The good, the bad (blisters) and the ugly.

Well, it has officially been two weeks since my half marathon. I've had time to reflect over it, think about it, analyze parts of it..and time to process that day and the aftermath. So it's about time to write about it!

Sunday October 12th started out extremely early for me. I agreed to meet a few of my co-workers who were also doing the race, at work at 6am. The race started at 7:30, and rather than drive myself down to Long Beach, I figured going down with others would make the race not only more interesting, but take a bit of the stress of me meeting up with the others alone. If nothing else, I at least had part of the group with me. The plan was, for all of us to convene down there about 6:30, meet by a group of palm trees, get some stretching in, and be set for the start of the race. Ah, best laid plans.....

The reality, we left work closer to 6:30. On the way down there, we were in constant contact with the rest of our group to see who was where, on what part of the 710 (freeway that gets you down to Long Beach). The closer we got, the more traffic we feared we would hit. But somehow, through my friend Spring's driving we made it through to Long Beach relatively unscathed.

However, realizing how late we were (we pulled into the parking lot we parked at about 7:15), we needed to "jog" to the start of the race. That meant running probably another 1.5 miles to the start (yes, we parked that far away...grrr.) I like to believe I actually ran 15 miles that day instead of 13.1 :) The good news, by the time we started, the crowd, thick and plentiful at the start of the race (we watched a wave go by while we were waiting in line at a port a potty), had thinned out by then. No running shoulder to shoulder with anyone.

Along the route, we met up with another part of our group, my friend Sandee. This was good news for me. Sandee was someone I knew I needed to pace with. In many of our training runs I realized that she ran a steady pace for each 3 miles we ran. Knowing that my "stop and go" approach would have left me angry and tired, stopping to walk and then running again, when I met up with her, it was easy running the rest of the way. Not easy in that we were going slow, but easy in that we were at a pace that I could handle for 13 miles. I slowly started to believe I could hack actually running this whole thing. Yes, it got harder, and more painful with each step, but hey...no pain no gain right.

The GOOD part of this accomplishment, no one can take away the sense of pride I have for completing it. Yes a group of us did run it, but with different times, most of us didn't know where another group member was along the course. And even running next to Sandee (and our  friend Andy who we met around mile 6), I still was very aware how much this race was me against myself. Around mile 10 I slowed down to walk. This is what I feared would happen much earlier in the course (at like mile 5) but I had found a way to push through. But by mile 10 a blister that had formed on the side of my right arch made itself much more known and was quite uncomfortable. So I reasoned that gave me cause to slow down and walk. After about 30 seconds my brain kicked in and went "wait..you have ran for 10  miles..and NOW..with less than a Rose Bowl loop (which is 3 miles) you want to walk! UM NO! I think the other thing that did it for me was looking to the crowd that was slowly lining the course now and seeing a sign that totally made me laugh and suck it up. It read "you signed up for this, so keep going you are almost there!" A silly yet needed reminder that I decided to put myself through this, so I had to decide to pull myself out of it by completing. Those last 3 miles were the hardest three I have ever ran in my life. But when I got the the .1 of my 13 miles, saw the finish line, had Eye of the Tiger blaring in my ears (yes..I loaded that song to finish to on my ipod shuffle), I realized I completed a year in the making goal! Time officially...2 hours 23 minutes. The time on the finish clock shows much later, but we started 13 minutes after the start of the official gun start so I know my time was better. Even through my pain, I was smiling the whole rest of the day.

The BAD part of the race however, the blisters. I had bought socks earlier that week I had tried out that had toe sections for each of my toes (like gloves or mittens for your feet basically). I had been developing blisters on my baby toes on my right foot for a few runs before and after googling research on blister remedies, found a pair of socks that a couple of sites recommended to tackle blisters. But in the long run, (hahah..great pun), my toes faired fine while my heels and arch areas were compromised. In total, I developed 5 blisters. The two on each arch areas of my foot the most severe (nice little liquid filled lovelies about 2 inches a piece. But again, the accomplishment of the day far outweighed the pain and healing it has taken to get my feet closer to normal. They are still a bit tender, but I am much better than I was last week.

The UGLY? Well running since has not been a barrel of fun :( Our group took the week after the race off, knowing that after enduring 13 miles in one day (on a Sunday no less..no days rest before work the next day) we knew we needed time to heal our aching muscles. But the reality, I have done two 3 mile runs since, both with ugly times and heinous results (my pace has disappeared and I am again back to running and stopping to walk and then running again. I am  hoping that choosing not to run a 5K this morning and getting myself back into the gym to supplement my running will do wonders to kick start me back into shape again. And believe it or not, pain and all, I WOULD like to do another half marathon (although at mile 13, when I saw the split between the full and 1/2 I realized I have NO desire to complete a full marathon. Running 13 more miles at that point would've officially broke me. For now, I am proud of my accomplishment, and look forward to brainstorming on a new goal to document down come resolution time.