October 16, 2011 (Des Moines Half Marathon Recap)

Last night we didn't get the pre-race meal we had planned on due to some stomach troubles I have been dealing with. We had planned on getting take out from Latin King and then checking out the Oakley Night Cap Cyclocross race. We ended up settling on Chinese take out (I had chicken fried rice) and then headed down to the race. We were not able to watch a lot of the race but it was still fun to see. The cycling world has the best crowd in my opinion. So after the race we came home to watch a movie and go to bed. Fell to sleep during the movie and slept pretty good through out the night. I have been turning the alarm off instead of on lately so the last hour of sleep was pretty bad. I woke up a little early because I moved my lip or something and it split from being dry. So between the lip and not being able to tell if I had already slept too long, the last hour wasn't that great. 

Once I was officially awake at 6am I felt, actually, pretty rested. Probably due to being able to sleep in the past couple of days, recovery days. I quickly started a pot of coffee and ate two pieces of toast with cinnamon and sugar. Both settled well so I hit the shower and headed to the race with Nicole. We found a close spot in a parking ramp and walked to the large umbrella at Nollen Plaza to meet Janet and Nicole E. We took a shortcut through some building, we don't remember what it's called. There were lots of runners in there keeping warm, stretching and discussing the race ahead. After a few last minute preparations we headed for the start to prepare to run. By this time it was about 7:55 so I split from the girls to try to get in my pace group. It was already pretty packed so I was only able to get to about the 9:30 pace groups, I was trying to get with the 8 minute group. After pushing my way through as far as I could I just had to give up because there were so many people.

Supposedly a canon or gun went off but I didn't hear anything. Shortly after the start everyone around me started to jog but was quickly stopped by the wall of people still in front of them. I just walked to the start line where I began my run. Everything felt pretty good from the start, I was passing a lot of people trying to get closer to the people running my pace. Running through downtown was a lot of fun, there was a big crowd for the first mile or two while downtown. That makes it much more fun. I was taking the outside of the road and running right along the crowd.

Once we are outside of downtown we head into waterworks park for a long, fairly boring loop. Surprisingly, there were a lot of spectators for this portion. I don't remember it being that way the last time I ran this race. This is also where we were able to see the elite runners racing the half coming back toward us, water works is an out and back. At the back of Water Works there is a large loop and once I completed that I saw Nicole and Nicole E. running. I was hoping to catch a glimpse of them, so that I could see how they were feeling and also so they would know I wasn't dead. There was a little worry I think after yesterday and the previous week. But I was feeling pretty strong at this point, unfortunately it wouldn't last long. A few minutes behind them I saw Rebecca and Daniel from Biggest Loser. Being a person who has lost a lot of weight and kept it off, I find it discouraging to see people like that. They have had every opportunity handed to them to stay healthy and fit but have obviously chosen to piss on that and do whatever they want. With so many people looking at you for inspiration and motivation you would think they would put the effort in and make a difference. Instead someone trying to lose weight will just think, "If they failed, I will surely fail too." They truly disappoint me and it's sad because I really respected them at one point.

ANYWAYS, this is about the time that my left calf knotted up pretty bad. It was pretty painful but eventually I just got used to it and was able to continue. It never slowed me down but it did hurt pretty bad. This is about when I started hitting roughly every other water station. I would stop and drink my glass of water or gatorade and then continue. They were only filling the cups with a sip so it didn't take long to drink. There was another running right around this point that was cracking me up too. He was wearing a yellow dry fit shirt and also a yellow lay (spelling?). Someone was handing them out in Water Works. The first time I was aware of him I heard him behind me talking to a runner wearing a Hy Vee Triathlon shirt. The shirt says "2 Hours is the average time to finish a triathlon, but it stays with you forever" or something like that. They were handing them out at the race for free, probably because the saying makes no sense. The average race lasts well over 2 hours. But I heard the yellow shirt guy ask the other runner if he had done the triathlon, "No, I got this shirt for free" he responded. And then they both said they would really like to do one but would need to learn to swim. I laughed to myself about their conversation. Then the yellow shirt guy passed me and away he went, catching up to someone else to chat with. Then at the next few water stations for the next few miles I would pass the yellow shirt guy while he stopped to drink. Then he would catch back up and stop at the next station where I would pass him again. Finally we both noticed the back and forth and we started to talk. We talked about hydration and how we only drink water while at work so they need to hold more races during the week so that we may be properly hydrated. Finally, off he went and I never caught back up to him.

Once I was just before the bridge in Grey's Lake I landed on a rock and rolled my right ankle completely flat on it's side. I skipped a few times and someone behind me saw what had happened. He asked if I was alright and I replied, "I don't know, I hope so." I really thought I was done but after skipping and hopping a bit I was able to land on it again and everything was fine. The runner that asked if I was alright shared a story of almost eating it at the finish line when he turned to acknowledge a family member on the sideline yelling at him.

The rest of the race was pretty uneventful. I think this was the point that most people were just pushing hard to finish and get some of that post race free stuff waiting for us at the finish line.

Once I crossed the finish line I was hurting pretty badly. My calf and quad were hurting to the point of not being able to really use my left leg. I tried stretching a bit but it didn't really help. But there was food to be had so I wasn't too concerned. I knew I had a while before any of my racing buddies would be catching up so I helped myself to: Pizza, Cupcakes, BBQ, Chocolate Milk, Fruit and probably some other stuff too.

Once the girls finished I went through the food again and then Nicole and I headed out to pick up Cadence from my parent's house.

All in all, it was a really good race and with all of my setbacks this week and today I was still able to PR. Not the specific time I was hoping for but I still bettered my time so I'm happy with that. My official time ended up being 1:44:59. Nicole's time ended up being 2:20:06 and she was happy with that as well. So it was a good day for us.