I did my first ever half marathon race on Sunday, Mar 6 2011 in El Paso, Texas. We started that weekend by celebrating Ingrid's birthday on Friday night followed by some light socializing on Saturday night. Picked up the race packet on Saturday morning after breakfast with friends. It was pleasant to run into a lot of people we know, and it was refreshing to see a big turnout. Right after we got home and went about doing some chores in the afternoon. In the evening we had some authentic Mexican tacos and went to a wine bar to socialize and picked up some groceries on the way home; returning at 930pm. NOTE to self, avoid hot spicy food and any alcohol the day before the race :)
Called the night early as the race starts at 7am. We got everything ready, the clothes, shoes, put the BIB on, and hit the bed at 1030pm aiming to wake up at 4am. Alas, the butterflies finally caught up and I got only three hours sleep :( . Woke up at 4am, made some coffee had one bagel and a small cup of oatmeal. So far so good, but the spicy Mexican food started to play its role :) oh well, I did what I had to do with a few lomotils and watched some cricket. Jumped in the shower at 530 and got ready by 6. Since it was a cold frigid morning with temperature at around 38F, I wore a thermal inners on top. My legs were fine with running shorts. I used a lot of Vaseline on legs and chest and that turned out to be effective as I did not feel any discomfort during the race. I had to also improvise and use a monkey cap since it was expected to be windy. The only thing I was missing were gloves but luckily I got by without them.
I had on my i-pod nano, some jelly beans, and lomotil in pocket. I grabbed a small duffel bag with change of clothes, banana and locked it in car trunk to use after the race. We all set out and reached there maybe 20 mins before race time. The crowd was in, a thousand strong, and everyone was ready and raring to go. All age groups shapes and sizes showed up. At about 10 mins before the race we got some instructions, the national anthem was sung and off went the race gun. I noticed some interesting gear, most impressive was a head band that wrapped around the ears to protect against the cold.
During the first couple of miles I ran a bit faster then usual and I had to take a bathroom break at mile two and spent some 5 mins waiting in line. But that was the only bathroom break and off to racing the remaining distance. After 4th mile I took off the monkey cap and put it in my pocket. I was running well, and to my surprise the thermals did not hamper me and the wind was ok for the first half of the race. As we headed down towards race track where at mile 8 the half marathoners turn around I saw the speedier half marathoners going past on the other side of the road. I crossed the 10k mark, 62 mins into the race and this includes the 5mins bathroom break ! So I was still on target and kept this pace. At all water stations I walked for a minute, the stations were 2miles apart, so I walked every other mile as well.
I kept pace with a race pack for most of the race. On return part of the journey last 5 miles we hit the desolate side of paisano drive, there was little scenery and the wind started kicking in. I felt my heart beating a bit harder than during the training and I slowed down and walked a bit to normalize. Even though I planned on just running comfort pace, I planned to speedup if I could during the last 3 mile. So when I saw the sign for mile 22, I knew that with 4miles to go, I could make a dash for the end and try to do it in 30 mins. I think with 4miles to go I was around 1:26 or close. I thought I had a chance to get in under 2:00 as I had done 4 miles in 35 mins during training. But the altitude and the breezy took its toll and since and I am not used to these conditions, I got tired a bit faster and I had to slowdown a bit more. Eventually with 2miles to go the time read 1:47, so I was still 10 min/mi pace. I started to feel the distance at this point and I slowed down even more. At 1:59 I was one mile out and I felt the pain in the right hamstring, not a cramp but soreness. So at this point I was running 2 mins walking 30 secs maybe more. I lost count. It took me almost 13 mins to cross finish the last mile. My stop watch read 2hrs 11mins 46 seconds, that was my race time 10:06 min/mi !
As I neared the stop, I heard some cheers, and just past the finish line I saw Ingrid, and she snapped some pictures. I felt a bit tired and out of breath but no cramps. It took me 5mins to start talking. Finally I realized I had finished my first race and savored this personal mile stone. Which I did, with some cold beer served at the finish line. Burritos were offered but I was unable to eat, so instead I had a banana and protein shake.
We then saw other racers cross the line, lot of variety old, young, wheelchaired, walkers. Saw one friend finish the half and another finish the full. We finally left at 12 noon and walked a mile to reach our car and took the slow ride home feeling satisfied. Late lunch at 3pm was sushi and ice cream. And today morning had a slice of pizza and a couple of breadsticks.
I did a recovery run on treadmill for 2.5 miles and 15 mins bike in the gym the following day, and taking two days off after.
I enjoyed my first race and I would like to run another one. I need to improve my hill running, and start doing some tempo runs so I can speedup when required. These are the two areas I will need to improve for the next race.
I will plan for a full marathon some time soon, hopefully real soon.
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