The timing of the Bluegrass Half Marathon was not ideal, I would've rather had 60 days clear of winter to train as opposed to 30 but if it's easy then it isn't worth doing right? This event represented significant progress on my way to achieving my ultimate goal. I wrote about being revived last April and I sit today, (legs sore) experiencing that same feeling.
I arrived at Keeneland anxious but ready. I had completed runs averaging seven miles the previous four Sundays at a rate of about eight minutes 33 seconds. Not knowing the course my goal was to sustain that pace and finish under 110 minutes. The crowd was large and the energy emitted into the cool early morning air was unmistakable.
This is only the third race I've competed in and first over 5K. I know I have a lot to learn, one thing that I tried to remind myself of was to; run my race, keep my tempo, and try not to get too excited too quickly. I failed on two of those. While I didn't get too excited, I quickly became preoccupied with getting around some of the less serious runners and unnecessarily expended energy. As a result, my tempo was erratic for the first couple of miles. There is no substitute for experience and I won't make that mistake again.
It was mile four that I realized, I should have eaten more than a handful of strawberries and another of blueberries. I don't typically eat a lot before runs but I also don't typically run half marathons. I made a critical error. I noticed other runners slurping down gel packets and chalked the feeling of the bottom of my stomach down in the "remember this next time" column.
I would not be one hundred percent truthful if I didn't share that for a moment, I let an unsettling feeling of panic creep into my mind at around mile six. The hills were relentless, I found myself hoping I would see a stretch of moderately flat terrain but that stretch turned out to be wishful.
I began to hear Coach Breeden screaming at my 14 year old self, "get your ass up this hill". When I reminisce about Freshman basketball conditioning, I associate two words with it: EPIC and FAIL, because that is what I did. I've never felt more miserable about not finishing something mostly because **that is about the last time I didn't. Everything happens for a reason, as silly as it sounds, to have placed that much significance on cone drills on a stupid hill in Ashland KY, that feeling of failure has fueled me for more than sixteen years.
ALERT! There's about to be a Hunger Games reference. I had a lot of time to think on this 13.1 mile run. Having recently finished the first two books in the Hunger Games Trilogy, my dorky self couldn't help but associate the marathon with the "games". Every time I needed a little help there would be a crowd of supporters handing off parachutes of water. I suspected it, when Points of Authority by Linkin Park blasted through my earbuds at a difficult time on mile eight but KNEW it on mile nine when Lennon's Beautiful Boy played that Haymitch was my DJ.
I started running again for more than a couple of reasons, I detailed it in the post Besties last April so I won't go in to it here. Except to say that Pierce was one of them. I sing Beautiful Boy to him most nights as I lay him in his crib, when it played, it helped me get my ass up more than a few of those hills.
The adrenaline healed my empty stomach and numbed my aching feet, legs, calfs and everything below my waist. I pulled my earbuds out on mile ten. Hearing the thunder of the other runners around me proved useful. The distance between markers 11 and 12 seemed further and further.
That last mile I pictured two more mind clouds; the first of me wearing my Blue Lions T-Ball jersey running down a first base line with my dad yelling "run like the wind son!", the second was picturing Ash holding Pierce at the finish line cheering Daddy on. I smiled at my wife and gave Pierce a pat on the head as I finished. It would have been infinitely more difficult without her support (asiu).
13.1 miles @ 2hrs 1 min 52 sec This is 12 minutes longer than I wanted but I am pleased with the result, considering the type of course and that I didn't stop and walk once.
I'm coming for you Marathon!
**Unless you ask Ash about fixing our back door.
