[note]: Jessica originally posted this report on her tumblr blog, you can go here to find it. [end note]
Well, I will finally write down my thoughts regarding the Lexington Half before I forget it all. Forgetting it is not that likely though.
I have been training for this half since mid December. On every run I have visualized running the Lexington Half and finishing well. I was so excited for this race! I woke up at 6 and met up with my brother a half hour later. I ate a bagel and a banana for breakfast so I thought that was good for a race breakfast. My brother and I headed over to Fasig Tipton… and met a huge line of traffic. I work downtown so I’m used to traffic but it really worked up my anxiety. This was my first big race, I had only done one 5k before this. I started freaking out a little bit. So I called Nikki and she gave me a pep talk. She told me to be conservative in the beginning and to not worry about getting there.
The race time was delayed due to the traffic but that was a good thing for us. When Chris and I lined up to start I saw Brad, he trains with Gary and Nikki too. I gave Chris some Luna Moon gummies and even though they are for women Chris was glad I thought of him when I bought stuff for the race. The gun went off and we were running!
I hit my first mile at the 12 min mark almost to the second. This was a good pace for me in the beginning and I planned to keep it up for the first five miles or so. I was amazed at how I was able to keep my pace, sometimes I think I fluctuate too much. I hit mile 2 at 24 min and it kept going. Chris stayed with me the entire time. We saw Gary while going up Newtown Pike, it was exciting to hear someone call my name! Once we entered the horse park the view got to be so pretty and the rain didn’t bother me so much. I really started to enjoy the run. We saw the first people passing us on their way back to Fasig Tipton and I cheered for them! It was so cool to see someone running so fast! I started telling Chris, “We’ll see Nikki soon, we will!” I didn’t know how fast she would be going or even her goal for the race but I knew I would see her before the course split in the middle of the park. I saw her and yelled at her. I was happy I spotted her, she looked great running and I had confidence in what I was doing once I saw her.
Around the 6 mile mark there were porta potties set up and Chris said he had to go and that he would catch up. Once I got a little past the halfway mark and close to the 7 mile marker I knew he would not. I teared up a little because I was tired and I didn’t want to run alone. I didn’t bring an ipod or anything so this was my longest run on my own without music. There were nice people running near me but I didn’t feel like talking. I just focused on my pace.
I hit the 9 mile mark around 1:45. I thought to myself, “45 minutes to run 4 miles, I can do that!” My confidence soared. I ran really well out of the horse park, one of the spectators yelled, “you look great!” Running down Iron Works was steady for me, not too bad. I saw Gary there again I think, he told me I was looking good and I knew I could complete the race at my goal of 2:30. I turned the corner and headed back down Newtown.
At the 12 mile mark I started to get really tired. The rain was stinging me and my body just wanted to walk. So I walked an extra minute. I was so bummed I couldn’t just keep going at my run 8 walk 2 plan but I needed the time to mentally prepare myself. I started to tell myself it would be OK if I didn’t get under 2:30 and I could feel myself slowing down. Then, I stopped walking and started running. I figured I had worked really hard to do this and I had to try. If I didn’t get under 2:30 at least I got my time running hard towards the finish. So I got to Fasig Tipton and ran hard. I don’t think I passed many people, so I might not have been going that fast but I was giving it all I could. I covered my watch and just ran. Once I crossed the finish line I felt so great and I looked down at my watch. It said 2:29. “What?” I couldn’t believe I had done it! I knew I could but actually standing there looking at my watch while my tag was being cut and actually looking at my medal was an incredible experience. I didn’t cry though because I was really dizzy haha.
I wanted to sit down but I promised my brother that whichever one of us finishes first will be there waiting for the other. So I stretched near the finish line. A couple minutes later I saw him, really running hard! I yelled and I was so proud of him too. I don’t know how he has been training for the event but he certainly did some hard work to finish so well. We got some food but I could only take one bite of everything and we drove home.
I’m already thinking of other events I can run. I think it helps my training if I have a date and event in mind. However, the Lexington Half will always be my first half and I probably won’t ever get the same feeling of accomplishment as I did here today. For the last 3 months I have told people I was going to do this and they looked impressed while on the inside I was nervous and not 100% confident. Running that last mile even though everything in me just wanted to take it easy is one of the best things I have ever done for myself.
I want to thank Gary and Nikki Ditsch (especially Nikki) for encouraging me to be a runner and for giving me the training tools I needed. If you want to know more about what they do click here. I think that the people organizing the Lexington Half did a great job, you should run it next year!
