I managed to complete my half marathon a week ago. I was fortunate enough to stay in Ankeny with my friends Luke and Brooke the night before so I didn't have to pay big bucks for a hotel room or get up before dawn to drive to Des Moines. I arrived at their apartment around 5:30ish and we went to pick up my registration packet and grab a bite to eat. We met up with our friends Kyle McCormick and Jaclyn Stamm and ate at a place a couple miles away from Jordan Creek Mall. I was really hoping for pasta or lasagna so I could carbo-load but they didn't have any of that stuff on the menu so I just had a cheeseburger and fries (nutritious, I know.) While we were there we had what may have been the world's worst waitress take our order. She couldn't remember our names, or even if we ordered food. I kind of felt bad for her because she had the whole outdoor area, but still the service was unimpressive. Eventually Jaclyn's husband Cody joined us and we watched the Hawkeye game, cheering for Northwestern of course. After we finished and started to get cold, we went to cabaret where Luke distributed a bunch of coupons to all of us from a coupon book he had bought from one of his students. I took one for TGI Friday's thinking that I'd take mom there after the race. We left around 10ish and got back to Ankeny soon after. I went to there guest bed to get some shut eye.
The next morning I woke up before my alarm even went off. I jumped out of bed and got dressed. I didn't eat any breakfast due to the fact that no matter how few calories I consume the food just sits in my stomach like a rock if I run shortly after eating it. I had to go to Wal-Mart to pick up some safety pins because my race packet didn't have any in it. I got into Des Moines around 7:15 in the morning and found a parking spot a little before 7:30. I jumped out of my car and started to walk down towards the race. I saw a fellow runner listening to her I-pod as she jogged back to her car. Seeing that reminded me that I had left my I-pod in the car and I head back to grab it. About 7:40 I made it to the port-a-pots that were located a block or two away from the starting line. I decided that I better hit the can before I started running because the clock doesn't stop for bathroom breaks. I will spare you the details of how my visit to the port-a-pot went and skip to the part where I got to the starting area. I had never seen so many people packed into such a small area at once. Lordy lue, I thought I'd never find my mom. However I decided to look anyways. Eventually I gave up the search when I heard Jimmy Hendrix's version of the Star Spangled Banner go over the speakers. I headed towards the starting line and tried to get close to the guy who had the 2:10 sign (meaning he would be jogging at a pace of 1 mile every 10 minutes) I wasn't able to get to him when the race started and soon people started moving.....very very slowly. I don't know what caused all the walkers to get to the front but at that point I didn't care. I had just spotted my mom in the crowd and was going to say hello to her so that she knew how much I appreciated her coming to watch me. She quickly wished me good luck before I continued on towards the starting line. I saw mom's friend Joy Monahan who also wished me good luck. I eventually got sick of walking and started jogging before I got to the starting line. My thoughts were that I just wanted to get it over with. The first two miles the half marathon runners and whole marathon runners jogged together. Then the volunteers held signs that told us which way to go. My favorite sign was the one that had the word crazy with an arrow pointing one way and insane with an arrow pointing the other way, implying that the half marathon runners were crazy and the full marathon runners were insane. I was really glad they did a good job letting us know which way to go because I wasn't quite ready to run a full marathon. When I got to mile 3.5 I saw a man driving on a motorcycle with a siren telling us to clear the path. About 30 seconds later I saw a man who looked like he was from Africa jogging our way. He was booking. I told the man I was running next to that I made the mistake of not being born in Kenya. I would later find out that he was indeed from Kenya and finished the race in just over 63 minutes. Holy cow that's fast. Although I wasn't that fast, the race itself went by rather quickly and one of the things that made it go by so fast was the creativity shown by the spectators. There were countless signs along the way and everyone was really positive. My favorite spectator created sign said "Chuck Norris Never Ran A Marathon." but there were other creative ones. A lot of people came just to cheer and it was really cool, little kids offered runners high fives which I always tried to not shoot them down. I also saw my friend Megan Rodenberg on the course cheering on the runners and it was good to see her. Her husband Brad was running the half as well so she was being really supportive (she even took a few pictures of me and put them on facebook.) At mile 9 I saw the best sight I could have imagined, my mom was waiting by the sign to cheer me on. That meant a lot to me because she could have easily brought a book and waited by the finish line, but instead she walked part of the course. I made sure I smile and waved at her, and the gal jogging next to me said it was really nice of her to come. I replied that mom was my #1 fan. I was feeling pretty good at that point and at mile 11 I saw a timer that showed how long we had been running. It said 1:28:?? (I don't remember how many seconds) I couldn't believe it. I had never finished under 10 minute miles during my training so I couldn't believe that there was a chance that I could finish in under 2 hours. That came into question later on as I felt myself fading but I kept on trucking. Around mile 12 I saw Mom again. She was atop the biggest hill that the half marathoners had to run (not really big but at that time it felt like a mountain) she told me to keep on going and to finish strong. I smiled as I thanked her for coming out to cheer me on. The last mile and a tenth seemed to drag the longest (probably because I had already ran 12 miles lol) I saw people passing me that I had passed earlier in the race. The guy I had kept pace with for the first 11 plus miles was well ahead of me. The volunteers were telling us that we were almost there. One of the guys who had already finished came back on the track to encourage us. As we made the final turn I saw a sign that said mile 13. I knew I was close to the finish line. I looked at the clock and saw that it said 1:57:?? (once again I don't remember the seconds) I'm gonna finish in under 2 hours I told myself. I tried to get a good sprint going but only managed to get up to speed a few steps away from the finish line so I didn't have the greatest sprint ever but I had achieved my goal of finishing a half marathon and had ran faster than the pace that I had set for myself. I would get my electronic timer cut of and receive my finisher metal. I then started walking towards the line where free food and drinks were being distributed. Right around this time the rest of my body started realizing that I had finished the half and immediately got sore. I felt like I was going to cramp up, however even cramps don't stand in between me and free food and I grabbed what looked good. As I finished going through the line I saw my friends Krista and Katy and their mom Diane. I went over and congratulated them on finishing and we visited a little while until Mom showed up. I made my way through the food line again before signing up for a free massage to get my legs muscles loosened up (they felt incredibly tight) While waiting in line I saw the wife of one of my fraternity brothers. She looked like she had lost a lot of weight as well. I visited with her for a little bit before she took off and I got my massage. After that mom and I decided to meet at my Aunt Marlene's house where I'd get cleaned up before we'd eat at TGI Friday's. I eventually found out my time, and that it didn't start until I crossed the starting line (not when the race started) so I was a couple minutes quicker than I thought. My finishing time was 1:55:25 which equaled out to 8 minute 49 second miles. It was good enough to finish in 1013th place out of 3992 (although several people walked it) I felt incredibly sore the next day, and the pain went down a little each day after. I finally felt good enough jog a couple miles today (after a week of eating lots and gaining nearly 5 lbs this past week.) I am incredibly proud of how I did and am looking forward to continuing to exercise through out the future. People often compliment me on how slim I look and each compliment continues to make my day. I have worn my finisher medal and participant shirt and I feel an incredible sense of accomplishment each time I put them on. If you read this and hope to get back in shape but feel like it's hopeless I urge you to never give up, no matter what opsticles stand in your way. There were so many people at the half marathon who were overweight who just walked the course. I was proud to say those people were citizens of the country that I live in because unlike some people who sit and complain about their weight, these people got up and decided to do something about it. I am going to conclude this post with a quote from Ghandi. "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
