DRC Half Marathon Race Report: A Novel

Rough Draft

The night before the race, a raccoon (hoping that is what it was) was scurrying around the attic/ my room, keeping me up. The benefit of daylight savings was lost on me. I hoped this wouldn't prove to be an omen.

Alarms went off at 5 AM in the Tang household. Snooze buttons promptly hit at 5:01 AM.

The time came for the Wood-Tang Clan to head down to White Rock Lake in Dallas, arriving around 6:45 for a prime time parking spot. Thanks to the cold morning weather, we stayed in the Tahoe to keep warm while the female runners on the team made last minute wardrobe changes due to the faux pas of 4 of us wearing the race shirt to the race.

We boarded the shuttles aka Dallas Independent School District buses, which by the way now have seat belts? Overheard from older runners "We never had seat belts in my day." Yeah, same here. Kids these days. On the ride over, we passed the starting line, joking that we took the wrong bus. The bonus was we passed the second set of porta-potties which appeared to have no lines.

My signature (and only) running shorts had a Batman utility belt look, except only with TP.

Unfortunately, the start of the race was downwind from these porta-johns. That will wake you up.

Heather and I spotted the 2:00 pacer and John, Jo Ann, and Lisa spotted up with the 2:20 pacer.

The weather, ranging from around 45-60, was as good as you could have hoped for in Texas.

The Star Spangled Banner was punctuated by myself and others as we shouted "STAR" whenever it was in the song thanks to tradition at Dallas Stars games.

Heather and I walked to the starting line, which was an inflatable arch advertising for Muscle Milk.

The first 3 miles were quite slow (9:30-10:00 pace). Heather and I agreed that our butts were frozen due to the weather so the first 3 were really thawing us out. We did avoid bobbing and weaving, a lesson I learned from the Cox 5k. We even spotted another neon green Nike Lunar Glide runner and a costumed running Elvis.

Unfortunately, this is where the racing mistakes began. The machismo took over and I broke my desired pace and hit 8:00-8:30 pace, dropping Heather (what a great brother, huh?).

Between miles 3 and 7, I started picking people off one by one and while this is great for the end of the half, this was only the beginning. I committed a running sin when I tried my hand at Powerade. Big mistake. My stomach was pretty pissed about this decision. I at least turned down the little kid handing out most likely leftover Halloween candy.

I knew that there was A hill, but I did not realize there were probably 5-7 other hills that sapped the energy from me. For whatever reason, I surged at each of these hills. The good news was that, as my Dad pointed out, there were more downhill parts which I definitely used to pass people.

In the nice neighborhoods we passed, I spotted one of the twins from the Matrix (a pale guy with white dreadlocks) and had a double take and thought I was hallucinating.

At the half way point, I was around 56 minutes, which was under the pace for what I expected.

Around mile 6 or 7, there was a bridge over man made falls. A runner was mentioning the bridge moves. At this point, I did not know what the heck that meant; a draw bridge? As I crossed it, I realized what he meant as it messed with my feet and my dad said he got a head ache at this point. The bridge moved especially with a ton of runners running across it. We all agreed, The Bridge from Hell was a course obstacle.

After mile 7, my mind was focused on getting to each mile marker. Heather agreed that the supporters with posters were brutal since we thought that they were mile markers manned by a volunteer yelling out times. Instead, they were teasing us in to thinking it was the next mile.

There was a lady by herself with a squeak toy that annoyed everyone.

Around mile 10, the uneven pacing caught up with me as I blew up and overheated (carrying my gloves and skull cap) along with my left foot metatarsalgia rearing its ugly head.

I walked through every water station, and yes, I walked for a good 20-30 seconds probably 4 or 5 times. If my pace was graphed for the whole race, It would look like a half pipe.

As the final mile showed up, Heather and I sprinted to the inflatable Muscle Milk arch that was the starting line. Turns out, it wasn't the finish. There was probably another .2 miles left. I tried to throw everything I had left out at the finish line but an older guy surged and passed me at the end. Heather and I were dangerously close to yakking at the end. I am talking gag reflex while people are watching close.

I hit my goal but the way I got there, well, this will give me more motivation.

The spread was pretty sweet afterwards:

Bananas, Clif Bars, Gordon Biersch beer, pizza, breakfast burritos, muscle milk = great post run meal.

