It was a long, cold, and rainy Sunday morning but I managed to finish my first half-marathon!

3, 2, 1, GO!

On race day I arrived a bit early, as I was a little unsure of how things were going to proceed. I was expecting a big crowd, based on photos I’d seen from previous years, but it’s a whole other perspective when you’re walking around in it. Big doesn’t begin to describe it. I made my way to my start point, and watched the crowd get bigger and bigger as start time approached.

The weather wasn’t great, overcast with a chance of showers, but so far it was dry and pleasantly cool.

This isn’t so bad

The first K went by pretty easily. I was not expecting that. We were going at an easy pace, due to the dense crowd, and for the first time since committing to this I felt a little confident.

I remember looking to the side and seeing this guy reflected back to me in the window clad downtown office towers. I thought to myself, “what’s that big guy doing here?”

We came around to the 3k water station and things were still feeling pretty good. No pain anywhere, surprisingly little fatigue, and the dense crowds of cheering people along the roads helped propel us onwards.

Kilometer 12

At 10K, it started to rain. Lighly at first, then heavy enough to get thoroughly soaked and litter the road with puddles. Like little wet landmines, everyone was weaving to try and avoid them but every now and then one would explode near by and soak your feet.

By the time we made our way onto kilometer 12 the course had us on a piece of road that follows a big river that runs through town. Between the rain coming down, and the cold wind coming off the water, I started to get a little cold.

Another feature of kilometer 12 was a patch of steadily ascending road that also happened to be tilted from left to right. I’m not sure if it was the climb, or the slanted road, or most likely I had just finally reached the limit of my fitness level but at that point my knees started to ache.

After surprising myself with a pretty steady first half of the race, my pace slowed by about 2 minutes per kilometer.

Hills

Kilometers 14 to 16 (roughly) featured a couple of small hills in quick succession and the up and down made my knees scream, and convinced my feet to join in on the pain party.

Crossing the big bridge on the course also exposed us to a lot more wind and I went from chilly to downright freezing.

Final 5K

Coming off the bridge, onto the final 5K stretch, I was feeling pretty satisfied that I had made it so far and had so little to go. The final 5K was a loop, and as I was running along I could see the finish line across the way.

Then, looking forward, I realized as the road curved ahead of me that the loop back was not coming nearly as quickly as I thought it would. It was a little deflating, but I soldiered on.

100 meter sprint

I finally started to approach the finish line and the kilometer markers turned into meter markers. I managed to find enough steam to muster a sad little sprint in the final 100 meters. “Finish strong,” I thought to myself, as I hobbled across the line looking like someone had broken both my knees at the last water station.

Through the gate I was quickly handed a bottle of water, a space blanket, and then unceremoniously awarded a finisher’s medal.

It hadn’t really clicked in my head at that point, but I was done. I did it. I finished my first half marathon.

The aftermath

A big feast after the race, and a couple days of rest, and most of the lower half of my body started to feel close to normal again.

I say “most” because there was one thing that didn’t get better. In fact, it got worse. I’ll save it for my next post, but the story includes doctors, x-rays, and pain medication.

Despite all that, I’m still quite proud of having achieved this first in a long list of goals. It was a cold and miserable day, but I’d say it was still one of the most exhilarating I’ve had in a long while!