rock 'n roll

yesterday i did something i never would have even though possible a year ago, or even 6 months ago. i completed my first half marathon.

i was really gearing up for it, and while it felt like a big goal, i felt it was completely do-able. then my ankle went out on me. it wasn't twisted or sprained, but felt almost arthritic. it would ache from sitting at my desk at work. i could walk just fine, but my attempts at running were beyond dismal. i scaled back quite a bit and tried to take it easy. some days i could run a 5k at blazing (for me) speeds and feel great. the next day 10 minutes on the elliptical nearly killed me. an hour on the elliptical one day, struggling to get through a mile the next day. so i gave up. i decided i wouldn't run anymore until the race. i think i had about 10 miles logged for all of march leading up to the race. sad.

so as i got closer to race day, i felt myself more nervous than i had in a really long time. i had mild panic attacks just thinking about the entire process surrounding the race. i wasn't excited about going to dallas and dealing with the people and traffic. i wasn't excited about deciding what clothes to wear and what to bring. i wasn't excited about my diet and what i should or shouldn't eat. i wasn't excited about the race itself. i didn't want to stop. i knew that there was a good chance i'd have to walk with my ankle like it was. and while i know in my head that this isn't the case, i felt that if i stopped at all i wouldn't consider myself a finisher. i wanted to run it.

i took off work early on friday to head to the expo by myself so i could see frank shorter's interview. he's a legend and i couldn't pass up an opportunity to listen to him. he gave a great talk and looked at me a lot (granted, there were only about 15 of us that came to listen). plus he signed my race bib, which made the race even more special to me.

i took it easy (like i had the last few weeks) over the weekend. i enjoyed my friend joy's baby shower on saturday morning. i spent the rest of the day trying to relax and fill my stomach with carbs. i was actually grateful to wake up with an allergy attack so i'd have a reason to take some benedryl to help knock me out.

i woke up race morning full of nerves. and exhausted. and chilly. the temperature dropped into the 40s overnight, which gave me a lot of relief. i was excited to wear my running tights and not have to worry about dealing with my shorts riding up during the run. i shoved a peanut butter and honey sandwich in my mouth and fought alex out of bed. i tried to calm down while i waited for mom and dad to pick us up.

when we made it to dallas, we realized that the route we were planning to take was all closed off. the only directions to the drop off point were from 75, and we were coming from everywhere else. we eventually decided to just go to the convention center where the expo was. a few people were dropped off there, so we just got out of the car and followed along. luckily we were close to the right place since we didn't have money or a phone. also lucky we came in where we did to avoid the long port-a-potty lines and a chance to see the start line. we made our way about 5000 miles to our corral. no one had entered the lines yet, so we just found a place to try stay warm before the race.

eventually things got going and we made our picks of who we wanted to beat. dad wanted to beat a guy next to him in his 50s that was also racing with his daughter. i had my eyes set on a pair of cute girls that danced through the entire pre-race soundtrack. they looked the part of a runner and were fun. i would take them down given the chance.

the starting gun was fired (by troy aikman, who also ran) and we waited another 30 minutes or so to make our way to the start line. we moved to the right side to wave to frank shorter, my new bff, and took off. the first few steps were fine. my ankle was holding and i didn't feel like death. the next few steps felt good too. i was doing it.

we wound our way around downtown. we yelled into the echos as we ran under the i-35, inspired by the "whoo-whoop" woman that kept us entertained the entire course. we passed the grassy knoll and the old red courthouse. i put my ipod on pause while we listened to the bands singing around us (and watched whoo-whoop kiss and hug the singers when she ran by).

eventually we moved into the residential neighborhoods along turtle creek and lakeside. we had a chance to see dallas in a slow pace where we could enjoy the scenery without worrying about the cars around us. we crossed over central expressway on mockingbird as we crossed the halfway point. i felt great.

at mile 8 i was about to say that i think i could run a marathon, dad stated that he was glad we weren't running one. my new goal was to make it to the gu station. what a wonderful time that was. i love vanilla gu. gu meant we were closer to 10. and 10 meant we only had a 5k left to run. we turned onto swiss ave and enjoyed a few more beautiful homes to distract us from the pain.

as we passed mile 11 i celebrated my new longest distance to run while dad started to fade. he was really feeling it in his legs and his breathing got really heavy as a result. i told him we were almost done and he just had a couple more to go. at mile 12 he was ready to quit. i told him that it was just a mile, like running to my sister's house and back. with half a mile to go, he was really ready to quit. i showed him fair park. i tried to entertain him with the people and distract him from the drizzle that had begun. i told him we were almost to the beer. we entered fair park. the change of surface was tough, but we were there. he said he couldn't make it. i told he wasn't going to stop, we had a tenth of a mile left. i showed him the ut pep band (who were playing a recording of "the eyes of texas" as they sat on the steps shivering). nothing. then he saw mom and alex with their cameras. the smile turned on.

we pushed through to the end and started looking for the medals. we finished. without stopping (minus the pauses to down our water). i did it. i ran a half marathon. faster my corral time (though not as fast as i think i could) in 2:41:01. plus i beat the cute dancing girls.

we took our new shiny medals to get our picture taken and headed to the food. dad was nice enough to squirt some of the freezing water on my now freezing back. the mound of bananas had definitely gotten smaller, but was still a giant mound of bananas. we grabbed a snickers marathon bar and found our way outside of the holding section. i saw mom and alex standing near the "d" like we'd decided. i galloped over to them with what range of motion i had left and we looked for the beer. i never thought i'd enjoy an mgd 64 so much.

i asked to please stay moving to i wouldn't lock up. that didn't really happen. we wandered over to the stage to check out bret michaels. mom was thrilled. dad kept wanting to move closer. i was just excited to hear "talk dirty to me." lucky for me he opened with it, so i was done within the first 5 minutes. we stayed for a couple more songs and decided to get food when he started the theme song for rock of love.

chuys was delicious as always. i didn't care that we had to wait 45 minutes. i didn't care that my order somehow wasn't turned in so i had to wait for my plate. it was chuys and it tasted great. especially good considering i was still in lent mode and had given up restaurants (yesterday didn't count cause it was sunday).

chuys was the perfect end to the race. i smiled throughout the race and smiled all through lunch and most of the day. i had such a great time. i felt amazing throughout the race (minus the pain that will always be there). i loved knowing that i was doing what i set out for and did something most people can't or won't do. i want another one now. i need to be closer to 2:30. then maybe i'll think about a full. for now i'll just enjoy my medal until the smile falls off my face.