They had a booth with New Balance Minimus shoes; pretty slick.

Right before the race, we designated the orange porta-potties area as the meeting area. I walked around, thinking that I had finished first for us. I cheered on Mom as she was .2 miles away from finishing. I thought better than to say "Go Mom" since that would mean every mom would turn around and instead went with "Go Lisa".

I figured Heather would have been done so I was looking around for Asian runners wearing the DRC half tech shirts. I spotted my Dad and Heather. Heather posted a respectable time (unofficially 2:05) considering her "long" run was a 40 minute run. Dad?

EDIT: Once again, I am too gullible and I have been tricked by my dad. 2:03:20. So pretty much everything underneath this sentence, don't take for face value.

:drum roll and bowing down:

Unofficially: 1:41

7:34 pace

his best 5k? 8:10 pace

He said he was just feeling it. He said he ran a positive split. I don't even remember seeing him pass Heather and myself. He trained at Jo Ann and Lisa's pace for all his runs, Kenyan like in taking easy runs easy and racing when there are people to pick off. His secret?

Ben Gay before the race to relax his legs.

The Tahoe smelled like a training room but hey, if that gives you a 1:41, I'll rub that on my legs for every race.

After chowing down some more with 2:09 and 2:10 finishers Jo Ann and Lisa, we headed back on to the shuttle and headed home, electing not to take the bus that was smoking.

The fastest Texan's quote after returning home, PG-13'ed: "I gotta go poop."

And, "Where were the pacing groups?" - due to being faster than the 1:40, 1:50, 2:00, 2:10, 2:20 pacers.

I must commend the DRC for a great race. It was pretty organized, the volunteers were great, and the tech shirts are phenomenal and may replace my Cox tech shirt.

NYC marathon was on TV, overtaking football Sunday.

-Shalane Flanagan placed 2nd in her debut...bad ass.

-Haile walking... then retires?!? What?

T minus 48 hours

Looking at the drchalf.com site, I can't believe it is down to 2 days until the race.

On packet pickup, I realized that in terms of running stores in North Texas:

Run-On! in Richardson > Luke's Locker in Plano

The tapering week has turned in to a throw back to college thanks to my Marty McFly-like ability to not back down after a challenge at the University of Rhode Island and University of Texas at Arlington. All I can say is, whippersnappers these days.

This coupled with a less than pristine training year means one thing; I can actually enjoy this race. That's right, I am going in to this for the experience.

I'll do my usual Without Limits viewing the night before, chow down on some carbs, lay out all my racing gear, rock the huge headphones playing my running mixes, and roll up to this half for ... pure enjoyment.

In 2 days, the debuts of 5 team members means we'll be 5 half marathon medals heavier and tote another race report on the blog.

The Week that was ... Snolphin Week

Topics:

Snolphins(?!?), Flying Aluminum Cans, Shoe Envy, Providence and Cumberland

You can stop checking milk cartons to see if I am missing, the longest lay off from the blog ends here for me. (Do they still put missing people on milk cartons?) You would think there would be a ton of material, but like Guns N Roses's album Chinese Democracy, the most I can muster is nothing but an inside joke:

Anyone sane: What are you drawing?

Tang: A snolphin.

Anyone sane: What's a snolphin?

Tang: It's pretty much my least favorite animal. It's like a snail and dolphin mixed... bred for its skills in awkward.

[stolen from 2004's Tour de Force masterpiece, Napoleon Dynamite]

Oh right, this is a running blog.

While my trip back up to the northeast was closer to training for college more so than my first half marathon (punctuated by Kobe Burgers and a bath tub/ cooking pot filled with iced water fit for domestic beverages or a long run), it definitely lifted my spirits for the upcoming race.

What I did see pertaining to running, I could barely recognize since the same people from 5 months back, Knapp, Sean, Nikki, and Kevin quickly transformed in to runners with Pat and his team leading 1:39 as quick as ever (Lauren, one-time blog poster, showed me she could high-five). Proof: butterfly and half marathon medals, half marathon advice (looks like no clam chowder beforehand), rivalries, Andy Bernard shirts, blood blisters, talks about Kenyan marathoners, gait analysis, Boston talk, and an apartment littered in running paraphernalia. It may be tough to see improvement from day to day, but with almost half a year, it is safe to call each other runners.

