Albany Half Marathon 2009

Okay, so maybe I talk a lot about running now, but I like it, and it's the first thing I have done for myself in I-don't-know-how-long. If you don't care, don't read this:)

First of all, HUGE thanks to the Galans, who not only watched our kids for us, but watched our kids WHILE THEY WERE MOVING! Before you ask how I could be such a sucky friend as to let them do it, well, that's just how I roll. It's all about me, duh! Team Galan is awesome. And insane. But we really benefited from their lunacy this weekend and I'm sure our kids appreciated missing out on nearly 9 hours of driving in a 24 hour period.

This second half marathon was different from my first in a couple of ways: I trained for this one by myself (boo); I actually had a time goal instead of just a "finish" goal (wanted to come in under 2 hours); and I had my favorite person on the sidelines (AWESOME!) who is such a studly navigator that he managed to find me 3 times during the race -- pretty good for a first time spectator! Without further ado, here's how it all went down...

Boone and I made a mad dash to Albany, GA (4+ hours away) on Friday night so I could pick up my race packet in time. We made it with about 20 minutes to spare and headed to our hotel to start our raging party (we brushed our teeth and went to bed at 10:30).

I woke up at 3:15 and never really fell back asleep, so I still don't know what it would be like to race on more than 4 hours of sleep. It might be cool, if you're a sissy who thinks being rested is beneficial.



Here I am in the parking lot of the hotel, ready to go while it's still dark. Those of you who know me in real life know this is like the Twilight Zone already. In fact, when I asked Boone why he wanted to take this picture, he said, "So you can prove you were awake before dawn one time". Psshh. Whatever. I've been up before dawn like 4 other times in my life. It's overrated.

Pretty self explanatory here -- it's the starting line. I'm in there somewhere, but not visible in this picture. The 5 guys who are matchy matchy were the first 5 finishers for the half marathon, and the 3 Kenyans on the left were the top 3 for the full 26.2. I guess they had a good reason to be at the front of the line. More on them later...

We actually had timing chips and I managed to be much closer to the front than I was in Hilton Head. This was good and bad. Good because I didn't have to fight my way up to get enough room to go at my own pace, but bad because there is a natural tendency to try to keep up with those in front of you. This meant I went out way too fast that first mile, finishing in 8:17.

***Sonja, Tyler, Christy, Anna, Sara, and anyone else who is more athletic than me can quit laughing at my "way too fast" pace now -- let's all remember that I didn't really start running until November. Seriously, QUIT LAUGHING!***

Here what an action shot looks like when you are using a crappy outdated camera. This was the first time Boone saw me, right at mile 2. It was so foggy through the first 5 miles that the brim of my hat was literally dripping with condensation. This turned out to be helpful when I basically threw a cup of Gatorade into my right eye at mile 3. I looked like a pirate for about a mile until I had accumulated enough mist on my face to wash off. I'm pretty much the biggest dork you'll ever see on a race course, but I think my eye enjoyed the electolyle boost.

See how foggy? See my LOOONNNGG fanny? Good times. By mile 2 I had slowed back down to my goal pace of 9:00 miles and was able to hang out there until around mile 6 when my dumb foot started hurting. I knew my goal time was slipping away when I'd lost a full 2 minutes by mile 10, but right around that aid station the pain just faded and I was able to pick it back up a little. I think it helped that I saw Boone again at mile 10 and was able to ditch my hydration belt with him. It's not that it was super heavy or cumbersome, but I think it gave me a boost psychologically.

Boone pointed out that pretty much all the running pictures look the same -- it's a big-faced chick in blue with Gatorade in her eye and a fanny pack. I don't think you all could handle that kind of hotness over and over and over again, so I'll do you a favor and cut to the finish.


Yep, that's me, BARELY making my goal time, but MAKING IT! My official chip time was 1:59:24 -- a 9:07 pace -- which put me finishing 9th in my age group, and as the 62nd overall female out of 338 runners. I was secretly hoping for a 1:58 finish, but I was still really happy that I cut over 3 1/2 minutes off my time in 4 weeks.


See the happiness? So the crazy thing is when you finish running 13.1 miles, and literally 14 minutes later 3 Kenyans come cruising through the finish line as they finish the full marathon. Insane. It is just amazing to me that people can run that fast. On the other hand, none of those dudes has incubated 3 human beings in their bodies like I have, so I'm pretty sure I impressed them as much as they impressed me.



And just like that, I was back in full dork mode. Sigh.


It was a blast. I loved having Boone there to cheer me on, and once again I find myself antsy to register for another race. I think after I run one more half, I am going to have to go for the full 26.2. Who's in?