2:00.41

as promised, an account of my half marathon experience. ( by the way, do any of my friends read this? comment so i know, although it is just clearly a way to soothe my ego. am i writing into empty internet space? is anyone out there?)

there are many things one could do in 2 hours and 41 on seconds. see a movie. take a nap. grocery shop. catch up on email. i decided to run 13 miles. i'm still kind of scratching my head, trying to figure out how this happened, because i've never been into running before. i like playing games, interacting with other people. running was something i did only because it was training for some other sport (my crew coach made me do it), and it was boring and solitary. admittedly peer pressure had something to do with this new hobby, as i have several friends who run regularly. besides, vancouver, as a whole, is pretty fitness obsessed. i've been pleasantly surprised at how much i have enjoyed the training, spending the time on long runs conversing with friends, spending the time alone, and being pleased with my progress.

i didn't get nervous until we were driving to the race in the morning. "what the hell am i doing here?" we were late, having only time to dash to the porta-pottie for a last minute bathroom break, and rush to the starting line in time to hear the announcer say, "2 minutes to start" there were about 4000 people entered in the race, and it was eerie in the early morning light to only hear the footsteps of so many people, some hastily assembled army storming off to nowhere. i didn't have any time to stretch, so my shins immediately tightened up, which actually was a good thing because it took my mind off how much my knees were hurting. it took a while for me to settle down and get into a rhythm, i was distracted by watching the many different people running, who all seemed to be passing me, which was irritating to the my competitive side.

victoria is a beatiful city, which has a great laid back beach town feel to it. my favorite moment was coming out of the park halfway through the race to see the sun shining through the clouds on the Juan De Fuca Strait, casting a golden and silver light on the water. i found the moment beautiful and absurd. absurd that i was doing this, something that i had never tried or even wanted to do before, and beautiful that i was there to see this sight at all. and i felt blessed.

i turned my mind back to the race. the course doubled back on itself, and i saw the front-runners pass me. they looked like they were sprinting. it was crazy. my friends that had come along for the trip were the best fans ever. they drove around to different points in the course and waved their signs and cheered loudly. as the race wore on, i couldn't spare the energy to react, but i was grateful for the sight of them. there were a lot of people out to watch the race, and even some strangers cheered for me and i managed a tired smile at them.

with 6k to go (about 4 miles) i realized that i could maybe break 2 hours. i hadn't come into the race with any time goal in mind, i just wanted to see how i would do, without the pressure or expectations. the women behind me were talking about it, and i decided that i would attach myself to them and go for it. i don't remember much for that last part, around 30 minutes, besides telling myself to breath and to go hard. the last part of the accursed race course ends up back in town and zig zags around several city blocks. at each corner i thought i'd see the finish line, only to see more race course. in my mind i yelled "DAMMIT!". i had no breath to spare. i sprinted down the chute, which seemed to take an eternity. but i finished! got my little medal and race photo (if you want to check it out, go to www.royalvictoriamarathon.com and do a search for me) and i'd do it again.

my friends and i hobbled around for the rest of the day. 3 of us ran the half marathon and my friend rochelle did the whole shebang. we piled back into the car and went out to cheer for her. we pigged out on the post race buffet of fruit and doughnuts and yogurt - for this reason alone i would do another race. mmm... donut.
celebrated thanksgiving that night, falling asleep at 2 different points in the evening. they didn't hold it against us - at that point, it looked like we were afflicted with serious cases of arthritis. it took about 4 days for me to be able to walk normally again, and not do some sad little charlie chaplin shuffle crossing the street. hard to believe that i voluntarily subjected myself to this kind of pain. i'm just a glutton for punishment.