RI Itinerary

Day 1: consisted of the longest running conversation I have ever had to this point with Knapp while running around Providence's highlights in light rain a couple minutes after arrival.

Day 2: Running Blackstone with Sean and Nikki with the leaves changing color rather than the 90 degree weather is a nice change.

Day 3: running Prov again with Knapp, Kevin, and Nikki, selling the idea of returning through running Providence.

Day 4: The Pat, Kevin, Knapp trio pushing the pace with Sean and Tang as the caboose of the group. Sean collects a compliment from a kid saying to his dad that he thought all our shoes were cool.

Day 5: Sunday's Halloween jog on Mendon Road where I got a warm New England welcoming gift; a can hurled at Knapp and myself. I also thought, this duo, responsible for a bevy of beer pong wins, has now transformed in to runners. Who knew?

Knapp has taken this running and (no pun intended) run with it. Library of running books, up to date on the elites, GPS watch (I'm jealous), a shrine of bibs, running whenever (proven by the stacked log), and Kinvara oranges = too much awesome (@5:30) especially on Thayer St. In short, the student has become the teacher. Knapp has THE Jack Daniels running bible down pat, so I elect to move Knapp up to coach status.

Tang's Triumphant Return to RI

I hadn't run in over a week since the half marathon, so it's a good thing Coach Tang decided to visit RI to come run with us. After a delicious breakfast at Nick's on Broadway we headed over to Blackstone to run with Nikki. It was a beautiful day, very warm for the end of October. We just ran to the end of the path and back for a total of 3.3 miles. Nobody brought a watch but we probably ran at about a 10 minute mile pace. I remember the first time I ran at Blackstone back in May when I struggled to finish even at a 12:00 pace, it's nice to see that I've made some progress in the past couple months. Then on Saturday Tang, Knapp, Kevin, Pat, and I went for a 5 mile run on the bike path. We ran together for the first mile or so, but then Pat, Kevin, and Knapp picked up the pace and zoomed off into the distance. Tang kindly stayed back with me at about a 10 minute mile pace. The best part of the run was when we were walking back into Kevin and Knapp's apartment and a little kid said to his dad, "whoa they have cool shoes!!!" That's like the 19th compliment I've gotten on my neon lazer green Nike Lunar Glides after getting them a couple weeks ago. Awesome running shoes are definitely one of the best parts of running, I can't wait to get another pair. It's been good to run after some time off, but we're gonna have to find another race to train for, with the half marathon behind us I need more motivation to go out and run everyday.

HALLOWEEEEEEENNNNNNNN 'N JUNK

stuff.

and things.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Newport Half-Marathon Race Report (finally)

Well, it has been 5 days since the half. And now I am ready to write about it. Not sure why it took me so long. Laziness. Pure laziness. I'll admit it. Whenever I got home from work this week, I did absolutely nothing. I did go to the gym to run on the treadmill on Wednesday... boring. I only made it 3 miles. It was too dark to run outside... Winter is going to be tough. Today, Danato and I had a quick run outside. We didn't layer enough, so we only made it 2.7 miles...

So, here it goes...

***Pre-Race Day***

I drank a lot of water the week prior to the race, carbed up, and probably gained about 4 pounds. On Thursday, I started feeling a sharp pain on the top of my right foot. Scared the crap out of me. As soon as I got home from work that day I iced it, then heated it, massaged it, took some ibuprofen and repeated the next day. Luckily, the pain subsided the day before the race. I'm not sure what it was, but I think I over-stretched my foot when I was standing on my tip-toes to reach something at work (downfall to being short). The day before the race was a nice relaxing day. I had worked on Friday but had Saturday and Race day off. Kudos to Nikki for working the day before! I had to work the day after... not sure which is worse. One thing I did when I was "relaxing" on Saturday was pull my neck/shoulder. I got up from the couch, turned and all of sudden felt like I had pulled a muscle in my neck. Goodness gracious! Took some more ibuprofen and hoped it would be gone by the next day. Then, Danato made me a very good pasta dinner w/steak :-)



After getting all my gear and clothes ready to go, I went to bed at around 9:30 that night. I don't remember the last time I was in bed that early on a Saturday night, but it was definitely worth it.

