Mermaid Half Marathon

I finished my first half marathon. I am so proud. It took me 2 hours and 20 minutes, smack bang on the 10' 45 "/mile time I was aiming for.

The marathon was an all female race and you could really feel the powerful support on the course. There were lots of, "Great Job!"s and "Well done, Keep it up, You can do it!"s throughout my race. In addition, several women greeted me at the start line with a "Go Team!" (the official cheer of Team in Training) and on the course itself people cheered, "Come on Team in Training. You're looking great!" to encourage me as I ran. You couldn't overestimate how helpful and motivating these cheers are. When you're running along and getting tired, when you begin to focus inwards and the world around you closes in a little bit, the cheers bring you up again. You smile, mumble your thanks, respond in kind with a cheer of your own and before you know it you're back on track and focused. Knowing this makes me more satisfied than ever with my pick of a rock 'n' roll marathon. There will be a live band at every mile in Seattle and the track makes it easy for spectators to stand at the side of the road and cheer.

As for the race itself, I started fairly well. I didn't speed off the start line and I kept a respectfully average pace for the first half of the race. At the half way point I took a moment to walk a little and it was enough to throw me off for a while. When the 'Mile 9' marker showed up I pulled up my socks (figuratively) and tried out some of that self talk I had read about. "In the full marathon you'll just be starting the middle section of the race right now. This is when you need to be strong. Feel the strength in your core. Dig deep and breathe. Steady now." I ran a fantastic mile feeling strong and drawing on all the motivation I had...

Then I reached the 'Mile 10' marker. And I fell apart. I felt like I had used up all the motivation I had. The 'self talk' turn into internal dialog, that went something like this,
"I am a marathoner.
No, you're not. That's just ridiculous. This is just too hard.
No, I must be positive. I am a marathoner.
What are you talking about? You haven't even gone half the distance of the marathon and you're starting to give up. You'll never make it to the end.
No, godammit. Positive. Come ON, McDonough.
Oh, screw this. I can't do it, I'm just gonna walk..."

And on, and on for the whole mile. Needless this to say, this was my slowest mile of the half-marathon. I don't know how I pulled myself out of it. I know I walked quite a bit on this mile and when I reached the 'Mile 11' marker I knew I only had 2.1 miles left and somehow it was doable. I knew I could just continue to put one foot in front of the other and make it to the end. Close to the finish line, a woman shouted, "Pump your arms more, it'll make it easier," and lo and behold it did! Much easier. I ran strong and confident for the last hundred yards and finished in a satisfying 2 hours 20 minutes.

I was rattled though. It wasn't easy. At all. And with just 10 weeks to the marathon itself, running twice that seemed almost out of my reach.