My Half Marathon experience

It has been over 2 weeks since the race and I have not posted about the experience yet. I am not sure what is holding me back from it. At this point I will say that it was cold, freezing at the start of the race, it snowed in Baton Rouge just 8 hours before the start of the race. This made for a very anxious night and sleep before the race. I woke up the morning of the race to clear skies and just a few flakes on the ground... Decent running conditions. I was ready for the race, or so I thought.

On the way to the race we ran into some traffic on the interstate that threatened to make me late for the start. In fact, 15 minutes before the start of the race I was trapped on the Interstate and just knew that I would be starting after "the gun". At this point doubt began to creep into my mind. Thoughts that maybe I am not meant to run this race started creeping in. At this point all I could do was pray that I get to the start of the race in time. I didn't think that starting late would be good for my fragile psyche. As I finished praying that God would ease the traffic, it did ease and Mary got me to the start with about 4 minutes to spare. I ran into a few of my running buddies hit the portable restrooms and lined up for the start with what seemed to me to be thousands of others(it may have been about 1400 or so in actuality). And the race began. I never heard a horn or pistol. Everyone started running and so did I. That first mile went by quick as I was still in a crowd and the adrenaline seemed to get me through that mile with very little effort from me. I tried to take in the sights, sounds and any special things that may come up during the run. But in that first mile my only thought was to not get run over by anyone. It seemed like everyone started out at a faster pace than me. Miles 2 and 3 were tough for me because of the unrealized effort I must have used in the first mile. during mile 3 I came upon Scott, my brother and my mom and step-dad. It was awesome to see them in the distance and feel the support they were giving me. My brother told me to low down I was running too hard and wouldn't finish the race at the pace I was on. I was glad to have someone tell me that. So I did slow down. and actually mile 4-7 went really smooth. I saw Mary and our daughters at mile 4 and that was a great pick me up. My entire family had made posters to support my running and others who were running around me began cheering for me because of the support I had at the race. in fact, every once in a while i would hear a 'go Steve' cheer from the other racers. i did appreciate that. I saw the family again at mile 6 and then again at mile 7. At this point, well actually mile 8 I started to feel tired, my legs were tired. I was able to push on to mile 10 on tired legs. there was a water stop at mile 10 and this was the point where I seemed to hit a "wall". I saw the family for the last time until the finish line at this point. I was glad to see them because I knew the end was near. I was exhausted but knew that the next 3 miles were "in the bag", I knew I'd finish. I didn't know that these 3 miles would be so tough. I could not run the whole 3 miles. My legs just wouldn't do it. So I did, disappointingly, walk a bit. I was in survival mode and just wanted to finish this race by doing whatever it took to finish it. I ended up jogging for a few minutes and then walking for a couple of minutes and then jogging again. This is how I got through miles 10 and 11. When I got to the mile 12 marker and knew that I had only 1 mile to go I started to pick up my pace again. There was no doubt that I was going to finish this half marathon. I judge that I must have made good time from mile 12.0 to mile 12.5, and then was out of energy. I had to walk again. I probably walked for a quarter mile and could actually see the finish line in front of me. This motivated me to run again. At this point I could see a kid running the wrong way, towards me, on the course. As the kid got closer to me I could make out that it was my 8 year old daughter Elani running to meet me. I yelled out to her "are you gonna finish the race with me?" and the smile on her face was enough to make all the pain and exhaustion of the race I just ran worth it. When she caught up with me and we were both "sprinting" towards that finish line I had several thoughts that were in my mind. In what probably took 30-45 seconds I had enough memories cross my mind to take and hour to tell. One of those memories was of me using a walker and not being able to walk on my own for over 7 months of my life. I may end up sharing some of the other memories and thoughts in later postings.

My goal was to finish this race in under 3 hours. My official time was 3:11:02. I assume that if I hadn't walked so much between miles 10 and 12 that I would have been under that goal, but that is not the important thing. What is important to me is that I FINISHED!

I will post some of my post race thoughts and physical status at some other time. I will just say for now that the pain, anguish and doubt was all worth it. I may never break any speed records. But seeing a goal to completion is my reward.