***Race Day - Pre-Race***

I woke up at 4:45 am... Okay, well Danato woke up at 4:45 and finally was able to get me out of bed by 5 or so. We left his apartment in Providence by 5:30. Shuttles began at around 6:15 and registration opened at 6:30. Leaving on time and early enough gave us plenty of time to get over to Newport, with no traffic. I definitely recommend planning race day out as early as possible. Even if you have to wait a bit, getting there and being able to relax a little bit before the race is key. There are a lot of things going on at the race beforehand and you never know if you have to go to the bathroom one last time right before. And the lines for the port-a-potties are always long... you have to give yourself plenty of time to be able to wait in that line. I started waiting in a line before I even felt like I had to pee... good thing I did. By the time I got to the port-a-potty, I had to pee so bad! Haha, then I had about 10 minutes to spare before the start time.

***Race***

As soon as I left the bathrooms, Danato took all my stuff that I didn't need to run with, I got all strapped with my fuelbelt and iPod and I was ready to go. I hustled through the crowds to get sorta in the middle (basically, to keep warm in the huddle of people). I didn't realize it immediately but I had placed myself right in the area I wanted to start in, about the 9 minute mile pace start. The race started with the largest hill of the whole course. Going uphill while trying to dodge the slow starters was a bit awkward but I got over it. There were a lot of people but not as many as in the CVS 5K, which I was happy about. I expected that the rest of the course would be relatively flat... I mean... we're in Newport, an island off the coast of Rhode Island.. how hilly can it be? Well it seemed a bit more hilly than I thought it would be. Certainly nothing steep like capital hill in Providence. It wasn't bad but I guess I just expected it to be more flat for some reason. It was more gradual climbing than anything. But most of the climbs up meant a way down and that was a relief.

I kept a consistent pace throughout the entire race. Everytime I checked my pace on Nike+ it was under 10 minute miles. At one point I was under 9 minutes. I think I only got up to 10:00 once or twice.. When I was consuming my GU gel. I ran with all 4 bottles of my fuelbelt filled, 2 with water, 1 with gatorade, and 1 with watered-down gatorade. I also had 1 GU gel packet. Kept myself well hydrated and fueled efficiently. I decided to stick with what I did before in my long runs: half the GU at 45 minutes and then the other half when there was about 3 miles left. That seems to work pretty well with me.

One awesome part about the race was at about mile 4 when the course brought us through Fort Adams. The course turned right into the park, run about 1/4 of a mile or so and you loop to the left and go back the same way you came and out continuing right onto the road. I thought it was really neat to see the runners ahead of you racing in the opposite direction and then, when reaching the turning point, seeing the runners that were still behind you. I had no clue how many people had passed me or how many people I had passed or were still behind me. It was quite a motivation to me and that's where I stepped it up quite a bit. The best paces of my run were after the Fort Adams loop and at the end when I could see the beach where I knew the finish line was. It was an amazing site to see when we turned the corner and started descending down the hill towards the finish line. That same hill I had started up 2 hours prior. Oddly, I think that is when I reached some sort of runner's high. I just booked it down the hill and on to the finish line without any thought. I almost kept going to the marathon side if there hadn't been a sign last minute directing half-marathoners to finish!


The next thing I remember is grabbing a water bottle from a random person and completely ignoring the foil blankets being handed out. I was so happy to be done. I completed my run on my iPod and listened to my data. I was surprised at my average pace and my overall time. I finished in 2 hours and 5 minutes. My goal was 2 hours and 15 minutes. I impressed myself!

***Post-Race***

Danato and my friend Ray were there waiting for me once I got out. It was such a rush to have completed my first half-marathon. I instantly wanted food or a beer. When I realized how long the food line was, I went straight to the beer. A complimentary Harpoon beer at 10:30 in the morning after running 13.1 miles felt amazing :-)



After the beer, the three of us went and got real food at the Blue Plate Diner in Middletown. I ate a huge omelet with toast and a big bowl of fruit. Great recovery meal! The rest of the day was devoted to Danato's couch and him catering to me. Haha, I wasn't moving and quite sore! I was dreading work the next day... standing on my feet for 12 hours. And the day after. But it didn't turn out as bad as I thought. I made sure I drank plenty of water the days after the race along with ibuprofen around the clock for about 2 days. By Wednesday, I felt fine enough to try to run again. Besides being on a treadmill, the run went well and pain-free. I think it was a good thing I was forced to stand and move around all day immediately after the race. Kept me loose and ready to go again shortly after. Hopefully I can maintain a solid regimen throughout the colder months. It's time to go out and buy plenty of layers and gloves so that I can run outside for a bit longer.

