It was far from easy. Many of the aforementioned obligations kept me from training as much as I had wanted and the temperature skyrocketed to almost 80 degrees during the race. Keep in mind that means it was hotter during my October half marathon than it was during my August 8K. Mother Nature, why can't we just all get along?
The course was along Boston's Emerald Necklace an started in Franklin Park, just outside White Stadium. The beginning was mostly a gradual downhill, across the overpass near Forest Hills and then around Jamaica Pond and through Brookline (along Riverway). Once back across the overpass after the first loop, the course backed up on itself again and moved back up the first big hill and through Franklin Park Zoo after crossing back over the starting line. Once through the zoo, the course crossed the starting line one more time and then curved around and finally into White Stadium where the finish line was at the 30 yard line!
I certainly hit a few snags along the way. Starting around mile 2, I could feel the tape around my big toe rubbing up against my second toe and knew it spelled disaster. I decided to just run through the pain and deal with it later (note: later is now and there is no skin on the inside of that toe, oooowww). The course was a bit more hilly than I had anticipated and I started feeling it in my knees around mile 6 or 7. Then, at mile 7 my shoe came untied (grrr, why didn't I double knot them from the beginning?!). Finally, around mile 10 the heat started to take its toll along with my failing knee. I ended up walking for a few minutes every mile from then out, but finished with a good strong run so I'm still very proud of myself.
When the weather was first projected a few days ago, I altered my goal a bit from what I had originally hoped. That said, I beat my altered goal by 4 minutes and was only 10 minutes slower than my original goal. I think that's not all that bad given all the snags I hit! I finished the half marathon (13.1 miles) and that's the most important thing to me. Now, as I sit looking at the medal I got at the finish, I think I can definitely do another one in the future.
Then I look over at my left knee, which is currently in a brace and propped up on the coffee table. Granted, there's no way I'm going to let this keep me from doing another half, but I'm definitely going to need to take some extra precautions with my knees next time (and maybe run my next half on a less hilly course).
Despite the setbacks and the pain, it was totally worth it for that moment of crossing the finish line. Joe did a great job of capturing my relief in the photo below:
There's nothing like knowing you set out with a goal that you couldn't have even imagined for yourself a few years (or months) before and that you accomplished it with the support of the people you love and with friends both old and new!
