My First 13.1

Six weeks ago I ran my first half marathon, the Run to Remember in Boston. I thought it was a good choice for a first half because it was close by, flat, and mostly on terrain I knew. It started at the seaport in Boston, headed through downtown to the Charles, along Memorial Drive to Harvard and back (the same route where I did most of my long runs), and then back through downtown to the start.

I'd trained for it for fourteen weeks, and even still I had no idea how it was going to go. After a chilly, rainy spring, the week of the race started to heat up, and by Sunday it was warm and humid. I'm not sure what the temperature was before the race, but the humidity was about 80%. Not something I deal well with.

The first half was great. Since there's a long out-and-back along the Charles, we got to see the leaders of the race on their way back while we were still on our way out. I think they were somewhere around mile 8 when I was somewhere around mile 4. Amazing!

By the time I got to mile 8, it was getting warm. It had been cloudy all morning, but the sun had come out, and there wasn't a lot of shade. Around mile 10, when we were heading back over the Longfellow Bridge, it was really hot, and you could see a lot of people pulled off to the sides, some of them being checked out by EMTs. I didn't feel great, but I never felt like I was in danger of not finishing.

Things started to fall apart for me after that. I had to stop and walk several times (before that I'd only walked through the water stops). I still never felt like I wasn't going to make it, but it was getting a lot harder. Fortunately, I was able to run the last mile or so without stopping. Seeing Greg with my father- and sister-in-law just before the finish line was a great boost, and I crossed the finish line at 2:21:13. I'd been hoping for under 2:20, but given the circumstances, I had nothing to complain about.

So now I can check off part of #10. I still want to run a marathon someday, but I don't know if it will be before I'm 30. It's a huge time commitment, and I want to be sure I can really devote the time and not injure myself. I'll get there someday, though. In the meantime, I start training for my second half marathon (hopefully the Smuttynose Rockfest Half Marathon) tomorrow. I like following a training schedule a lot, since it adds structure to my weeks, and I know I can get a better time in cooler weather. Plus, this time I'm hoping to run with some family and friends, which will be the first time I've done a race that wasn't by myself.

(In other checklist news, I've been doing a bit of baking, although not enough. Tonight's ginger macadamia nut crisps are delicious.)