13.1=only half crazy.

 If I was a more diligent blogger, I would have documented all of my training for the half marathon Sarah and I did together.  But clearly, that didn't happen...so here is our weekend in San Antonio! Sarah coerced me into doing another race, (thank you Sarah for not allowing me to be your fat friend) this time it was a half marathon!  We thought it would be fun to do the "Rock and Roll Marathon" down in San Antonio.  Neither of us had ever been there before, and we had both heard how fun of a city it is, so we took the plunge!

The hotel we stayed in was pretty sweet!

Right after we checked in, we went and grabbed all our marathon gear; our official number, t shirt, tracking device, bag, etc.  

 The San Antonio River Walk, it was amazing!

There were a bunch of cute little shops and restaurants along the river walk.  I loved it!  Our hotel and the race was right next to everything.  It was perfect.

After we checked out the river walk and got some lunch, we walked a few blocks down to The Alamo.

It was sweet to see something that I've always read about in books.  There is a ton of history there.  It was Veteran's Day weekend, so there were a lot of military around.

After we took the tour, this is basically what Gerret and Sean were doing while Sarah and I were looking around.  It's funny, because we were the ones who had to run a race the next day...and they are the ones resting...

After we went and saw The Alamo, we took a water taxi tour through the river walk.  This was one of my favorite parts of the weekend.  We got to see all of the river walk, but by boat!

  I loved it!  Everything was perfect-the weather, the scenery, the company.  Love, love, love.

That night we went out to dinner on the river walk.  The picture's a little blurry...but you get the idea. 

GUILT FREE carb loading!  Always a win win.

 

The river walk was just as amazing at night, as it was during the day!  Love this picture of Sarah!

Race day, oh snap.  I was freaking out in this picture.  It was nuts...I had a ton of weird, nervous energy once I saw everyone stretching and lining up.

Not smiling as much, but still freaking out...

I was having an inner battle...I need to stretch, but I still want to take pictures.  What to do?!

Enough stretching, we jumped into our 30th corral!  30th?!?!

 

 

I'm calm, I'm calm...I'm ready, I'm ready....

WE'RE NOT CALM, WE'RE NOT READY!!!

At that moment, we decided to abandon our 30th corral, and jump ahead and get started.  The runner's adrenaline everyone had told us about was kicking in, and getting the best of us.  My nerves were killing me, I had to start running at that point.  No one stopped us, so I guess it worked out!

This is probably my favorite picture of the race, Sean took it with his phone.  We had just passed the start line, and were so relieved to be starting.  Hence the smile, and not the sheer look of terror.

We started off at a pretty good pace.  Just like the 15K we did together, I didn't have many goals.  During my training, my favorite runs were the 5mile runs I did 3 times a week.  So my goal was to run 5 miles straight without stopping, at a steady pace.  My other goal was to not be last...which luckily, I met.  Sarah and I weren't sure if we were going to be able to run the entire race together, but we agreed if we needed to split up, we would.  After about the first 5K Sarah's foot started hurting her (which a few weeks later she would find out she had a stress fracture, and still ran the entire race with it.  Crazy, I know?!  Champion!), and she needed to take a break.  I told her I really wanted to run at least the first 5 miles without stopping, so without hesitation she encouraged me to keep going.   Great running partner, amazing friend.

So naturally, Sean and Gerret thought we were running together the entire race.  They thought they had plenty of time, so what did these supportive husbands do?  They went and took a nap...together, then they went to Denny's....naturally. 

Yes, this is a picture that Sarah took of a man running the race...barefoot. 

 And I thought my feet hurt...

The first 5 miles went great for me.  At about mile 7, I was starting to hurt.  I had been eating some runner's energy gummies and crackers like crazy, drinking plenty of water/gatorade, but I was still feeling kind of burnt out.  I walked for about .25 miles, and then realized it actually hurt more to walk than to run.  At about mile 11, I thought I was going to die.  My furthest run thus far had only been 10 miles.  That's all it said on my training regimen!  I started to walk for a little bit again, but it hurt too much...I could feel blisters starting to form between my toes.  When I was running my feet were actually kind of numb, so I just kept running.  Between mile 11 and 12 was probably the longest for me.  Finally, mile 12 came, I only had a mile left!  That was the only point in the race was I was sure I could finish, pathetic I know.  Once I hit that mark, I knew the faster I ran, the faster I would finish.  I think I was almost sprinting the entire last mile.  

So, Gerret has a gps locator on Sarah's phone.  Like I said, Sean and Gerret thought that we were still together.  I saw Sarah pass me around mile 7 when I was walking (I yelled out her name, but with the other 15,000 people running she didn't hear me...weird), so I thought she was way ahead of me.  About .5 miles before the finish line Sean realized we weren't together, because I just bolted/sprinted past him.  Gerret and Sean weren't even at the finish line!  Haha...they only had numerous hours to get there...Sean ended up taking a shortcut and saw me cross the finish line.  The last mile or so was really confusing for me.  I basically felt like an idiot the entire mile.  There was a huge tracking device that we ran under with tons of cameras, signs, and people cheering that read "SMILE!"  I couldn't decide if that was the finish line or not.  I was seriously confused.  But everyone kept running, and even though I was disappointed/really confused, I kept running too!  The last .25 miles was completely uphill.  Basically it was cruel...and just wrong.  But, we made it!!!

HOLLLLLLLA!

Halle-freaking-lujah!

I'm not sure if I wanted to laugh, cry, puke, stretch, collapse, shower, amputate my feet, die...or all of the above at that moment.  Clearly, a mix of emotions.

A little Mormon comic relief.  Free beer?!  Haha

We basically made some alcoholic's day when we gave him 2 free beers...

After the race we had the 4-5 hour drive home.  In retrospect, probably not the best idea.  I didn't think I would feel great post race, but I definitely didn't think I would feel as badly as I did.  I felt so sick.  I had a massive headache (dehydration?).  I knew I needed to eat, but I was so nauseous.  I was so shaky, I could barely walk.  We stopped and got some Subway, and I maybe took two bites...I felt terrible.  I couldn't decide which one hurt worse, my head or my stomach.  Someone had the idea to eat a pickle for the sodium, GENIUS.  It's the only thing that worked.  I couldn't even eat the freaking pickle because I was so nauseous, so as you can see in this disgusting picture, I sipped the pickle juice through a straw.  God bless you, gas station "BIG PAPA PICKLES".  Next time I'll know that I need pickles right away! :)

 Despite the post race sickness, I'm so glad we did it!  It was an awesome experience, I can't believe how well we did.  I was honestly pleasantly surprised.  I would definitely do another half marathon.  There's no way I could do a full marathon, like my post entails...I'm only half crazy!

Dallas 2013 half marathon anyone?!