Rockin' and Rollin'!

What an experience!  I figured I would try and put it all into words before my "runner's high" wears off.  You don't believe in it?  This is why I run.  I may hate it while I'm training, I may get down on myself when I have bad runs, but when I cross that finish line it is magical.  I feel a sense of accomplishment greater than I can describe.  I feel pride in myself, joy, happiness and relief all rolled together.

This is the biggest race I have run, by far.  I shared the starting line with about 27,000 other runners and the atmosphere was electric.  When you are a runner, it doesn't matter if you are fast or slow, you are all in it together.  Some may cross the finish line in two hours, others in six, but we all cross it (hopefully) and we all feel the same sense of accomplishment at doing so.  Seeing all different people from all walks of life running alongside you can be so motivating and heartwarming.  It makes you realize that truly anyone can do it if they set their mind to it!

I woke up at 4:30am, with the good fortune of never really needing an alarm clock.  Seriously, my body wakes me up at whatever time I need to get going, how crazy is that?  Nonetheless, I always set it as a backup.  I quickly got dressed, agonizing over what to wear.  The forecast called for temps in the 40s through the whole race.  I knew I didn't want to go heavy on the top and bottom and decided to pick one and go with my gut.  Do I wear capris and a short sleeve shirt or shorts and a long sleeve shirt?  Finally I settled on shorts (because really, I have trouble running in anything else even if it's terribly cold) and a driFit Nike shirt which would keep my arms warm, but not overheat me.  When I stepped outside that morning I realized it was not as cold as it had been projected to be and the thermometer in my car confirmed that it was in the mid 50s.  So I decided to bring my capris with me and change before the race if need be.

I drove along the quiet streets at 5am on Sunday morning to get to my friend's house.  She was running her first half marathon and graciously allowed me to tag along with her and her sister-in-law and another friend.  The one thing I hate about going to races is being alone and with this being such a big race I just know I would have been more nervous doing it on my own.  Instead I had that security blanket of being with people I knew and so instead of focusing on my nerves before the race, we got to enjoy some time together.  We drove to the AT&T Center downtown where they had free parking and shuttles to the race.  This is the third year of the Rock N Roll Marathon and 1/2 Marathon in San Antonio and I heard the first year the shuttles were a nightmare.  We were happy to see when we pulled up that there were many shuttles and the lines were extremely short: in fact we walked right onto one with no wait.

When we got to the starting line it was possibly the biggest mass of people I have seen in one place in my life.  We went to check in our gear and then used the bathrooms and that was all we had time for before the race started.  The elite runners took off at 7:15 and the rest of us would be released in corrals about a minute or two apart.  I was in corral # 25 and realize now I should have made my goal time a little more ambitious so I could be farther ahead in the corrals.  By the time I started the race I was already forty minutes behind!  So you can see just how many people were there.  Add to that the fact that a train delayed some of the first runners and the corrals had to be held up to wait for it.  It was a five minute delay and in my opinion it was just unacceptable.  I think that San Antonio did a fantastic job putting on this race, but that put a huge taint on an otherwise great race.  Times had to be adjusted for those runners who were affected and what if they could have gone on to win the race?  The ones who made it through before the train came by had a five minute advantage.  It was just crazy.

The starting line was electric with energy.  The corrals kept moving forward, walking maybe 1/2 a mile to get to the start line.  We were inching there and as each corral was announced to go it got more and more exciting.  There were two condo buildings on either side of the start and many people were sitting out on their balconies watching us.  Finally they called corral #25 and we were off.