However, here is my post running season weight-gaining diet (Have to keep warm for the winter, right?):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4zw99VsoMA

"It's sweet, but then it's got that tang"....

Thoughts from the Week

I. Snap, Crackle, and Pop

II. Origins of the Team?

III. Watching the ALCS with running goggles

IV. Plano-isms

V. :Forrest voice: Mah mama says...

VI. (half) Marathon Tips

I. Creptius (the fancy schmancy medical term)

Since running more, anyone else feel like they can pop just about any bone in their foot? At this point, I can pop anything in my right foot.

II. In the beginning...

Pat brought up something that I have been thinking about while running. Since I always loved history class, I tried to remember the beginnings of this team. How did it all go down? I know I didn't plead and trick you guys in to running. If anyone would like to fill in the blanks in my head, that would be appreciated. Or, I could just ask you next week LIVE and in person.

III. America's Pastime

I must admit the fantasy baseball league some of you guys participate in (the NKFBL) has finally gotten to me. I have been watching the Rangers since coming back in May and this series has brought up some observations:

1. As a runner, I cringed at Teixeira's hamstring injury

2. Gardner is pretty fast. I wonder what his 5k time is?

3. Nike Frees (the newer ones) were spotted in the Texas dugout.

IV. You Know You Are In Plano When...

-overheard at the jungle gym "she's NOT my girlfriend"

-underage smokers on the trail, because suburban life is SOOO rough

-inflatable Halloween yard decorations (definitely not a Providence thing)

V.

I was going to put this in to words but my mom beat me to the punch. After the long runs, 3 or 4 mile runs seem pretty short. We are now looked at like we are crazy by 99% of the American public.

VI. Long Race Tips

Here's a list taken from the runningahead forum that I (unfortunately) found after you guys raced in RI but I thought the tips were pretty good.

Oh yeaaaaah! Half Marthon(marathon) pictures yeaaaaah!

Half Recap

Sunday, October 17, 2010
Newport, RI
1:39:31- 187 out of 2506

So to start, I cant say how great it is to have all of these people into running now, coming from the person who used to be up at these types or races alone, its awesome to have a team now and to have fellow runner to talk about the races and stuff with. Everyone did a great job, you guys built yourselves up from pretty much no mileage to a half marathon in no time and theres something to be said for that. I don’t know how you got everyone into this Tang, but hats off, you really inspired everyone to get off their asses and get running, and running far.

So to recap the race, I woke up at 6am, got out of bed, got ready and headed to Newport, chauffeured by the Greg. I downed my usual pre race half loaf of peperage farms cinnamon bread and a banana and downed a few bottles of water and all the sudden we were in Newport, when we got off the exit I realized how much of an advantage it was having my dad drive us, the traffic was backed up all the way to where the exit forks (where you can take a left to head to Newport Grand, where the parking was and where you can take a right to head to “Historic Newport” so Greg drove up literally right up to the starting line and we got out and hit up the porta-jons. It was 7:30 in the morning along the beach so it was pretty chilly, I was wearing pants and a long sleeve shirt and lauren looked like she was going out in a snow storm, but the guy in front of us was wearing a tank top and some short shorts and that was it, no socks, no shoes nothing, he was a “barefoot runner”. Ridiculous, us and the girls infront of us started talking to him and he said he’s done it for so long its all he knows, he said he enjoys it except there are some cources that have places that aren’t too barefoot friendly, the week before he ran a half in Hartford and there were two miles of freshly placed pea gravel, he said “but what can you do?” HOW BOUT WEAR SHOES! Haha I get that the whole barefoot thing is how you’re supposed to run and its more natural, but just like I say to the vegeterians who tell me its not natural to drink another species milk and all that guff, people have been doing it for all this time and it’s been workin pretty well, that cows milk gives me strong bones and tastes awesome and my shoes allow me to run over whatever I want without feeling it.

Anyways after that we started the search for Knapp Kob and Nikki. We went to the left hand of the starting line where we were gonna meet them and stood for a few and then I decided to take a lap around the area and look while Laur waited at the starting line, all to no avail. We ended up giving the numbers to Greg who was gonna look for them but that didn’t go so smoothly either haha, at the end they got their numbers so I guess it worked out, although by doing them a favor we really made the whole thing harder on them then it shoulda been, sorry guys!

