Eat, Drink, and Be Hopeful

Saturday Oct 10, 2009 I completed the Baltimore 1/2 marathon. There were an estimated 30,000 people in Baltimore and a total of 13,600 + runners. I was so nervous because I have never run with so many people before…ever. I really had no idea what to expect.

I stayed the night before the race at my parents, and we woke up super early to get into Baltimore and see the marathoners off. It brought me so much joy that Chris, and my mom and dad could join me. Later my aunt and uncle joined us as well, but the fact that they got up early and dealt with crazy Baltimore on a rainy day meant so much to me.

The weather was perfect in the morning. Warm, cloudy, with a cool breeze. We saw the marathoners off at 8am, and as soon as they started I began to get so excited and nervous all at the same time.

There were some pretty crazy people running.
A juggler:

Guys dressed as Miller Light Cans:

And many more runners just running:

We still had 2 hrs to spare so we went and had a quick breakfast at the Hilton. I didn’t really eat the breakfast at the Hilton, but the fam did. Here was my runners breakfast:

• 1 piece of bread with 1/2 PB
• 1/2 banana
• 1/2 Prana Bar

This was a new bar I was dying to try. It tasted very seedy, but overall pretty good. It reminded me a thin Larabar with more nuts and seeds. It was a little high in calories (220 for one bar), but gave me good energy for the race.

Around 9am we left to go to my holding pen. This was probably the most nervous I have been for a race yet.

It is tradition now to take a picture of my shoes before the race, and so far my races have gone well so I didn’t want to change anything up. Plus this was my last race with these shoes. Very sentimental.

Before I signed up for these races I had no idea what my mile times would be so I signed up for the slowest time, therefore I was in the 2nd to last holding pen. The last pen is for walkers so I was really in the last pen for the runners. There were 5 pens all together and each one left 3 minutes after the one in front of them. I couldn’t get over all the people that were just in my pen. 1,500 to be exact.

(my dad being silly in the back)

We got a few pics in, and then I waited nervously to move up to the start line.

(can you find me? I am in the middle stretching my arms with my visor on) Try again.

We finally got up to the starting line and it started to drizzle-there goes my perfect running weather. Luckily I wore my visor, which helped keep the rain out of my eyes. We counted down from 10…5…3..2..1…GO!

We finally took off. And boy was I in the WRONG group. Not to be mean, but these were SLOW joggers and walkers. Everyone was packed together and I couldn’t move anywhere. I started getting really upset because I wanted to run faster (we were running at an 11:30 mile). I wanted to PR this race, and I was thinking to myself there is ‘no way this is going to happen if I can’t go anywhere’. We were so packed together on these tiny little streets. How can people like running like this? I swerved in and out and tried to move up as much as possible. The sidewalk became my best friend. I used it as much as possible to get ahead of people with out stomping on them. I thought for sure we would all be spreading out soon, but boy was I wrong. The entire race we were running with a herd of people. There was one time when we were a bit spread out, and I was able to pass a lot of people, but that was not until mile 7-8. We ran through the streets of Baltimore for 3 miles and then the marathoners joined us for the last 10 miles. I thought running with all the 1/2 marathoners was bad-now add all the marathoners. Needless to say there was a TON of people!

I couldn’t wait to see my family, and they were waiting for me around mile 7. When I saw them it brought a smile to my face. The first one yet since I started. It was pouring at that time so I waved to them on the sidelines as they were all under umbrellas. Such troupers!

The rain grew stronger and it got cooler out, but I kept on running. There were many times I wanted to give up because there were just so many people. I kept telling myself there was no way I was going to PR so I should just jog it. But then I thought I would only be letting myself down. I knew I would be so disappointed with myself at the end. So I ran my little heart out. The times when I could, I ran as close to an 8 min mile as possible because I knew I had to make up for all the lost time when I couldn’t run as fast. I was a little bummed because there were a few setbacks on this race…

• Rain
• The herds of people so it was hard to go the pace you wanted
• My visor fell off because of the wind so I had to run back and get it
• I slowed down to talk to an old friend who I haven’t seen in years (this was worth it b/c I may have found a running buddy
• I didn’t know where the finish line was so I wasn’t sure when to start sprinting at the end

I kept thinking there was no possible way I was going to PR this race. My last mile I had to stay around a 7:30 mile to just MAKE my time from last week. The last .5 miles were one big long sprint. People were FINALLY spread out and I felt like I was the only one running. I gave it everything I had, and right before I hit the finish line I slowed down. I had nothing left in me. I have no idea what my time was because as usual I forgot to stop my Garmin, and the whole time I was running my Garmin said I was way ahead of where I actually was. For instance when we got to mile marker 11 I was at 11.25 on the Garmin so I didn’t know my exact time or pace until I checked the results later.

Running through Baltimore was not too exciting. It was not the prettiest of places to run through, and the rain definitely did not help. I actually got a little discouraged running this race, and I really had to focus and be positive in order to do well.

Around mile 3 when I wanted to give up I saw a woman holding a sign. This sign encouraged me more than anything else during the race. It said “Pain is Temporary, Pride is Forever”. If it wasn’t for that sign I don’t think I would have done as well as I did. There were times around mile 10 when I was running as fast as I could to make up for lost time, and my body physically hurt. But I just kept telling myself the pain was temporary, and I would be ok. And I was.

I was so happy to be finished the race. Unfortunately my family didn’t see me finish, but they greeted me at the runner reunion zone. There were just too many people in Baltimore that they didn’t make it back in time to see me finish. I know they were there in spirit. We quickly took a few pictures, and headed out of the crowds to have some much needed lunch.

This is my mom and me walking back to the car wrapped in my aluminum foil to stay warm. (LOL)

I would normally take the day off from blogging, but my crab cake lunch was too fantastic not to take a picture of and put on the blog. I don’t even remember the restaurant we went to, and I was so unprepared I didn’t even bring my camera so this is courtesy of Chris’ iPhone. Crab Cake Sandwich with a side salad with Honey Mustard instead of fries (even though I stole a few from Chris)

When I got home I immediately went to the computer to check my results. I could not believe my eyes!!! I PR’d!!!! I could not be happier. Here are my results:

• Distance: 13.1
• Chip Time: 1:51:15
• Overall Place: 1112 out of 7813
• Gender Place: 320 out of 4519
• Division Place: 101 out of 1219
• Average Pace: 8:30/ mile

See the results for yourself:

I could not be happier with how I did especially for all the setbacks. So happy right now!

The rest of the weekend was spent like this:

Oh yea..loving the pumpkin ale!