1 down and 1 to go

 So I finished the first of the two half marathons yesterday. My day started with me waking up at 4 am to prep for my run. I was nervous the day before. I prepped all of my supplies,which included:
-GU
-Clifbloks
-Jelly Belly electrolyte jelly beans (I discovered these and they are amazingly good and quite inexpensive)
-4 bottles of gatorade
-Water bottle
-Ipod
-Packet w/number

My morning routine consisted of getting ready to run, which took about 20 minutes. Why so early you may ask? It is more that I needed to bring my husband along with me. After all, we needed a cheering section and I also needed someone to document our run.  So I put body glide all over and apparently I didn't wash all of it off of my hands. This is where things got dicey. I accidentally got a little bit of body glide in my right eye. This caused my eye to swell and turn bright red. I ended up washing out my eye and then taking benadryl for good measure. Within an hour I was on the roadway with benadryl in my system getting ready to pick up Amanda. I arrive at Amanda's with my hubby in tow, we make our way to Columbia Mall. Upon arrival, we discover both of us need to go to the bathroom pretty badly. Luckily, I thought a head and took the wet naps from Famous Dave's 3 weeks ago, so I had a way to at least clean our hands. Good thing I did because they ran out of water!  It was 6:30 and the line for the bathroom was insanely long. After waiting for 25 minutes, we just barely made it to the start line. Piece of advice get to the bathrooms early, it will save you from potentially having to dodge into the bushes or behind a tree later.


Race started off good, but it was very hilly. I had no issues with my Achilles, which was really good. So the rest did me well. By mile 3 I hit my stride and we pretty much kept a 14:30 pace for almost the entire race. I enjoyed the race, especially the gummy bear stop and the chocolate stop. The worst part of the whole race was mile 6, which basically involved running up a hill for almost a mile. It was a steep hill. I did not like it, nor did any of the other women around it. So we walked. My hydration strategy was good, which involved taking two cups of water at each water stop. I expended a lot of water through sweat. As you can see, I started off wearing my polar fleece because it was cold at 7 am when we started, but by 9:30, I was dying. My time slowed a little because I was jogging and trying to rearrange all of my race outfit. Overall, it was a good run. I started getting tired by mile 10. Amanda and I began discussing which type of Chipotle burrito I was going to get. I like to celebrate all half marathons with a burrito from Chipotle. I normally never go burrito because of the calories, but in this case I feel as though I expended enough calories that it is justifiable.  Mile 12 and 13 were a little tough, but we finished strong. Actually, it was a lot of fun running with Amanda. It was nice to run with someone who was at my pace and not someone who put added pressure on me to go faster.


The end of the race. Our finish time was 3 hours 14 minutes and 4 seconds. I met my goal of finishing in under 3 hours and 15 minutes. This means that I shaved 18 minutes off of my previous half marathon time. That felt really freakin' good!!! Anyway, I grabbed my finisher's prize, which was a great charm bracelet with the commemorative bead. I also enjoyed the fare from Wegman's. Sadly, I am allergic to a lot of things and what they usually offer to prevent cramping, I cannot eat. So, as you can imagine, I did cramp up. I also broke the cardinal rule of sitting after a run. I couldn't help it, I was tired. I also popped a couple of ibuprofen when I was finished to prevent muscle pain. It worked well. I actually showered and celebrated with a shopping trip.

Today was a little rough. I think I felt worse than I did yesterday. I look forward to doing a small run tomorrow and to begin prepping for this Saturday and Sunday. What I took away is I need to carb load a little better the night before because I got hungry way too early. However, I am going to try to eat a little better this week. More salad and less crap.

So yes, I now have earned the title of Iron Girl. I can't wait to get the honor of Titatnium Girl. I have also decided to add to my charm bracelet. I want to take the bead and add to it with all of running milestones. I think it would be really cool to do this. I have never had anything that I really am proud of, but I feel very proud of the fact that I have put myself through a lot to be able to run for 13.1 miles continuously.

However, after this week I have to start mentally preparing to run the Baltimore Marathon...yikes...double the mileage and perhaps double the pain!