re-cap...

A brief photo story...  blech... 

OK... first.. .that's what my closet looked like.. Rob loved that.  Sheesh

Next is my sister, me and Jan in the lobby at 5 freakin' fifteen am

and last.. me actually finishing behind the chick in the football jersey... it was doubtful there for a bit.

We all know that I didn't really train for this half right ?  I started to,  and then in July had the whole slipped disk thing going on,  and October involved a broken toe.  Brilliant. But I still had some miles on... I think my long run was 6 miles,  and figured I knew what I was in for and I could do it.  I was hoping to beat last years time by even a few minutes.

The weather was perfect, no rain, overcast and 48 degrees at the start.  Love it !

My stomach was being a tad odd.  I ate my half of bagel with peanut butter,  half a banana, a small larabar and figured I'd be good. Drank some zip fizz and some propel. I packed sport beans and advil liquigels in my back pocket and off I went.  Nothing different from last year.  But again,  stomach was just odd.  We made our way thru Mandalay Bay, out onto the Boulevard and waited for the countdown.  Off we went with fireworks and Elvis singing !  

I actually felt pretty good. Pleased that I was running a half again,  and confident that I could finish strong.  Stopped at about mile 4 to say hi to OlBatt's family and then continued on.  At mile 6,  I got a side stitch... well I thought it was a side stitch,  I'm beginning to think it's a muscle strain since it's 2 days later and I still have it.  So at mile 6 I walked a bit.  At mile 8 everything went downhill.  Not sure what happened. My heartrate wouldn't stay down,  and you know that feeling you get when your blood sugar crashes ?  Shaky, kinda dizzy, nauseated ?   yeah.. .that one ??... I had that.  My back was hurting so I figured I'd grab a water / gatorade combo, go to a fast walk and take my Advil.  

Here's the thing,  the sport beans and the advil are kinda the same size.  So I swallowed what I thought was the advil, took a drink, then threw a sport bean in to chew... not so much.... yep,  it was the advil... EW EW EW  but I still had gatorade / water so I rinsed and kept going. 

 At mile 9,  heartrate was still nutty, still shaky, still sick to my stomach, so I decided this running thing was going to get me no-where fast except to a medical tent, so I walked.  I wasn't happy with that.. but as my mom said,  sometimes if you push it too far,  the consequences aren't worth the reward.    From mile 9 to mile 11 I walked... I tried to jog,  that didn't go over well since I kept getting dizzy. So I walked.  

And you know what was soooo frustrating ???  At mile 10,  I say to myself,  'self,  suck it up buttercup... you only have a freakin' 5K left to go... 35  more minutes MAX and you're done, start hustling'.  I liked my speech to myself so I did suck it up and run,  for about a half mile.  Yep... couldn't do it.  My choices were, walk, pass out or throw up.  I chose walk.  Until mile 12... then it was just stupid to be walking across a finish line that I was supposed to RUN across.  So I ran.  Thank god they have good volunteers to catch you at the end. 

My time was 3 minutes slower than last year.  Not happy with that.  HOWEVER,  i  tm'd quite a few people to tell them my results,  and even though I was disappointed,  I got a tm back that I truly needed.  Here's my text whining about 3 minutes slower and the response I needed "Good job,  you still did more than most people did today".  YEAH !!!!  I loved that !  That was TRUE !!!   

I didn't give up,  I didn't quit,  I didn't get bummed out and stomp my foot and say 'i don't wanna do this'.  I did it.  Was it sucky ? yep  Was it scary a little bit ?  yep   Am I disappointed ?  yep   But... I am thrilled that I finished,  thrilled that I wasn't in an ambulance,  thrilled to see my OlBatt and my sister cross the finish line too... and mostly,  I'm happy that I had the opportunity to have an icky race ... and learn from it.  Sounds silly huh ?  But if all your races go good, then you never know how to get better,  or you never learn what to do different.  So sometimes a not-so-good race can be a blessing in disguise.

A few good things happened too... 

1- my new shoes ROCKED 

2 - i loved the shirt with the bib # printed on it ... very snazzy and no pins to poke me

3- we got our picture taken with a showgirl !

4 - i have learned you can't keep sport beans and advil together

5 - the 13.1 mile distance really didn't seem that far this year.  Last year I swear they had the finish line in the wrong spot

6 - having a massage after the race is a brilliant plan

7 - my mind can still want to run even when the body can't

8 - good friends and family always know the right thing to say

9 - I don't think half marathons are all that bad.  workable, do-able,  if you train properly.

10- i've learned to accept that no matter how good your nutrition is,  no matter how good your training and equipment is,  sometimes,  it's just gonna be a not so great race, and you can accept that and keep moving, or throw a temper tantrum.   And I'm lucky enough to have been in Vegas with the chicks that just keep moving.

It's ALL about the CHOICES !

XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO