Sask 1/2 Marathon

It was a bitter sweet journey.

Yesterday, the expo was quite small and pretty much only a handful of exhibitors but I did manage to see the new Garmin and the HBC Canada Day Race shirts and medals, which are SUPER cool by the way. :) I was hoping that there would have been more exhibits to see though.  The ones that were there though were great.  The race package pickup was quite organized and things went very smoothly.

The pre-race pasta supper was way better than I have had before for the Sask event and we really did not have to wait overly too long before getting our food as things went quite fast.  John "The Penguin" Bingham was the guest speaker at the supper and had everyone laughing their bellies off.  At the end of the night, I managed to go speak to him and get my pic taken with him as he is a great inspiration to me.

I managed to get a good night sleep and had everything ready to go for the morning with outfits for all types of weather. :)  My hubby just laughed at me and said he had never seen me so prepared for a race before.

I woke up at 5 am to pouring rain and strong winds. :(  OK... I can handle this... I have been through worse.  I was out of the door by 6:30 (the race was close to my house) and visited some fellow runners.  There were around 2000 runners registered for the event and I lined up close to the back but not right at the back as all events (10k walkers and runners, 1/2 walkers, 1/2 runners, and full runners) were starting off at the same time.  It was a bit tough to tell exactly where it really was also because of all the family and friends of all the runners still amongst the runners as the race started.  The gun went off and I walked amongst the rest till we made it to the start mat and then chugged along slowly.  I kept things on the easy side and also realized that I did not change my settings on the Garmin for different intervals as they were still set for 10:1's - I was going to do 5:1's because of the leg/knee injury prior.

Things were going quite nicely until about 4.5k when I started to feel some twinges and then at 10k things got really ugly for me.  I knew I had made a mistake even coming out to the race at that point.

For the rest of the time I only ran/hobbled in spots and tried to walk fast the rest.  I continuously fought with myself to try not to give it up and just make it to the end.  The pain only got worse and I am sure there were some tears shed at points during the race.  I know I should have stopped and give up... but I just couldn't.  I wanted this too badly.

At one pt I heard someone yell "Go runningmania!" and I just smiled, waved and pushed on.  I was sporting the orange shirt of course. :)

My friend had copied the map of the race the night before and had met me numerous times along the course which really helped the motivation.  She had everyone around her cheering my name :) and took a good number of pictures.  I will post some as soon as I get them.  The amount of spectators were few and far between as the officials way outnumbered the spectators.  The spectators that were there in the rainy, cold, windy weather though were wonderful and real troopers!  There was a local country singer, drum players at two locations, a banjo player, and one lady that I saw numerous times on the route handing out jelly beans to everyone. :)  The water/Gatoraide stations were well stocked and adequately supported.

By the last 2 km I was in quite a bad shaped at this pt and started to hang with two other ladies that were not in the best of shaped wither with injuries also.  We continued to walk together and when we could see a good view of the finish line I said, "better get your smiling faces on ladies... it's time to bring this in and the cameras are waiting" and we ran through to the finish line up right and smiling.  And right after I crossed and received my medal... I hobbled straight to the medic tent. :(

Official time was 2:33:34 which actually really surprised me with all the walking I did and I am really happy with this time considering the circumstances.  I knew I was not going to make my original goal of under 2.5 hrs that I made prior to the injury, but with the time I had today, I am optimistic about what I can achieve in the future. :)  I think I may have pushed myself a bit more than I thought I did to achieve this time. :(

I have come out of this happy, sad, elated, frustrated, and disappointed in myself.  I should be practicing what I preach and should know when I can't run by listening to my body.  But I honestly thought things were OK as I did not have any problems or pains during the two short runs I did this week.  I have a lot of learning to do when it still comes to this.

Good news is that I felt great and strong, and if it wasn't for the shooting pain, I could have kept going.  Once I am recovered properly,  I am looking forward to hitting the roads again.

I am unable to walk at the moment - pain worse than the original injury also now.  I was going to head to one of the medical clinics today but have decided to wait until tomorrow when I can see my own doc.

Well, sorry it took so long to post this as I have been waiting for my official time because I really was not focusing on looking up at the clock when I crossed the finish line.  I was trying to focus on smiling and looking good for the camera. lol  I also was so preoccupied that I forgot to stop the Garmin also. :)  So I really had no clue how I did.

Well, time to get some more ice and pain killers here... *as I call for my hubby to do it* lol

Hope all is well with everyone!

<-- promise tonight I will be visiting your posts. :)