This is the earliest-dated post on Runs for Cookies, but I didn't actually start writing on this blog until April 2011. I wrote in a different blog for MANY years (2000-2011), but that has since been archived. I copied this post (and a few others) from my previous blog, because of its relevance.
Remember I signed up for that half-marathon in Indianapolis?
Well, that was Saturday. Stacie came with me, which I was excited
about. My mom, 3 of her friends, my sister, and 4 of her friends went.
We drove there on Friday. Stacie, my sister Jeanie, and I shared a room.
We went out to a pasta dinner (to carb-load for the race!). Then we went
to Haggen Dazs for some ice cream. We went to bed early. I didn't sleep
much because I was nervous about the race. I truly didn't think I'd
finish it. I wasn't prepared for it at all.
Saturday--The race started at 7:30 AM, so we had to get up early. We got
dressed and went down to our "corral". We were in the Z corral to start
(The starting line was the A corral for fast people, and there were
50,000 people in this race. We were at the end because we estimated our
time to be 4 hours, which is the max. You had to maintain an 18-minute
mile or else you had to get on a bus to the finish line.)
The race started and it took us about 35 minutes to get to the starting
line. We had a chip on our shoes that started our time when we got to
the starting line and stopped our time when we got to the finish line.
As soon as we got to the start, everyone in our group started going
really fast (about 12.5 minute mile!) Keep in mind the plan was to walk
this half marathon.
Anyways, we ended up splitting up after a mile or
so, and Stacie and I walked together. We jogged a little because it took
pressure off of our hips and feet. It was actually a lot of fun for the
first 6 miles or so. There were lots of bands set up along the way, and
tons of people cheering everyone on. Once we got to the Indy 500
race track, which we had to walk around, we were sooo bored and tired of
walking. The race track was the worst part of the whole walk. It was
really boring and long. Once we finished that part though, we only had 4
miles left.
The last mile was the hardest. My feet were hurting BADLY. My legs hurt.
My back hurt. My whole body was so sore. When we saw the finish line,
we jogged the last tenth of a mile to the end. My sister watched us
finish (she was ahead of us) and she was so proud and excited that I
actually did it--she cried when she saw me reach the finish line. Then
we watched as my mom and her friends crossed, which made me get tears in
my eyes.
The whole atmosphere was awesome--everyone cheers you on and
makes you feel good.
I was in SO MUCH PAIN afterward. I took a Motrin 800. Didn't really
help. We sat around all day long to just relax. That night we went out to
dinner. I was limping badly, could barely move. Took more Motrin and a
sleeping pill so I could sleep.
Sunday (today)--Got up, had breakfast, and drove home. I'm super duper
duper sore today. My legs ache like you wouldn't believe, and I think I
may have a stress fracture in my left foot. I can barely walk because I
have a really sharp, shooting pain in the bone of my foot. I'd like to
go get in x-ray'ed if it's not better tomorrow.
Our friends Tom and Jessica came over with their kids for dinner.
Jessica's a massage therapist and she stretched me out. It helped a lot
with my legs, but did nothing for my foot.
I feel like I was hit by a truck. But I'm already thinking I may want to do this again next year... more prepared, of course!