1/27: First half

Well, I did it. I did a half-marathon. That’s the short story, here’s the long one…

Saturday, I drove to San Antonio and did a Volkssport event. It was on the St Mary’s campus – which is quite lovely, but the weather was awful so I didn’t take any photos other than the one above (with my cell phone). I only did the 5k version since I was going to be walking so much Sunday. I walked with a lovely older woman from Germany who’s travelled all over the world. It was great listening to her share about the places she’d been. Her favorite place? Northern Thailand.

After that, I had to hoof it down to Sugar Land as quickly as possible to pick up my marathon packet before they closed the pick-up site. I made it with 15 minutes to spare. Woot! Then it was off to my friend’s apt, a side-trip to Lush! and dinner at The Hobbit (Blackened Tilapia yumminess).

Early the next morning (very early), I headed back to Sugar Land for the race. I met up with Christine – a very nice lady from the AustinFit training group I’d been walking with. She offered to walk with me to: make sure I didn’t start out too fast and to encourage me to finish. Since she was walking with a broken toe and dealing with a very severe illness, there was no way I could wimp-out while she was still going. She was a fantastically helpful walking partner: doing her best to keep me calm about finishing within our set 4 hour limit (and the limit for the Austin Half) and encouraging me to keep going. Who knows if I would have made it without her. Thank you, Christine.

At about mile 10, I started having the weird heart things again – my heart rate was slowing down rapidly and then speeding back up. Every time it slowed down, I’d get very, very dizzy. At one point, I had to step off the path and bend over a bit to get my equilibrium back.

The hip was…there. It started getting grumpy around mile 6. I took another anti-inflammatory. It started getting really grumpy at mile 9. After that, I was too distracted by the dizziness to let the hip bother me that much.

I can’t figure out my total chip time from the official results, but I know we were under 4 hours since my Endomondo time was under 4 and I started it before stepping on the mat and stopped it after the finish mat. (I think they just lopped 2 hours off my time.)

So, where does this leave me? I’m still not sure that I’m made for long distance walking. But I also keep asking myself: isn’t that what this is about? Pushing yourself to do things you didn’t think were otherwise possible? Should I keep pushing or do my usual when faced with a tough situation:
1. Whine
2. Whine a lot more
3. Try and find a short-cut solution
4. More whining
5. In the absence of said short-cut solution, quit

Should this be the time when I refuse to quit? When I don’t look for a short-cut but instead keep plugging away? I don’t know. But I do know, I have a medal! (And it can double as a bottle opener – bonus!)

Info from Endomondo:

(We won’t talk about how I spent the rest of the day eating away the good I did my body/fitness with the walk….)