Illinois (Half) Marathon Weekend Report

Unless you've never stepped into the Den and read a post or two, you know that I've bee preparing for my first half marathon. That half went down today at the University of Illinois in Champaign as a part of the Illinois Marathon. Here's a recap of the weekend:

Friday, April 30
Took this day off so we could get down to Champaign with time to pick up my race packet and to check out the Expo, as well as figure out the parking situation for Saturday. My Mom is with us and given the area they'd be covering as spectators, we had a wheelchair so Mom could be "Ironsides" for the day.

I got in a 2.25 mile final run, got my hair cut (as if that would streamline things a bit more), and then we started down for Champaign around 11AM. The kids got to take the day off from school, for which they were delighted. On the way down, we stopped in Kankakee, a mistake we will never make again. Ever.

Once in Champaign, we checked into the hotel, got my Mom settled, and the kids and I went over to the U of I. Got my bib, shirt, and signed up with a pace team for Saturday. Found out that there were something like 15,000 runners expected for the various events associated with the Marathon, so suffice to say, the Champaign-Urbana (C-U) area was under siege. This made dinner interesting. We had as many as 15 people in our party for dinner (two other families that were running). Not a lot in C-U can handle such a party. It doesn't help that the place has never met a chain restaurant it doesn't like. Anyway, we had dinner and then decided to call it a night. I wanted to get to bed early. I'd had two lousy nights of sleep prior to Friday, so a good night's rest sounded like a capital idea. Before calling it a night though, the stunningly patient and mighty fine SML, CAL, the Boy and my Mom threw a little "Half" party for me. All gifts were half - like one running sock instead of two or a half-filled bottle of Propel. It was pretty funny. Apparently, I'll have to run another half. My Mom did write and read, pretty much on the spot, this poem:

There once was a young man named Mike
Who seemingly everyone liked
He decided to race
Could he keep up the pace?
Perhaps he should be riding a bike!

He trained hard and ran many miles
He found that he ran his own style
A half marathon he did run
And he found it was fun
And despite many blisters he smiled and won

Enjoy the gifts of half
Because you're running a half!

Truly the work of a really good mom. With that reading, I was done and called it a night.

Saturday, May 1
The race was due to start at 7:30AM. So we packed up and headed over by 6:30AM. After the 5K group went out at 7:00AM, we took our positions. I'd found my pace group and started to get antsy. I'd prepared months for this moment and now it was here. We were due to go at 7:30AM but the gun didn't fire until about 7:40AM. I didn't cross the start line until 7:44AM or so, and then we were off. It was somewhat humid this morning and it turned steamy as the sun rose. My first five miles were dead on pace, either just under 10 minute miles or right around 10:18, which was ideal, since that was the pace group time. After about five miles, I needed to cut back a little bit and then at mile six, this thing turned into the Bataan Death March. The one mile from six to seven was ridiculously hard for me. My legs suddenly felt like they weighed a ton of bricks. I dragged them to seven miles and then began the process of working to recover from that mile. That never happened. Ultimately, things were just a little off for me. I did a lot of talking to myself, pushing myself along to mile 10, and then after mile 10, I started feeling like a runner again.

With about two miles to go, the U of I football stadium came into view and I knew I was going to finish this thing. The finish line was on the 50 yard line and as I ran up the walk to the entry area to go into the field, I have to admit I got a little emotional. I was really going to finish! Turning the corner into the chute, the JumboTron came into view and I could see the runners ahead of me on the screen. I looked up and saw the race clock and realized I was going to make the time goal I had originally set when I decided to run this race - 2:30:00. I could feel the smile busting across my face as I ran in. It was awesome. And what a feeling when the volunteer handed me my medal. Oh my gravy! I'd done it! And then I looked up in the stands and saw my family, waving a poster, cheering me in.

So I did it. My time was 2:30:08/pace 11:28 per mile. I'm proud that I finished this run. Would I have liked to have done better? Absolutely. Two weeks ago, I ran nine miles at a minute faster pace. Suffice to say, I learned a lot. I liked what I did today. Will I do it again? Yeah. Will I do a full? Probably.

Here's a few shots, post race:



So 13.1 miles, no blisters, all my toe nails accounted for, and one great hour-long massage later, I'm done. I'm tired. It's been a long, great day. I ran a half marathon. Unbelievable.