Rock N River Half Marathon

If you've paid any attention to me on twitter you'd know that I was a smidge nervous about this half.  Why was I nervous? Well my first scheduled 12-mile training run that I finished in Texas a week or so ago was not a happy run for me.  In fact, the self-proclaimed it's-easier-for-me-to-keep-running-rather-than-do-walk/run-intervals ran 6 miles and then walked/ran the last 6.  They were hard miles.  I wanted to wuss out at 10 miles.  I felt fatigued and unmotivated.  I'm not sure if I felt that I let myself down or I let my girls down.  You see, this whole Team in Training idea was mine.  I was so excited when The Sisterhood decided to start running.  'Cuz running is my thang.  I've always enjoyed it.  And I've felt responsible to hold up my end of the bargain - being the "good running role model".

So Saturday night I was talking to T and told him that I needed his running mojo for the morning.  I needed the mojo that allowed him to run in leather boots on the beach with 60 pounds on his back keeping up with guys a foot taller than him.  I think he sent me all he could because I did pretty damn awesome on this run.

I always get turned around in downtown Reno, so I set my alarm for 4:45 in.the.freakin.morning, getting up and making breakfast and coffee.  The races had staggered start times with the marathon starting at 6:30, the half at 7, 10K at 7:30 and the kids 1 mile fun run at 9:30.  My goal was to complete the 13.1 in no more than 2 hours and 10 minutes.

I got out of my truck at about 6:15 and headed down the way to check out the start line.

Okay, so it's not actually the start line, but it was the end of the "gate" for the start line.  

I got to see the start of the marathon.  It was weird to think about the fact that some of those runners would be done with double the amount of miles I was doing in about the time I wanted to finish.  The top runner in the marathon was a 25yo local whose finish time was 2:35:45 (an average pace of 5:57 per mile).  

I saw this sign and thought of ChristieO.  

I figured if anything, I was going to harness T's mojo and her tri-awesomness.  

In the last 10 minutes before the half gun was set to go off, I ran into a friend of my mom's and we chatted until I realized that oh crap! I need to get the iPod ready to go.  So the gun goes off and I take off - getting passed by many many people.  I just reminded myself to take it easy in the beginning.  I was crusing along at a nice pace and hit mile 1 at 9:18.  And then, the a horrible thing happened.  My earphones died.  They crackled and died.  I was thrilled beyond belief.  Because I love running without music.  In fact I love it so much I've never.done.it.ever.  I took a deep breath, grumbled, and wondered how I was going to get into the zone for the next 12.1 miles.  So I tried to people watch and not kill myself on some of the uneven paths we were running.  There was a local running group with matching t-shirts; on the back they said "enjoy the miles".  I tried and was fairly successful.  Most of the miles were run along the Truckee River.  We crossed it 3 times.  Have you ever run across an old, wooden bridge with 30+ other people all going at a different rate? Bouncy.  When I hit mile 7 I sighed.  I was more than halfway done.  Yahoo!  And then I got to mile 8.

Let's go back a bit.  Since the 12-miler the previous weekend I had been wearing my pretty, new, New Balance shoes.  They were really comfy and meant to correct for overpronation, which is a problem I have.  I ran 5 miles on Wednesday in them and another 2 on Friday.  My left ankle was feeling a little off Friday afternoon, which is when I decided that I was going to go back to my Nike's for the half.  I didn't want to hurt myself on such a long run.  It felt like my ankle wanted to pop but wouldn't.  I didn't really have pain.  It was more an awareness of something being off.  

So, I hit mile 8 and shortly thereafter I had pain in my ankle.  *shit* So the internal debate started.  Do I stop? Do I call it quits? I didn't want to hurt myself before San Diego.  But I trudged on, taking more careful, gentle steps.  Then I hit mile 9 and then mile 10.  Intermittently for a quarter mile here and there it would feel better, and then the pain would come back.  By the time I hit mile 11, I knew I only 20 minutes left.  And really, when you've been running for almost 2 hours, what's another 20 minutes, right?  One of the volunteers was also at mile 11 and was cheering everyone on.  He looked at us and said "2 more miles and it's mostly downhill."  I held on to that.  I spent most of the last 2+ miles chanting with every step, "you.can.do.this."  And then I caught up to a lady wearing this shirt.   And it made me smile.  So much so that after following her for about a half mile and I had to tell her that, yes, that shirt did make her butt look fast.  Which made her laugh.  

By mile 12.5-ish we were back in downtown Reno and I was so done.  I just wanted to cross that finish line.  As I made the last turn and saw that the Reno arch was just ahead, a little over that last 0.1 miles, and I picked up my pace.  I could see the clock at the finish line and it said 2:07.  There were three people in front of me.  I broke into a sprint and passed them all.  My gaze was set on that clock.  I hit the finish line at 2:07:38 (after checking my official time today).  

I handed over the tear-off portion of my bib, got my medal, and set my eyes for the snack table.  Juice, bananas, apples, and granola bars.  I knew I needed to sit down.  After I ate and drank and rested, I got up and went in search of the free massage tent.  The local massage school had 20 students/10 tablets/2 students per table giving out free massages.  Heck yeah!  I waited about 15 minutes for a massage, and it lasted at least 15-20 minutes.  Head to toe.  I think every long race needs complimentary massages at the end.  

So, now I'm resting.  Resting my ankle that is.  It's still bugging me, but I've been icing and taking it easy.  I'm waiting on a response from Coach Joe, our TnT coach, to get any further insight into this odd injury.  My hope is that I'm back into the swing of things by next weekend.  I now know that I can do the 13.1...even slightly broken.  San Diego better watch out, because I'm coming to town and I'm running 13.1 in under 2 hours.