and more people started filing into their corrals for the start.
Megan was actually injured and wasn't able to run the race, so Jen volunteered to stick with me the whole time. She has finished dozens of half and full marathons but didn't need to set any records yesterday - I was so comforted knowing that an expert would be by my side for all 13.1 miles. And now that we've finished, I can definitely say I might not have finished without her support and encouragement - because that course was tough. I mean, yikes.
The course was advertised by Diva as "mostly flat with some rolling hills." The first four miles were... alright, I'll give them that description. Sure. I'd say "mostly rolling hills with some flat," but okay. Fine. And the countryside we ran through was absolutely gorgeous, no question. Miles 4-8, however, were intense hills. I did a decent amount of hill training, but this was something else entirely. Diva had told us that the elevation would only climb by 90 ft throughout the whole course, but readouts from other runners' Garmins put the elevation gain at several hundred feet. I don't think anyone was prepared for that. The last third of the course was back to mostly rolling hills, but at that point there wasn't much hope of recovery for me. Add to all of that the mixed terrain - we ran over pavement, dirt roads, and several tricky miles of gravel - and my body took a pounding.
Afterwards, my friends told me that they would not have recommended this as my first half marathon if they'd known what the course would be like. As I said before, they're all highly experienced runners, and when we powwowed with their friends at the finish line, they all agreed that this was one of the worst races they'd ever run out of the hundreds across the country that they've completed. (One of the girls had a realistic goal time of 2:15 but came in at 2:45. That should give you an idea of how everyone struggled with the course regardless of experience level!) To add insult to injury, the same traffic problems reared their ugly heads as we left the winery and it took nearly two hours to get back to our hotel. Pro tip: avoid sitting in a car for two hours immediately after running a half marathon if you can because your body will refuse to work when you try to get out and walk.
My official time was 3:22:54. My goal had been to come in under 3 hours, but given the difficulty of that course I was just glad to finish. I have never challenged myself like that in my life, and I have never felt so physically accomplished as I did when I crossed that finish line. (After we accepted our bling and water and snacks, Jen turned to me and said, "You just ran a half marathon!" I looked at her and repeated numbly, "I just ran a half marathon." And then I started crying and hyperventilating and had to put my head between my knees because I couldn't breathe. I'm nothing if not classy and composed!) My time isn't what I wanted it to be and, moreover, the experience wasn't what I hoped it would be, but I am a half marathoner and that is amazing. Only 1.85 million other Americans can say that! I ran - and finished - a half marathon. It's the coolest thing!
I want to make sure to include a massive thank you to all of the volunteers who helped out at the race, especially the kids and teens who manned the water stations, and to everyone who lined the course to cheer for strangers. Thank you especially to Lindsay, a blog reader and Twitter friend and soon-to-be-expat in England, who parked at mile 7 with a sign that I so desperately needed to read at that point in the course - that's her with her friend up there in the second photo from the bottom! And thank you also to the Holiday Inn at Carradoc Hall in Leesburg, whose staff was understanding and kind when we arrived back three hours after check-out time because of the race snafus. I think it's important to note that I've heard really good things about the other Diva races - this inaugural one in VA seems to be an anomaly amongst the rest of the series.
In case you're curious, I'm still crazy, even after this half. My reward to myself for finishing is a new pair of sneakers, and I have six races planned already for the next 9 months:
Marine Corps Marathon 10k, DC - October 27, 2013
Downs Park 5 Miler; near Annapolis, MD - November 2, 2013
10k Turkey Trot (not sure where yet; it depends where we're doing Thanksgiving this year) - November 28, 2013
Celtic Solstice 5 Miler; Baltimore, MD - December 15, 2013
GW Parkway Classic 10 Miler; Alexandria VA - April 13, 2014
Frederick Running Festival Half Marathon; Frederick, MD - May 4, 2014
The silver lining to my time for this half marathon is that it should be easy to beat it next spring! If you live in the DC/Baltimore area and want to sign up for any of these with us, let me know. I think I can speak for Megan and Jen and the rest of their gang when I say that more masochists are always welcome!
