13.1 for 2013

Happy New Year! This morning I kicked off 2013 by running 13.1 miles in the Liberty Half Marathon! It was quite an adventure and a really fun time. I am so excited and proud of myself for getting this new year off to a great start.

I wasn't ringing in 2013 at midnight as I was asleep in my cozy bed, but didn't really get a full, uninterrupted night of rest. Between the happy texts from friends and family, combined with weird dreams (very normal for me) I got in a few hours of shut eye before the alarm was ringing bright and early. I layered up, and I mean REALLY layered up, and prepared to hit the highway. Enter the morning's first snag: the layers of snow on my car requiring much scraping. We've had some really wicked weather over the past few weeks. It feels like the month of December resulted in more snow than the other 11 months of the year combined. Once my car was clear (and my GPS decided to cooperate) I was on my way.

my car - "under the weather"

The early morning drive to Liberty, OH was easy enough with very few cars on the road, but still a fair amount of snow, ice and slush. So it was slow going. I arrived at the rendezvous point around 8:15AM for a 9:00AM start time. (I only got "lost" once, and it was right at the end of the trip when I drove straight past the place and had to turn back around.) The half marathon was a 13.1 point-to-point race from West Liberty to East Liberty. The plan was to have all runners park their cars at the finish line, and transportation was to be provided to the starting point. EXCEPT the bus that was scheduled to drive everyone across the course broke down this morning. The race is only in it's third year, and the organizers did the best job they could at getting everyone corralled up and taken over to the start in cars. I was actually in the LAST caravan. The others in the car were nervous as we watched the clock slowly approach and then tick past 9:00AM. We knew we weren't going to make it on time and were afraid of what would come: either they would start the race without us and we would have to sprint to catch up, or they would hold the start for us and we would be faced with an angry mob of runners that were upset with our tardiness and having to wait outside in the cold.

They ended up holding the start (but no one seemed too angry - thank goodness!) As soon as we arrived we raced though check-in, clipped on our timing chips and hopped into the crowd. The race directors arrived a few minutes after our van and got the event started. It was just after 9:15AM. I was a bit frazzled at this point: worried that we wouldn't make the start, and thus wasn't really focused or "in the zone" as the race began. I remembered to take a few seconds to stretch, but the cold air had already hit me like a brick wall. As we took off I started up my iPod and it instantly started shuffling on me. So I guess the perfect playlist I had planned out the night before was out the window. No matter - the songs were still great and really kept me moving throughout the entire race.

One slight benefit to having the bus breakdown was that we got a much more personalized tour of the race course as our driver took us to the start. This was especially helpful as he called out landmarks and important course features to us. I know for a fact that I would have otherwise gotten VERY lost very easily. The course route was all on county (read: country) roads. As I mentioned above, we've received a TON of snow over the past few weeks. And since this is way out in the country, they weren't all really plowed. Let me rewrite that: they weren't really plowed at all. So the trek was slow-going. You had to be very careful and cautious in watching your footfalls. There was no straight racing up the street, but rather zig-zagging across the road looking for the least slick area. I was lucky in that I never slipped too terribly and did not fall down!

The first few miles I was able to keep running at a pretty steady pace. I was terrified of my timing and afraid that I would be passed by everyone, end up at the back of the group and get lost. Throughout the run I was always able to keep at least one person within my sights (even if they were a quarter mile ahead of me.) In the end I did not finish dead last! The mile markers were orange traffic cones along the route, most of which were accompanied by a post with the mile number on it. The first aid station came around mile 5. I was not especially hungry or thirsty, but I took a few sips of Gatorade and munched on a delicious Fig Newton.

Around this time is where I started to falter. I was struggling with the cold - it was really eating through my fingers, despite wearing gloves. The temperature remained in the high twenties for the entire morning. But what really worried me were my eyes. While it wasn't sunny outside, it was quite bright with the light reflecting off all of the snow. It was also windy. And it was agitating my eyes. In fact, my vision even began getting blurry, especially in my right eye, and it made me really nervous. This is something I have never experienced during a race before and I didn't know what to do. Looking back, I think my contact might have just slipped out of place so that I couldn't see clearly, but the weather was messing with my mind and I thought it could be something much worse. I even considered flagging down the next car I could find and bowing out of the race.

But I didn't. I kept going.

The second aid station was right before mile 8. I took a few more sips of Gatorade, but didn't really want or need anything else. Then the race volunteer offered me hot hands! They only stayed warm for a little while, but it certainly helped to have something to grip onto to keep the circulation flowing in my fingers. Shortly after the aid station we hit the HILL. Straight up. I knew it was coming as our driver had called it out to us on the ride over, but it was still tough. I walked up it the entire way and was really quite winded at the top. But I made it.

hot hands = life-saver

The course itself was beautiful. I can't think of a more peaceful way to welcome the new year than running alone, out on the country roads, enjoying the glory of a gorgeous (albeit cold) winter morning. It gave me a lot of time to think and reflect and plan for the next 12 months to come. There were moments where the going got tough, but I kept moving. My music ended up really keeping me motivated and it seemed whenever I was in need of an extra boost of energy, the perfect song I needed came on. (Thanks Apple iPod: even though we've had our issues in the past, let's put those behind us and agree to work together in 2013. Deal?)

Overall I was very pleased with my pace, especially given the conditions. I was able to run when I could, walked when I needed to, and kept moving at a decent clip throughout the entire race! They had told us from the start that this was not a race you could hope to PR. In tracking my time on the course, I was hoping to finish in around 3 hours. I ended up crossing the finish line in just over 02:45 and was very happy with the results! A race well run! There were no medals at this event, but all runners received a cool finisher's mug.

Liberty Half Marathon - Finisher!

I am happy that I registered and completed another half marathon, especially so early in the year. It was definitely a different race from any other I have experienced before. The field was exceptionally small, the weather conditions were tough, but it was well worth all of the effort. If this morning is any indication of what's to come over the next year, 2013 promises to be an exciting adventure filled with fun and ultimately an overall great success!

Cheers to a new year and the racing adventures soon to come!