Half Marathon? Half Crazy. (Part 2)
Part 1. So we started running. And running. And running. It’s been almost a week now, and I’m still somewhat in disbelief that I ran a half marathon in the pouring rain.
It’s all a blur now, but Shilpa and I started out strong–the adrenaline of being surrounded by people running just as far as we were pumped us up and we forgot about how cold and wet we were and just focused on putting one foot in front of the other–for thirteen point one miles. Around mile three, I started to really think about how far ten more miles was. That’s like…far. Having never run more than 6.5 miles before–like I said in my last post, we did not train well–ten miles felt insurmountable. But then around mile eight, I turned a corner and saw my big from AOII! There she was, leaping up and down and cheering me on in the pouring rain, and I felt rejuvenated. Shilpa and I picked up the pace and trudged onward.
I started to focus less on the distance and the miles went by much faster–by the time we hit mile ten, I was amped up and ready for the last three point one miles. The feeling of excitement built up every mile we ran, and by the time we hit the mile thirteen marker, I felt like leaping for joy and sprinting to the finish. (I did neither of these things, because let’s be real–I had just ran thirteen miles.) Crossing the finish line felt like this.
After the race, we collected our finisher’s medals an abundance of free food (think chocolate milk, PowerBars, bananas, bagels, etc.), collected our things, did some stretching, walked to where Shilpa’s boyfriend Curtis was picking us up, practically fell into the car, and curled up with warm, dry towels and big sweatshirts (shout out to Curtis–good call on that one, man!) for the ride back to campus. Upon entering my room, I took a 30 minute, scalding hot shower to defrost, and spent the next eight hours on my couch (possibly an exaggeration), congratulating myself on a job well done, and moving as little as possible.
(Oh also, we finished in 2:23! Which is wayyyyy faster than expected.)