I'd run two half marathons up until this weekend, and neither went exactly great. Despite training according to plan, both times I crapped out near the end and had to drag myself across the finish line. Instead of finishing proud of myself, I just wanted the thing to be over. I wasn't sure if I just wasn't meant to run halfs or what, and I wasn't sure if I'd ever do another one.
Then my friend Paula, one of my oldest friends, asked if I wanted to run the Chicago Rock n' Roll half marathon with her this weekend. I honestly kind of didn't, because I'd run that race before, but Paula lives in Denver and I rarely get to see her, let alone run with her. I said sure, why not.
I didn't have a time goal in mind: I just wanted to not-hate it. I figured at the very least, unlike with the two other races which I ran solo, running with a friend would be fun.
Things felt different about this race from the get-go. Both times I trained earlier something felt off with me, physically--either my hip felt like it was chewing itself up or my foot felt achy, but this time I felt no chronic pain as I trained. Despite the heat (here and in Anguilla, where I did 2 four-mile beach runs) the running felt healthy. I suspect that now that I no longer have an office job, the fact that I had the freedom to run whenever I wanted to took some of the pressure off. Also due to no office job I took part in foam rolling and stretching sessions after every run, which I hadn't done before. Additionally I decided that for any run 5 miles or longer I would run 10 minutes and walk one. Despite the walking I was running faster times than I normally do, about 10 minute miles. But mentally it helped just to tell myself "Just run for ten minutes." Finally, I felt a lot less pressure about this race. Unlike my first, which was my first, and my second, which was stressful for being out of town, I didn't think I had a lot to prove with this race. I knew I'd finish it: I just wanted to finish it with a smile instead of a pained grimace.
Here were some of the highlights (and lowlights):
- Paula bought us VIP passes to the race which I thought sounded silly until I realized we got private gear check and port-o-lets. Not to give you too much information but I usually have to poop about a hundred times before a race so that was great, to be able to go whenever I wanted to.
- Despite the fact that I went to the bathroom about a hundred times, my bladder refilled itself by the time we were in our corral. I tried to tell myself I was just nervous but I kept looking longingly at the sidelines, contemplating just popping a squat. I didn't, but by the time we got to the one mile mark I realized I'd feel a lot better if I went and got it over with. This separated Paula and me but that's fine because she doesn't do the run ten/walk one thing that I did and I sort of liked looking ahead for her for the duration of the race.
- At around mile 6 I saw my cousin Meredith cheering on the sidelines, which was a little shot in the arm I needed.
- There are lots of bands at the Rock n' Roll which I didn't hear mostly because I listen to my own music, but around mile 7 there was a group of Chinese (? I think?) drummers who played with a grace and fierceness I found inspiring.
- Around mile 9 there was a turnaround where the runners filed past each other. A lot of us high-fived and I loved that (I saw Paula there, too). This occurred when Beyonce's "Get Me Bodied" came up on my playlist and so I felt great, dancing and giving/getting fives, knowing I had most of the race behind me.
- Right at the same spot my guys had come to cheer me on! I didn't expect them to, but seeing Paul, James and Steve cheering for me gave me so much joy. Steve sent me an email after the race that Paul said "Mommy runned faster than everybody!" which is patently untrue but still, it means a lot to me that he saw me doing that.
- I felt good about keeping a little bit of gas in my tank and was contemplating just running the last 2-3 miles without any breaks, but then I began to spot lightning. The weather had been great up until that point, overcast and not too humid. The race route took us underneath McCormick Place. This worked out pretty well actually because by the time I got to the end of the tunnel it was pouring, but we were also informed that the race was temporarily stopped due to lightning. I'm not sure how long we were there for, probably about five minutes. I never got an official go-ahead to run, but I saw a lot of runners making a break for it. Doing a full stop after running that far didn't feel great, actually--not only did I want to just get the race done, it was actually painful to just stand around like that. So I ran in the rain the last few miles (which was fine: I had been dumping water on my head nearly the whole race anyway.)
- I finished strong and with a smile, which was my goal all along. Paula was there waiting for me and I can't wait to see our post-race picture because for some reason I decided I needed to pick her up and hold her in my arms, superhero-style.
- We made our way back to the VIP area and were waiting for massages when Paula began to look a little peaked. Turns out she hadn't eaten breakfast pre-race, had run hard, and she had run the Rock n' Roll 5K the day before. We hung out in the med tent for awhile while the staff got her back on her feet. Props to them: they were very professional, kind and attentive. Maybe too attentive. There weren't a ton of 'customers' while we were there so Paula had the entire staff waiting on her, which freaked her out because she was worried that something must be really wrong if ten medics were hovering over her.
- Paula eventually got discharged and we had some mimosas and beers in the VIP area. Again, totally worth it (also I didn't pay for it, so anything would have been "worth it.")
- Finally, we trundled over to what we really had come for that day--my brother had gotten me a half-day of relaxation at the Peninsula as a Christmas gift so we rewarded ourselves with spa time. And food. And wine. Maybe all I ever really needed to do a good race was to have a friend there and to have something super-awesome at the finish line.
I ultimately ran the race, even with the potty break, even with the lightning break, even with the walking, just about 30 seconds slower than my first half, which I ran all the way through (the second one I ran in New Orleans and the heat made me two minutes slower.) So, I'm kind of mad at Paula because now this means I may run another half at some point. Not a full--ever. I still never finished a half and thought, "let's do two!" But at least this time I finished feeling more like "Yay!" and less like "Ugh."