Grape Stomp

My first Half Marathon is finally complete!  By this point in the training game, most people are running 18.  I'm only at 13.1.  But I will take it.  My run has been hindered with my foot injury, but I couldn't have asked for a better day.  There was no time goal.  I was under strict orders that the objective of the day was to nail down a walk plan.  


I ran the first mile as warm up and then started my walking plan.  The bad news is that I actually did the subsequent miles faster than my warmup where I ran the entire mile (basically my run/walk is faster than just my run...or should I say shuffle).  The silver lining is that I'm planning on doing a lot of walking so that works out pretty nicely.  The first 6 miles were through a neighborhood trail/running path in a residential area.  I kept myself paced with two girls that I named "pink and white twins" (they matched head to toe including their anklet tattoos) and with "yellow shirt" girl.  I found myself slowing down between mile 4 and 5, but got a second wind around mile 6 (I told myself I was just starting a new 10K) where Yellow Shirt came back in to view.  The next 7 miles were through the vineyards.  It was an absolutely beautiful day.  I did not have my phone with me, but Jen, a former teammate training for the NYC marathon, brought hers so these are her pics that she sent me afterward.    

I ran into Jen between mile 7 and 8 and she walked with me for a little bit.  Around that time I lost sight of the twins, but Yellow Shirt was still in range (although the gap was growing).  When I got to the aid station around the 8.5 mark, Yellow Shirt was coming toward me.  She smiled and told me I was almost there.  I got excited that it was time to turn around.  Except it wasn't.  I kept going and going (or so it felt).  I finally saw the twins coming back and realized Yellow Shirt made a mistake and turned around at the aid station instead of the turnaround.  That half a mile felt like two.  I've heard signs play tricks on you.  I already know there is a "Mile 8" marker right outside of T2 on the IMAZ course, marking the second loop (and not the first).  This is one of the unfortunate downfalls of loops (the upside being spectator-friendly).


Since I was treating this as a training day, I went on my own.  But, Jen was waiting for me at the finish line which was an awesome surprise. 

What's the biggest downfall to being at the back of the pack?  The 5Kers and 10Kers ate all the food!  They ran out of water at the finish.  And, they ran out of medals!  I finished in 3:17 with a purposeful walk.  My mental state was good the entire time and I was physically capable of doing more.  Most importantly, it gave me the confidence I was looking for in wondering if I could do twice the distance on tired legs, which will hurt like hell, but is feasible (as long as I have a whole lot of obnoxious cheering from my friends and family).