April 20-26 Runs

[divingbiker]

OK, I've never really felt like a runner so I haven't posted here, but now I think I qualify. Yesterday I did the MORE/Fitness magazine half marathon in New York City. Due to the heat, they canceled the marathon and said that if you couldn't complete the half marathon in 3 hours, then you could only do the first loop of the course (7 miles.) I had been planning to mostly walk the race, shooting for a time of 3:30.

Well, there was no way in hell that I was going to throw away all the training I'd done, along with the expense of a trip to NYC, so I started off running and never really stopped. I walked a bit, but mostly ran the first 7 miles and made it well before the 1:40 cutoff. The second half was harder, but I continued running for about 4 more miles, till my body started balking. I walked most of the last three miles, because every time I started running my stomach and calves would start cramping.

I finished in 3:03. I really wanted to make it in under 3 hours, but my crampy body wouldn't cooperate. I ended up in the medical tent feeling woozy, and a nice medic gave me salt and an ice pack and I got better pretty quickly. I guess I wasn't drinking as much gatorade at the water stops as I thought I was (warm gatorade is kinda disgusting.)

So there it is--my first and last half marathon. I'm so glad I don't have to do those long training walk/runs any more!

Here are the only two pictures I have from the day (Zen has more, but I think they're pretty unflattering.)