Last year my brother in law heard that the 38th, 39th and 40th Hospital Hill half marathons medals would all combine to make one large medal. To this point I hadn't done a run that gave finisher medals so I thought I would do and collect the medals for each year.
I did not have a clue about the run, but for a month leading up to it, all I heard was that it shouldn't be your first half marathon. The hills are nasty.
It starts at 7:00AM, we got there around 6:00AM and it was already 80 degrees and the humidity was high. I did not hydrate enough, I didn't eat enough I wasn't ready. About 4 miles in, my toe was killing me. The shoes I had were too small. About the halfway point my legs were getting tight, I had already done some walking. Around 10, I had walked/jogged a couple of miles. My legs were cramping at this point. I took it as easy as I could just so I could finish. I jogged up the last big hill and fought my legs and jogged easily down the last 1/2 mile or so.
I was hurting when I got to the end. I couldn't convince anyone to stop and get food afterwards, I was in bad shape, dehydrated and hungry and p*** off. Mostly p*** at myself for performing that bad. I hadn't looked up my time until this year. I finished in 2 hours and 40 minutes. I wasn't going to let that happen again.
I had slacked off working out pretty much all last year, I would workout but not steadily. This year I have been going and going hard. We got a hotel down right next to the run, I chugged water until I was about to explode. I fueled up properly.
I was up at 4:00AM stretching and loosening up. The temp was in the high 50's to low 60's to start, one of the coolest H.H.H.M anyone could remember.
I started out slower, keeping a steady pace to start. The first mile was actually easy, breezed through two and three, my toe was starting to ache around mile 4 again, but I kept going. Mile 5 came smoothly and then the halfway point. I hadn't stopped to walk once. When you hit that halfway mark it's all mental from there I felt strong. I coasted through mile 7 and mile 8 breaks off the main road and goes up a hill into a residential neighborhood. You just run around the block and go back down a hill.
I was on fire here and flew down the hill passing people. I stayed strong through mile 9, my playlist was rocking, great list, entirely too long, but it gave me padding to calm me down from time to time and pick me up when it was time to go. My legs started getting tight around miles 10 and 11. I eased it off and was back near the pacer I started the race with.
My legs were relaxing a bit so I picked up my pace and moved ahead of the pacer and hit mile 12. One point one miles to go. The last hill is the nasty one again. People were stopping to walk, I put my head down, tightened my core and picked my knees up and powered up the hill.
Once you get there it's down hill for about .60 of a mile. I lost my f***ing my mind. I was laughing, my playlist hit a great hard rocking song. I took off, coming down the hill, I didn't let myself go as hard as I could have, it's steep enough I didn't want to eat the pavement.
I got to where the incline eased up a bit and just opened it up. I started passing anybody and everybody I could catch. Weaving left and right, jumping medians. I was sprinting. Made the last curve to head down the straightaway, last clock, .1 mile to go. I put my head down and went harder, my feet and toes were bleeding, my iPod armband had rubbed against my side, blood was running down my shirt, I couldn't feel it. I had a 7 minute/mile pace to finish the race.
Finish line, water, cold sponge, Finisher's medal. I just took 40 minutes off my pace from last year, I ran the whole damn thing.
Next year I break the two hour barrier.
