Early yesterday morning, I ran in the Slacker Half Marathon Relay! I went into it expecting to run 4.4 miles, and with good reason. I read about the second leg of the race, which is 4.4 miles of paved road. I figured, OK, one other person runs 4.4 miles, and the other teammate runs 4.3.
Only that's not how it worked. I learned from some of my mom's coworkers that the first leg of the race (my leg!) had "rolling hills" and was 5.0 miles long. Holy crap! Sure enough, there were hills. And lots of little rocks to slip on. I took it really slow (and I'm so glad I did. Apparently, a lot of people twisted their ankles on the first 5 miles!). I stayed near the back of the pack for the most part and just kept going. I didn't know if my body would be able to stick it out for 5 miles. Gulp!
Before the first mile marker, I got a sharp pain in my side and my knees started to hurt. Not a good sign. I tried to breathe out longer than in (that sometimes helps me with that pain) but to no avail. Then I tried the opposite and tried to take long, deep breaths in. Still no worky. I ran with my arms bent above my head. Still, it didn't help! I told myself to run through the pain, and I kept moving. At the water station at mile two, I grabbed my water and decided to walk while drinking it. I walked probably a quarter mile, and my side felt better, so I ran again.
The run always seemed to be going uphill or down hill; it was very rare for it to be flat. It kept things interesting, and the views were amazing. I looked at the mountains ahead of me with their snow peaks, and I listed to the little waterfalls around me. It definitely kept me distracted and the run pretty much flew by. I eventually made it to mile 5. I sprinted when I saw the 5.0 mile marker sign. I did it! Only... my mom wasn't waiting there to take my timing chip. Holy crap, I had to keep going!
I freaked out that I'd passed her by. I decided to start walking again to save my stamina in case I had a lot farther to go. I walked about two tenths of a mile when I heard in the distance, "Beccckyyyy!" I took off running. I started to sprint (rather, as much of a sprint as I could muster after 5 miles), and I kept sprinting until I reached my mom. I'd just run 5.3 miles, my longest run ever! She took our timing chip and headed off to do her 4.4 miles. I felt great and didn't feel very tired at all. Hurray!
My 5.3 miles were completed in 1 hour 8 minutes, but it took me a full minute to arrive at the starting line once the clock started, so I'm claiming 1 hour 7 minutes. That's a 12.6 minute miles. While it's no 8 minute mile (like my mom's friend Kathy did for our last leg of the race!), I felt really good I could maintain that pace for such a long distance. I also now feel confident I could run a 10k!
...and even the full half marathon this January. Hurray!
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