Ouch

One of the nice things about the Baltimore Running Festival is that they provide runner tracking.  I was even able to track myself on my Facebook page, so other people could see that I was still alive and moving along the course.  Unfortunately, it only tracks half marathoners at two places- 6 or so miles, and the finish.  But, about 15 people commented on/liked my finishing time.  I didn't much like my finishing time, but at least I finished!  One commenter asked "how do you feel?"  My response was "Ouch."

Yeah.. my feet were staging a coup.  My legs were tired, my lungs were tired, and my shoulders were sore.  But my feet..  it felt like I'd been walking on hot coals for probably the last 5 miles of the race.  I really don't think I have ever felt that much pain in my feet.  I didn't even have any blisters when I was done!  WTH?  Not that I'm complaining about no blisters.. it's just that it seems there should be some kind of visual evidence of my suffering, and there was none.  Well, except for the wince I carried on my face the whole time it felt like I was walking on hot coals.

Here's a picture of me, pre-race:

Saturday's race was not my finest moment.  Not in the least.  But, as badly as I felt I'd done, I was also proud of myself.  I finished the race.  I jogged across the finish line (I'm not sure you could call what I did "running").  I completed 13.1 for the 4th time in my life.

There were a few things that made Saturday even more special, and definitely worth the effort.  I had friends who came out to support me.  My Alice walked probably a mile or two just to stand at Lake Montebello and clap for me.  She was worried when I didn't show at the time I said I'd expected to (frankly, I was worried too!), but she waited that extra 20 minutes or so, and I was grateful.  It means so much to see a friendly, familiar face when you're about 7.5 miles into a half marathon.  A couple miles later, a tiny white-haired woman that actually reminded me of another friend's mom, cheered for me specifically.  I thanked her, of course.  And then, just south of Lexington Market, I saw my friend Brandie, in her baby pink team shirt, and purple zebra Underarmour pants, clapping.  I had thought she'd leave before I finished the race.  I did not expect to see anyone cheering for me at this point.  She stepped off the sidewalk, and walked with me.  And when I decided to try to run, she ran with me, all the way to the finish line.  "You did it!"  I did, and I had two fantastic friends with me the whole time.

Something Alice said to me when I passed her stayed with me the rest of my race.  "I'm going to be running with you next year. I don't know how, but I'm going to do it."  So, struggling through my final 5-6 miles, I focused on how I could help her make that happen.  The relay!  And at the finish line, standing with Brandie and my friend Andrew who drove up from VA to see me finish (and missed it), I shared this idea, and both of them said "I'll do it!"  So, next year, we are Team Alice.  And we will do a MARATHON.