I felt fantastic through the first five miles.  I tend to be hard on myself when it comes to pace and finally about two weeks ago I decided to take the pressure off myself.  Who CARES what my time is?  I do this for myself and no one else.  I am not out to win any medals, I am out to have fun and make myself and my family proud.  Slow and steady may not win the race, but it wins the race in my heart and mind.  I was feeling so good at two miles I kept wanting to speed up, but I told myself I would check in at five miles and see how I was feeling.  I will never forget how I felt at Mile 5 in my first half marathon: dog tired and wondering how in the world I would make it another eight miles (I have given birth three times and never have I been as tired as I was during that race).  This time I felt GOOD.  I took a gel at Mile 6 and that got me through the next few miles.  By 9.5 miles I was getting pretty tired again, but I kept reminding myself that I was closer to the end than the beginning.  Once you get up there in the mileage you can tell yourself "okay, there's only two miles left so even if I walk the rest of it I will still cross that finish line!"  It's so hard when you get tired early on because everything seems so hopeless.  I also tried to just trust in my training and my experience.  I had done this before!  I had run 13.1 miles before and I could do it again.  I had an amazing 11 mile run the weekend before and felt I could have gone farther, but didn't want to push myself since I had my race coming up quickly.  I held onto the knowledge of both my experience and my last training run and just tried to focus on the fact that I COULD do this.

I took another gel at Mile 10 to power me through to the end.  As I got to Mile 12 the crowds really started to pick up.  There were spectators along almost the entire race, which is really encouraging.  I think I just need crowds to root me on in every run I do, then I can accomplish anything!  People were sitting out on their hotel balconies, families were at every turn to root on their moms and dads and even people coming out of church stopped to cheer us on.  It was incredible.  Every so often I would get a rush of emotion and think "this is why I am doing this...because of this feeling of greatness".

The finish line was at the Alamodome and it was packed with people.  Once I saw the finish line I took off as fast I could, which was another contrast to my last half.  At the end of that one I literally had nothing left; it was all I could do to pull myself across the finish line.  This time around I still had some juice and wanted to finish strong.  I did it!  I crossed the finish line in 2 hours and 36 minutes, breaking no records and winning no prizes, but feeling fantastic.  I got a neat finisher's medal, much cooler than my last one.

The throngs of people made it impossible to locate my family.  I had checked my phone in my gear bag so I went to pick that up and discovered that I had no reception.  I started panicking after a few minutes because there was no way I would be able to find Richard and the kids in this mass of people.  I asked another runner to borrow their phone, but they were having the same issues as me (thanks AT&T).  There was considerable cloud cover that day, so I wonder if that affected the service.  Finally I started to get reception and was able to connect with Richard and meet up with them.  Unfortunately they didn't get to see me cross the finish line, but it was nice just having them there to meet me at the end.

The race was not quite what I expected it to be: I was really expecting more rock and roll and more bands, but they seemed few and far between.  When I saw the first one jammed underneath an overpass on a tiny stage I realized that this wasn't going to be what I saw in my mind :).  But that was okay.  I had my iPod anyway and you pass the stages so quickly that you don't have much time to really hear the music.  It was exciting every time I turned a corner and heard the strains of a band coming up.

The weather was as good as you can ask for a race here.  Last year's race had terrible conditions of humidity and heat and I was a little nervous about this year.  I don't run well in humidity so it would have been more difficult for sure.  The cold was great and the sun even stayed away, which was amazing.  When that sun comes out here it doesn't matter how cold it is, it beats down on you.  So I was very grateful for the cooperative weather conditions!!  There was no rain, which had been projected at the beginning of the week, but the weather forecast changes literally hour to hour here.

I am still living on my runner's high today and I feel amazing.  I know I haven't done anything spectacular: I haven't cured cancer, I haven't saved lives or touched anyone's life in any way, but I did something for myself that I am proud of and that's important too.  I'm trying to be someone that my kids can look up to and see that if I can do these things, so can they.  I want them always to strive for the stars and believe that anything is possible and if someone like me can accomplish a half marathon (or two) than anyone can.

So what next?  Well I just went and signed up for a Thanksgiving Day four mile race (and Calli will be doing a fun kids' run too!) and a 10 miler on December 18th.  You want to know why I continue to run when I complain about it and say I hate it?  Because even if the training sucks, the finishing is what makes it all worth it.  Why does anyone do drugs?  Just take up running and you will feel fantastic accomplishing these feats.

Maybe someday I will even take on the difficult task of a marathon.  Just thinking of it puts knots in my stomach, but the thought of crossing that finish line (bawling with joy I am sure!) is motivating.  So will it happen?  Maybe.  For now I am content where I am in my running.