It was almost 90 degrees on Thursday, of course, that was 2 days before we ran the Cowtown half marathon. DFW weather is unpredictable, 90 degrees is far too hot to run any kind of run with a PR in mind.
The weekend was supposed to be cooler, mid to high 50's, perfect! My first, half with absolutely perfect weather. I was a bit freaked out, it being my first one and all. My wife, Debbie was much calmer. We would be fine.
Saturday morning 4am, I didn't sleep well, too nervous. I had been awake for 10 minutes before the alarm went off. I took the dog out and was met with a 30 degree morning and a 30 mph wind. Maybe, hot would have been better.
We got our gear into the car and made the nearly hour trek to downtown Fort Worth. We met some friends and worked our way to the starting area. 17,000 runners had decided to brave the cold blustery morning to join us. The Star Spangled Banner was sung, the horn sounded and we were carried off in the wave of humanity that headed out of downtown. It was a total rush! I had not been a part of a run that big before. It was wild to look down a street normally bustling with cars into nothing but people running across all 4 lanes for about a half a mile. Very cool! We were off!! I felt really good! It was warm. This was going to be great. Well, the wind was at our back so I couldn't feel the cold, and I got a caught up in the adreniline of the start. As we settled into the rythm of the run I still felt awesome, but the cold and the wind were starting to creep into my bones a bit.
By mile 5 everything felt like normal for a run of this length. My air was good, my legs felt fine, but I still hadn't warmed up like I thought I was going to. By mile 7 the conversation with my wife had gotten less frequent and the hills were getting longer and the wind seemed to be in my face more often. Debbie was starting to dust me on the hills. She was doing great.
At the 10 water stop I drank a cup of red Powerade. My stomach turned to knots, and I couldn't get enough air. My running slowed way down, plodding, turned to walking. Every hill seemed like Mount Everest and every breeze Hurricane Katrina. For 2 miles this went on, 2 miles that seemed to take hours. At mile 11 I ate a banana, a real banana, not some gel block banana, not some sugar gooey stuff that tasted like banana, but a real banana. I started to feel a little better by 11.5 miles, and by mile 12, other than for the first time in my life I wished that I was 5'7" and 140 pounds, I started to run longer than walk again. FINALLY. Then, there it was as if out of no where the finish line, 3 hours later I crossed the line and felt relieved. Happy, but relieved. Debbie was waiting there, she would have done better had she not waited for me. I felt bad about that.
Overall, I was disappointed in my performance. I know I should have not had any great expectations, but I feel like I didn't have a day anywhere near the one I had envisioned. Never the less, my first half marathon is under the bridge. I'm a little less sore today than yesterday, and I know a lot more than I did just a day ago. And I'm looking forward to our next half. Ya know there's this run in April...
