A Half Marathon and A Full Wineglass

10/29/2013 tringel 0 Comments

As you may have read (in more then one post), Brenden and I journeyed up to Corning, NY a few weekends ago. We had a chance to visit the Corning Museum of Glass and spend time with Brenden's family. But, the original reason for the trip was the Wineglass Half Marathon I had signed up for, only a year or so ago. Since going to college in upstate NY, the area has found its way into my heart. Plus the fact that Brenden was still living up there at the time of registration did not hurt my reasoning for choosing this race. A vacation and race all in one, perfect. And even though Brenden has moved down since, we still got our vacation and race, only I didn't have to do the endless hours of driving by myself. In fact, Brenden did all the driving and I just kept him company (between sleeping, whoops). Does it get any better then that?! Love him!

So we set out early Friday morning, and had a lovely weekend exploring and visiting and pretty much running around. Only too soon was it 5 am on Sunday morning, and I was waking up for probably the fourth and final time that night/morning. My nerves had kept me tossing and turning in the hours leading up to the race. It was my last race for the season, but I was just as nervous as I was for my first, just for different reasons. I was nervous for the forecasted, all-day thunderstorms, for my various injuries that had been acting up since my last race, for completing the race, for making everyone proud. But as I got ready I shook off the nerves, the rain that I heard pattering all night was slowing down, I was feeling good and confident, and I knew everyone was proud of me just for making it this far. Brenden and I packed up the last of our things and headed to the race.

The half marathon started about an hour and a half away from where we had stayed that night, but it felt like it took forever to get there. I was ready to go. It was a point to point race so we passed the full marathon runners as we drove to my starting point. I was getting excited. We followed the mile markers, distributed to guide the runners along the course. With each mile the race became more real. And then we were there, waiting in a line of cars packed with runners. I hopped out of the car, said goodbye to Brenden who wished me lots of luck, and walked toward the start line as Brenden drove in the opposite direction to meet me at the finish.

I walked about a quarter of a mile and finally got to the start line. It was already packed. I started to make my way back to the pacer I wanted to follow. I hadn't fully committed to a time before getting to the race, and of course that small voice of competitiveness (even just against myself) spoke up and said "You are feeling good, go with the 2 hour pacer. You can do it." So, although an even smaller voice in the back of my mind said I should keep walking farther back in the pack, my feet kept me planted toward the outskirts of 2 hour time. My ultimate goal was to finish in under 2 hours, but given the recent injury flare-up I had tried convinced myself that I was content with just running the entire race and finishing. My gesture to stay with the faster pacer told me that my original goal was not quite out of my head.

Now it was just a waiting game. I stretched my legs as much as I could in the two inch circle I had of personal space; I listened to the people around me chat with there friends and family, and I tried to get into my head and concentrate. It was finally time to start. I set my watch, slowly jogged to the actual start line as the masses of people scattered out (they decided to make it a one wave start), and I was off!

Photographer: Marathon Photo

Nice and easy. Uht oh, I hadn't even gone a quarter of a mile, and the pain from my injury was already starting, at least the rain was holding off. I told myself to "just go a little further, you aren't even warmed up yet." And, I did. One mile after another. I just kept telling myself at least one more mile and I made it that one more mile. After a mile or two my body had warmed up and I was feeling good. I was right on pace, and the pain was not too bad. The course was primarily flat, and we pretty much ran on an off road next to the highway. It was quite neat getting to run through all of the towns of the signs I have passed so many times on that highway, driving to and from school and Brenden.

Source: Marathon Photo

Mile 7. Still feeling good. Right on pace. Staying postitive. Mile 8. The tiredness was starting to creep up on me. But now that I had run this far I was even more determined to push through. My pace slowly but surely started to get off track, but that was okay, I just wanted to make it to the finish line running. Mile 9 and I saw the pace group pull ahead. Mile 10 the pace group was out of site, but I was still going. Only a 5K left. Just start over. The pain was growing, but the cheers from the bystanders drowned out the whimpering in my mind (and maybe some that slipped out-loud). Step by step I would make it. I was almost at mile 13 now. The crowds were getting thicker, the smiles on other racers faces were getting larger and I could feel myself get one more wind. Finish like a champ. Over the bridge and a left turn and I would see the finish line. There it was. Push through. And I did it! I had completed my second half marathon! And although I didn't get my finish goal time of under two hours, I finished. I ran the entire race, dropped 3 seconds (finishing in 2:07 and some change) from my last race, and placed 612 out of over 1855 people (top third, wahoo). I was very happy, if you couldn't tell.

I grabbed some ice and a ton of food as I walked away from the finish line. I headed to Brenden at our pre-planned meeting spot where he greeted me with open arms, a big smile, and a loud "Congratulations, I am so proud of you baby." It was awesome being able to share this moment with him. We talked a little, I caught my breath, and we watched the first marathoner finish (only a few minutes after me). It was a great time and we left with no regrets.