The Lakefront Marathon ( Half) Finished!

 With a new PR for me in the half-marathon category!   I am kind of proud of that.   However,   I did not break the 2 hour mark.    So I remain a slow old man.   ( 21 in my age group out of 5000 runners!)  Maybe I'm getting faster or the old guys in my age group are dying off.  Either way,  if I continue just hanging on in the "Sport"...  I may eventually get 3rd place or higher simply because everyone else is missing or dead!

All jokes aside, it was a beautiful day for a race.   Light breeze, cool temps,  sunny skies.   I was never really overheated during the entire race.   And the spectators, water stops, and mapping was all top notch; just like last year. I'm so happy the weather cooperated with the race this year.( As opposed to last year.)

That all being said,  I signed up for the half this time (Full marathons are for crazy people....)  Ok,  I might have been a little crazy last year, but I assure you,  running 26.2 miles will sober you up quickly!  If nothing else, it makes you realize that you don't want to do that again if you have an ounce of common sense!  

Still,   A half marathon is still a challenge and not nearly as painful.   True!  I'm kind of hurting a bit at the moment,  as I write this....   But it's a "good" kind of hurt.  One you get when you feel like you have accomplished something. 

The morning was a little hectic this year.   I figured I would get there about an hour and  45 minutes early,   but my AI navigator had different plans.   After several  U Turns,  I found myself with one hour and 15 minutes to park the car, go to the bathroom, and get in line for the race.   Oh!   Throw in the baggage claim in there as well.  I had to keep telling myself that as long as I get to the start line on time, it will all be good.   

And it was!  Although there were several moments I had my doubts.    And I HATE being rushed!  

The baggage claim was leaving soon and I had to check that first or be doomed to carry all of my stuff with me.  ( Oh!   Orange tag was secretly the "yellow" group...  Just an FYI for next year.) Then it was bathroom time.   Good thing I did not have to do much more than pee!   The line was wrapped around the port-a-jons like a ride at Cedar Point! And with daylight approaching,   I could not simply go out in the streets like veteran runners are so fond of doing.   So I waited in line.   

Luckily,  the crowd evaporated after the sound of the gun.   Me and another couple that were waiting, ran over to an abandoned line and were able to go while the line  was  evaporating.    We then rushed over the the start line.  

I was 4:50 minutes late from the gun!  But the entire starting line had not even crossed the starting mats so I was still in the green zone.  I made a mental note that my chip time would be off from the gun time by nearly 5 minutes... And that made me feel a little bit better.  

One of the nice things (or bad things)   about being in the back with all of the walkers is that you get to pass them!   I spent my first half of the race slowly working my way up to each pace group that I was supposed to be ahead of in the starting corral.  I eventually made it up to the 2:10 pace group and was feeling pretty good about that!   Running all that way to pass them gave my ego a bit of a boost. (Never did catch the 2 hour pacers though...)

But then we hit the bridge.   A 3% grade over 3 miles!   It does not seem like much, but over that distance, it sneaks up on you.    For the first time in the race,  people began to pass me!    At the  7 mile mark, I noted that I was on course for under 2 hours and that helped drive me into the "Pain Zone" where you  push yourself  just past your comfort zone to see if you can shave off a few extra seconds.   Unfortunately  the second half of the race had different ideas. 

I made a serious push at the end, but felt like I crawled across the finish.   The timer said 2:07, but I knew that even with 4 minutes to take off, I was not going to beat 2 hours.   But 2:03 was still a PR for me!   So... I choose to be happy. 

At the very least, my body is telling me that I definitely pushed myself.   My hips and buttocks are aching and my knees are sore.   And My feet!   Goodness!  My Feet! I was sure I had a blister on the ball of my foot, but it just seems like a cramp that will not go away at the moment. 

So 13.1 miles.. Completed!    And I now have a jacket, sticker,  shirt, and a couple of beer glasses to help me remember why I do these things.  Who knew that doing something painful could be kind of fun?   (Not me!  I hate suffering!)   Our Motto in the Army was that we would "Practice being miserable" so that when we had to do something like... I don't know.  "WAR!"   We would be used to it.   Perhaps that is one of those life secrets they never tell you in school.   Or they DO... In the form of sports or competition.  
But, as a young person, you don't ....Or can't make the connection.   You just think that school sucks and you can't wait to graduate.  Well,  Life is a rather unforgiving teacher. And those lessons are usually a pass/ fail.

Ok.  No more tangents.   Time to wrap this up and raise my feet!  I wanted to take a picture of my legs after the race, but the picture does not seem to capture the "Grizzled and Chiseled" look that they have after running that distance.  Kind of like a cool scar you want to show off with an interesting story. Something you have to see live,  because a picture can not capture the true feeling.   Ah well.   That is why I blog, I guess. 

Time for recovery!   Because tomorrow is school.   And every second counts!