I shed my warmup clothes and got to the starting line, standing at the 8 min pace markers, the gun went off and we started going. I wanted to start out right around 8 min and keep that throughout and then kick it in the last 3 miles, I started off with what I thought was an 8 minute pace, maybe even slower (it was tough to gague without timers at the mile markers) but when I got to mile 4 I noticed a guy next to me looking at his watch so I asked for the time, 30:25 roughly 7:30 pace, I thought maybe I should slow down, but then I thought eh I’ll keep this up as long as I can and go from there. There was finally a clock at the 5 mile marker and I got there at 38:10, keepin ahead of schedule I was pretty pumped. Kept on keepin on through the half way point and then I thought we got this, this isn’t so bad at all, 13 miles is nothing, Terry Fox did this before breakfast every day ON ONE LEG. The weather was perfect, the scenery was beautiful and it was just a great day to be running. When I got to the 8 mile marker and realized there was only 5 left I was pumped, when I got to the 9 I started getting real pumped, and when I got to the 10 at 1:16:02 and realized this thing was in the bag I was estatic. I said to myself this is it, 3 miles is a cake walk, its what you do at 5:40 every morning, down to Castle Island and back, this race is over. I picked up the pace even more, and when I hit that 12 mile marker “The Club Can’t Handle Me” came on my iPod which I found is the song that makes me run the fastest and I started into a light sprint, I saw my dad at the top of the hill where there was about .5 miles left and hit repeat on the song. Between seeing my Dad, the beats and the fact that it was down hill and the race was almost over I started real nice sprint, which lasted me all the way down the hill and along the beach where I hit the 13 mile mark and could see ahead to the clock counting up from 1:39:29 so I kicked it as fast as I could and crossed the finish well under 1:40:00 which I was super pumped about since I was shooting for 1:45:00.

I went through the shoot and ran back up the hill to go stand with my dad and cheer on my team mates. I had no idea what time they ended up starting so I was surprised when it took so long for Kevin to come by (after the race I found out they started about 20 min in) he was lookin real strong. Then I was expecting to see Knapp and I heard Lauren yell my name, she was looking great, and flashed by me, then there was Knapp rumbling around the corner, looking real strong, he gave me and my dad a high five and took off down the hill. We started walking down the hill while looking for Nikki and were met by KOB and we stood there and KOB spotted Nikki from the distance, she came wizzing by us with a big smile on her face and ran through the shoot. After we met up with Lauren we saw Sean going through the finish. I could write a lot more but I think this is enough haha, all in all it was an awesome day, everyone should be real proud of their accomplishment, you all did an amazing job. I cant wait to take down Boston in April with Knapp, Tang and KOB.

Newport Half RR

In the days leading up to the race, I was, again, seriously doubting myself and my abilities to complete an entire 13.1 miles. My taper week was pretty horrible. I guess I developed shin splints or something, because the two times that I ran 3 miles, my shins and calves burned continuously, making me run at an extremely slow pace, in serious discomfort the whole way. I was very anxious/moody on friday and saturday.

Saturday I had to work a 13 hour shift because my schedule coordinator would only allow me to take Sunday as a vacation day and not the whole weekend. It wasn't that bad though because I sat on the stool for most of the day. I had ordered chinese food for lunch with spring rolls and lots of steamed white rice and then I had chicken parm for dinner. I didn't eat the entire thing though so I think I carbed up enough without overdoing it. I also had 2 L of water throughout the day, which wasn't very smart on my part, because I was the only pharmacist on and I had to keep running to the bathroom all day. Oh well! I was also stretching/messaging my legs all day to try and get them loosened up enough where they hopefully would not be bothersome during the run. Some old guy saw me and said I shouldn't rub my calf if it hurts because I could have a blood clot that could dislodge and kill me. Oh my god, haha. Thanks for the advice, dude.

Before I went to bed that night, Kevin and I did some more stretching, which made me feel better, but then I woke up in the middle of the night because my entire left leg was throbbing with pain. I took some ibuprofen and went back to sleep for another 3 hours until the alarm went off at 5:30am.

