I ran (well, actually race-walked) my first half marathon last Sunday, January 17, the Cascade Half Marathon in Turner, Oregon. I have been suffering from Plantar Fasciitis in my right foot and probably shouldn't have run this race, but I'd already signed up and I tend to be a bit stubborn. (OK, a LOT stubborn!) My foot seemed to be getting better so I thought I'd at least try to run it and walk if I had to.
I got there early and changed my start time to 8:00 AM instead of 9:00 AM because there was no way I could complete this in less than 2.5 hours. During the California International Marathon, I had reached the half mark in 2:37 so it would have been doable to finish in under 2.5 hours under normal circumstances.
It was raining slightly at the start, but not too bad, no wind to speak of. We started and I suddenly realized that I hadn't changed my Garmin to "running" instead of "biking" so I lost some time changing it. Then I accidentally hit the "lap" button so I could only see the pace for the current lap and could not see my total miles or time. Since I never use that function, I had no idea how to change it back. Oh well! :)
I managed to keep running for about a mile, then I realized that I would never make the full 13.1 miles running. I wasn't too upset, since I pretty much figured that would happen. My first mile was at 12:45 pace, which was pretty good, but the next ones weren't so great. In the middle, I actually slowed to almost 17:00 min pace! The wind DID pick up quite a bit here, so I'll use that as an excuse. haha!
Once the 9:00 people started to pass me, I found myself picking up my pace quite a bit unconsciously. I went from almost 17:00 pace to 14 & then 13. It's amazing what a bit of competition does. :) My last .1 mile was at 11:04 pace. I was just trying to get it done.
It's really sad when you get passed by a 69 yr old runner carrying her cane. I kid you not! I DID manage to pass her about 550 meters from the finish line, but she had slowed to a fast walk and was using her cane. Talk about humiliating! hahaha! I'm SO impressed by her, what an inspiration! I hope I am still running at that age, 13 yrs from now.
I finished in 3:15:58; 14:36 pace, really not too bad for walking.
I'm still sore from this race, but after my PT visit this morning, my foot is a lot better. No, I didn't tell her I did this race, she would have killed me for sure. I'm not telling her I'm running the MLK 5k this Saturday either, but by then I'll probably be done seeing her so it won't matter.
This race is a great one and is almost complete flat, seriously. I would like to run it again, but not next year since I'm signed up for the WDW Goofy Challenge on January 8 & 9. No way can I run a half a week later.
