I'm buzzing through the end Episode 3 and Mace Windu just told Anakin that the Jedi's worst fears have been realized... unfortunately for him, he didn't know that he was about to lose a lot more than a hand.
My friends, its official. I ran the half-marathon. I headed over to the Columbus Marathon Expo on Saturday and picked up my tag and my house arrest leg bracelet. The expo was kinda lame (lots of people trying to sell "discount" running clothes that ended up being REALLY expensive) but I got really excited when I got registered. This excitement was replaced last night with some nerves and fear. I'm not sure what I had to be afraid of but I had some general anxiety about the event. I took some time to prep (pack a bag, etc.) and then went to be as early as possible. Aurora had a rough night. She's teething. Alesha took care of her, though, so I could get rest.
I got up about 6:30, snoozed, and finally got out of bed at 6:40. The first thing I did was check the temperature: 30 degrees. I had been planning on using a t-shirt as an overshirt to keep me warm through the first couple of miles but decided I would need something warmer and grabbed a long sleeve T. I had a pop-tart (just one) for breakfast, drank some water, got ready... and headed out the door. The sky over Nationwide Arena (where I parked) was beautiful in a way that you only get on crisp fall mornings. Five dollars to the orange-vested man put me within a mile of the finish line and I suited up. (gloves, headband, Ipod, extra shirt)
Downtown was full of... energy. A very positive energy that you don't normally find in large crowds. It is difficult to describe. There were people everywhere posing for pictures, running around, discussing strategy, and any of a hundred other things. The crowd of runners were mostly friendly. I spoke with several people that I have been running the 10ks with but failed to find anyone else from the radio station that was running. (The odds of finding 3 people in a crowd of 7,200 runners was pretty slim, but I was trying.)
The race start was pre-ceded by a C-130 flyover. It seemed like an awesome thing until the guy next to me told me that the Chicago Marathon has a few F-15s that fly over. Thanks for ruining the moment. :) Once we finally got started it actually took me four minutes to get over the start line. The crowd was JAZZED and made it really easy to run. My first five miles flew by and I'm pretty sure I was running them around 10:00 to 10:30 (which was too fast). Miles 5-7 were still fairly easy but 7-9 was where I started to "feel it". Miles 9-11? Horrible. The toughest thing about it was that there was not a mile 10 marker which made me think that I was struggling more intensely than I was as I thought I had only run one mile when in fact I was running two. The 11th mile sign was one of the prettiest things I've ever seen. Once I saw it and knew that I had 2 miles to go my whole world changed and I began to feel a lot better. I had to take a couple of walk breaks in the last two miles but the crowd helped a LOT. One person was holding a sign that said "Don't listen to your body. You CAN do it." It was funny to be so encouraged by a sign but when I read those words I thought "*YES*. I CAN do this." The last tenth of a mile or so was the downhill street that runs beside Nationwide Arena. I looked up to see that the clock said 2:28.?? which mean that I could still make it in under 2:30. (I was hoping for better, but... oh well...) I ran with all I had left and got across the line.
Nikki actually got video of me crossing. Very cool!
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