As you could undoubtedly surmise from my previous post, we completed our first half marathon! The day was full of excitement, exhaustion, and a little delirious humor towards the final stretch.
our bibs and medals
We started the day early, awaking to warm up, eat a healthy breakfast, and don our newly acquired running apparel (sidebar: The one thing you learn while training is to train like you will run, meaning run in clothes you will wear, eat foods you will eat, and drink as you will drink on race day. The week before our race, temperatures dropped nearly 40 degrees. So...on our way to Columbus we stopped to purchase some new Nike cold-training gear for the race. As it turns out this had no negative effects on our performance and made us much, much warmer. It was barely 30 degrees when the race started.)
We ate responsibly the night before at Brio (a healthy dose of carbs from delicious pasta) and Sunday morning's fuel consisted of Clif bars, water, and jelly beans. Six months ago when we signed up for the race, we were smart and booked a hotel two minutes from the start line. Ingenious, idea. A little after 7am, we made our way downstairs, walked around the Ohio State Capital Building, crammed into the starting area, and began our race.
a fuzzy before-race photo
I'm not sure if it was the brisk temperatures, the culmination of a long training cycle, the live band playing Born to Run, the exhilaration of race day, or the combination of all these things (the most likely option), but we started our race well. Miles 1 - 6 seemed to just zip by. Jen ran her fastest 10k time here and I ran my second fastest - not bad when we still had more than another 10k to go!
Miles 7 - 10 seemed a little spacier. These weren't terribly more challenging in any way, it just seemed to take longer between mile markers. Fortunately, we had prepared some great iPod playlists and were still conscious enough to have intelligent and humorous conversation. This is where having a running buddy really helps you out!
Although, we didn't have to rely entirely on each other for entertainment and motivation. The course was filled with live bands playing around every mile, active volunteers swarming the water/goo stops, and of course, some eclectic fellow runners.
Miles 11 - to the end were pretty exciting. By this time, we had left German Village and made our way to the Brewery District. Downtown and the Arena District were all that was left. The crowds were thicker and even more motivating through here and that made the endorphins skyrocket. We had to consciously hold ourselves back for fear we might burn out before we actually reached the finish!
The last 1/2 mile was probably the most challenging hill-wise, but once we crested High Street and rounded the corner onto Nationwide Blvd., there was nothing standing in our way. Thousands of cheering spectators, arches of multi-colored balloons, and an announcer bellowing out the names of racers crossing the finish line. This is where we really cut loose. We opened up with all we had left and booked it to the end. It felt amazing to hear the course announcer call out our names as we flew through the last arch of balloons and were wrapped in space blankets. Utter, unbelievable pride. That's what I felt after running a half marathon. That and a strong hunger for bagels.
Here's a shout out to everyone who helped us train, gave us tips, wished us luck, or saw us finish - THANK YOU!
Miles 7 - 10 seemed a little spacier. These weren't terribly more challenging in any way, it just seemed to take longer between mile markers. Fortunately, we had prepared some great iPod playlists and were still conscious enough to have intelligent and humorous conversation. This is where having a running buddy really helps you out!
Although, we didn't have to rely entirely on each other for entertainment and motivation. The course was filled with live bands playing around every mile, active volunteers swarming the water/goo stops, and of course, some eclectic fellow runners.
Miles 11 - to the end were pretty exciting. By this time, we had left German Village and made our way to the Brewery District. Downtown and the Arena District were all that was left. The crowds were thicker and even more motivating through here and that made the endorphins skyrocket. We had to consciously hold ourselves back for fear we might burn out before we actually reached the finish!
The last 1/2 mile was probably the most challenging hill-wise, but once we crested High Street and rounded the corner onto Nationwide Blvd., there was nothing standing in our way. Thousands of cheering spectators, arches of multi-colored balloons, and an announcer bellowing out the names of racers crossing the finish line. This is where we really cut loose. We opened up with all we had left and booked it to the end. It felt amazing to hear the course announcer call out our names as we flew through the last arch of balloons and were wrapped in space blankets. Utter, unbelievable pride. That's what I felt after running a half marathon. That and a strong hunger for bagels.
Here's a shout out to everyone who helped us train, gave us tips, wished us luck, or saw us finish - THANK YOU!
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