Saturday morning, Rob and I got up at 5 am and headed across the city to the 9/11 Remembrance Run.
Both of us had been itching to run a half marathon, just to get our sea legs back, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity. It was actually exactly one year since our last half marathon that we ran in Mui Ne, Vietnam!
I was pretty nervous to run since I am coming off a foot injury and haven’t run much in the past two weeks as a result. Instead of harboring some secret goal race time, I decided to just have fun and fully expected to have to walk at some point along the way.
The race went off at 8 am and all the 5k, 10k, 10 mile, and half runners started together.
The first 4 miles were along the parade route that was starting at 8:30, so there were lots of spectators.
The rest of the race followed a shady, winding path along a river bed. It was really pleasant and peaceful.
My favorite part was that even though it was an out and back course, the turn around was at mile 8, so you only had 5 miles left instead of 6.5. I appreciated that for its mental trickery.
I managed to run the first 5 miles at a decent clip and then dropped off to slower and slower grandma shuffling. But I didn’t walk!
Final time:
Final feeling:
I could barely walk yesterday and can sort of walk today. My hips are super sore, but other than that, I’m feeling pretty good. Rob is a show off. He came in about 3 minutes after me and has no residual effects.
I did feel good enough to spend the evening catching up with one of my closest friends who happened to be in Denver last night. We hadn’t seen each other in about 15 months!
For a $50 race, it was well organized and the finisher medals were unique (dog tags!). The only thing I would change is to start the race slightly earlier because of how hot it got, and to add a few more port-o-pottys. The line was still crazy long with 5 minutes to go before the start.
RQ: Have you/would you ever run a race untrained?
I’m Brooke Selb, a Personal Trainer and Health Coach specializing in helping busy moms and moms to be to easily juggle mom life with family friendly recipes, and easy exercise routines to help you achieve your fitness goals that fit in with your already busy life with sound nutritional advice.
You did great!!
I was also waddling around for a few days after my half marathon. 😉
It happens to the best of us!
I’ve heard about this race and have wanted to do it! Nice job finishing and not walking! How does your foot feel after the race?
It was a fun, little community event. My foot is ok, but it gets really sore in the morning when I first wake up and start walking around. So strange! I bought some new inserts to try out today and am hoping that helps. Thanks for asking!
Great job – awesome that you never had to walk!
I ran a cross country meet in college once without training (I wasn’t going to compete my senior year in CC but the coach asked me to run the conference meet) – it was awful and an experience that I promised myself I would never repeat. Part of the problem is I am a little over-competitive so even knowing that I wasn’t in shape I still ran to win – that was over 20 years ago and I haven’t ever done it again!
I am competitive too, so I feel your pain. Every race feels like a learning experience, that’s for sure.
YOU ROCK BROOKE!!!
What an awesome time!!!
Glad you ran it all without walking! You must have felt like a beast!
Hope your foot is feeling okay!!!
Thanks, Heather! My foot has only been sore in the mornings right when I wake up. I will take that over a full day of pain.
Congratulations! And no and no to your question.
hahaha. Can’t blame you for that!