I remember hearing the alarm and then crying 'noooooooo!' because I was so tired. We got dressed, had a bagel and a banana, went downstairs and hopped into Sean's car at about 6:10/6:15. I thought the trip to Newport would be quick, maybe about a half hour, but we hit some traffic when we got there, so we decided to park on a side road and do a little .7 mile warm up run to the shuttle busses. It was super cold out so I didn't mind doing the warm up run. After the warm up I felt awake, and more pumped than ever because my legs weren't hurting me! That was probably due to the fact that I took some more ibuprofen that morning.

There was a long line to the shuttle bus when we got there, and got to the start of the race with just a few minutes to spare. We had a little trouble getting our bibs b/c Pat and Lauren picked them up the night before, but were already lined up for the race. Thank goodness Lauren found us and gave us our bibs slightly after the gun went off! Kevin, Sean, Knapp and I didn't start with the majority of the racers though because we had to make the ritualistic pre-run trip to the porta-potties. We didn't end up starting the run until around 8:21am, and we made it just as they were taking apart the chip line...close call!

The run started out on a huge ass hill. For me, I start my long runs out VERY slow, so reaching the top of the hill felt I was walking instead of running up it, but I didn't want to up my pace until at least the second mile. It was so weird because we started at the very end of the pack. I was running by myself basically and was worried I was going to get lost. Fortunately there were lots of arrow signs and....HALLELUJAH! there were MILE MARKERS!!! I think this is the first race I've done where they actually put mile markers down, which helps me out a lot, figuring out my pace and junk. Anyways, I was feeling a little deflated motivation-wise as I ran by myself. There were next to no spectators left at the start of the race and I was getting what I think was compliments out of sheer pity from the cops that I passed saying, 'good job' and 'keep it up', maybe because they thought I was struggling already at not even a mile down.

At about 2 miles in, my shins and calves started hurting me again and I just thought to myself, oh crap, here we go. Sean passed me at about 2.5 miles in. I was very surprised to see him because I thought he had started out ahead of me. It was really nice seeing a familiar face. He asked if I was doing ok, which I said I was, but what I really wanted to say is my legs hurt and I want to stop, but I kept chugging along anyways. My left leg actually went numb at one point, which I would normally be worried about, but I was just happy that I was feeling numbness instead of pain.

Then, miraculously, between miles 4-5, the pain subsided and I was able to start kicking it up a notch! After that it was pretty much smooth sailing for the rest of the way. I started catching up to all the walkers/slow runners and continuously passed people right up to the end of the race. That right there is a huge boost in ego, just like Knapp stated. It just gave me a sense of accomplishment, like, "look at all these people tuckered out already and I'm just getting started!" It was a really good way to get me motivated to keep pushing on. Half-way into the race, there was a really long stretch of beautiful ocean views, this is where I got my 'runners high' and was feeling so good. It was such a beautiful day for a run. The only thing that could have made it better is was if it was less windy, I was running against the wind at certain points, which was kind of annoying.

I hit sort of a wall at around 9 miles in where I wanted to slow down, but I just told myself it would pass and to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I reached the 10 mile mark at 1:48, which I was pumped about so that put a little extra gas in my tank for me to push it to the end. When I finally reached the big ass hill, I felt awesome because there were loads of spectators there to cheer us on. I was taking huge strides down the hill, passing people left and right. I saw Pat, Pat's dad and Kevin on the side lines. Kev gave me a high five and told me there was only a quarter mile left! I was so happy that I started a small sprint down the rest of the hill. When I made it to the beach I saw Lauren and here mom and sister who cheered me on, and Knapp gave me a shout out too, which gave me that extra little push I needed to power it out to the finish line. That is what's so great about being at the end of the pack. Knowing that my friends are there to cheer me on to the finish is such an awesome feeling. I like being slow, especially for that reason :P.

After I finished, I did a little victory dance, and of course, gave a thumbs up for the photographer. I grabbed a water, that shiny foil blanket thingy, and my medal and headed out to find the rest of the crew.

All in all, I am really happy with how the entire thing went, even with the late/shaky start. I'm happy with my time, I reached my goal, and I'm looking forward to more half marathons in the future. Who knows, maybe I'll even try for a marathon eventually!

If you had told me back in May that I would complete a half marathon by October, I would have laughed in your face and called you a retard. But. I'm happy I did it, and I'm really glad Tang got us all together and motivated us to reach this point. Thanks coach!