The day was upon me. It loomed large on the calendar for many months. Just waiting. Reminding me of the commitment I made to myself. The 7th Annual Hills & Hollows Half Marathon in Valmeyer, Illinois.
It's a lovely event and the monies raised from race participants goes to the Monroe County Chapter of Backstoppers. Backstoppers is there for the families of fallen police officers and fire fighters. This is truly a worthy organization and one that I hope that my police officer and fire fighter friends never have to use.
My husband was registered to run the 5K portion of the event so he was able to go with me. The cool almost cold air of the late September morning really had me nervous. I kept asking my husband inane questions like, "Should I wear the jacket or take it off?" and "Where should I pin the bib number if I want to wear the jacket?" He was getting frustrated with me because nothing he said was right and he was unable to calm me down. At one point I thought he'd bail on his own race just to get away from me.
The race emcee rounded us up behind the finish line and after the National Anthem and a pre-race prayer the gun went off. Too late to bail now. I started to shuffle off with everyone else until there was space to pace myself properly. Initially I had real trouble keeping myself from bolting off since I was so used to 5k races. I could have run faster on the first part of the course, but I wanted to save my energy for the end. There's a beast at the end that I will tell you about later.
At about the 1.55 mile mark it got quiet very quickly. This was the turnaround point for the 5K racers. So suddently I was on my own. I didn't have someone to run with. Most of the people I passed or was passed by were in pairs. That would have been nice. Someone to push me on and keep me company. Most everyone I know thinks I'm brain dead for wanting to do this in the first place, there's no way I'd be able to get someone to go with me.
I motored along at my pace of 6 miles an hour. Some might consider that to be awfully slow, but this was my first time and there's a monster at the end of this race. The course wound around and up and down some very pretty countryside. If we'd been doing this about a week or two later, the fall colors covering the bluffs would have been spectacular. But everything is still pretty much green around here, but that didn't make it any less picturesque.
There were water and bathrooms at every mile marker. I was puttering along with my own bottle of water. The one with the sport cap so I inhale less air. One thing I know I don't need during a distance run is a belching problem. Especially since this distance happens to be so long, one wrong belch and my omelet was going to make a second showing.
At about the 6 mile mark, I had completely drained my water bottle, cursed at the jacket I'd worn and didn't need after about 2 miles, and started to feel the pain of pounding the pavement. I kept going though. It was the halfway point! I'm almost done. And boy, all I could think about was sitting down.
At the 8 mile marker, I had just decended down the bluff. It's a ways downhill and my goal was to make some time up on this part of the course. Here I am booking along and I get passed by a chick pushing a stroller. I hate those women. Not only am I trying to run a race and not be last, here you come running along pushing your 20 pound kid in a stroller like it's no big deal. I'm not even sure she was sweating. Anyway, she blazed right on past and I never saw her again. I'm pathetic.
I'm starting to feel really down at this point. Everthing is starting to hurt and I just want to quit. I think they call this hitting the wall. I slowed to a brisk walk and pulled the secret weapon out of my jacket pocket. A Snickers Bar. Who doesn't love chocolate? It lifted my spirits and gave a small burst of energy. Good thing too. I was headed straight into the Hill in the Hills and Hollows Half Marathon.
This is not simply a hill. It's a BEAST. It's 2 freaking miles of straight the hell up! Seriously, this hill doesn't quit it just keeps going up and up and up some more. I ran up the thing as far as I could. Then I had to drop down to a walk. This thing is brutal. So brutal, I passed someone who was jogging and I was at a brisk walk.
At the final turn to the finish, I pulled back up into a run. I was really, really feeling the cramp in my right calf. I just kept repeating to myself that I was NOT going to cramp up and wind up tripping. I crossed the finish to cheers and shouts of encouragement from my husband and total strangers at about 2 hours 38 minutes.
I am now officially a Wife, Mother, Daughter, Friend, Stroke Survivor and Marathoner! Well, half-marathon anyway. Maybe someday I'll tackle the full 26.2, but for now I am totally happy with 13.1. I will run other half marathons but I vow to NEVER run this one again. I'll be happy with just running the 5K with my honey.
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