Liars!

This Sunday Bill and I ran the Stratton Faxon Half Marathon in Fairfield Connecticut. This half marathon had lots of selling points for me. For one, it was perfect timing...the last week before my third trimester. It also was billed as being flat (it even says on the website "The course is flat and very fast."). Also, it is on Jennings Beach, so I was looking forward to spending the day on the beach afterwards. And it is just a short train ride away from Manhattan.

Of course, even being a short train ride away, we still had to get up at 3:30 am in order to be there on time. Yuck. It was okay though, because it's been so hot here and it's made me so tired that I actually fell asleep the night before at 9:30 pm, giving me a full 6 hours of sleep.

Running all of these New York Road Runner Races made me actually forget what it's like to run a non-NYRR race. First of all, they kept talking about how huge this race was...the largest that they've ever had. They were warning us about the course being so crowded, which was kind of funny, because they had a record 4800 runners. The weekend before, Bill and I ran in a little 5 miler in Central Park that had 5000 runners, and that is pretty much typical for summer races.

Also EVERYONE got a technical shirt...even the people running the 5k. And you just went up to the booth and they gave you one. You didn't have to get an "x" on your number or anything.

The port-o-lets were the cleanest port-o-lets I have ever seen...before the race AND on the course (yeah, I had to stop twice on the course...pretty sad).

Also, it is SO NICE to run through pretty, scenic neighborhoods. Don't get me wrong, Central Park is beautiful. But I run there every week and know it like the back of my hand. The whole course actually reminded me a lot of the Flying Pig. I could have sworn we were running in Mariemont a few times. The crowd support was also about equal to the Pig's, which is pretty cool for a half marathon.

The start was kind of weird though, because they had women in one place and men in another. So Bill and I didn't meet up until after the first mile. I have to say, even with my run/walk plan I had a very rough start. My legs were in so much pain because my calves were so incredibly tight. It was probably a good thing Bill wasn't running next to me for that first mile because I was in bad shape mentally. He got an earful though when he saw me.

I was like "I don't know. I'm going to see how this goes, but at this point I'm not finishing this thing." All I could focus on was my leg pain even though Bill was telling me to focus on something else like my breathing, which pretty much just made me want to punch him. (Yes, mentally I was at mile 24 of a marathon.) He asked when we should consider stopping and I said I wanted to go until at least mile 5 and then see. He later told me that he thought this was kind of funny because since it was an out and back course I might as well do the whole thing at that point. Obviously (and smartly) he didn't tell me this.

We stopped on the side of the road in someone's yard and Bill massaged out my calves, which actually did help.

Except, there were SO MANY FREAKING HILLS on this "flat, fast course" that every time I started to climb one again my calves would seize up. So we Plan B'ed it. Every hill, we walked up. This of course, threw my intervals off, so we decided to play the intervals by ear.

We were definitely running at the back of the pack, which I definitely did not like. I know I used to run here all the time, but I was mad that I was running here now. It was so sparse (running populationwise) and it made me feel like I wasn't running a race. Plus I was like "I am definitely not going to make it before the cut-off." AND there were CARS on the road. Ergh. Not something I want to have to pay attention to during a race.

At about mile 6, I started feeling really good. I was even picking up my pace on the running part, and I was able to do 6 minutes of running at a time when I fell off of the intervals because of the hills. I was able to have a nice, fun conversation with Bill without feeling an urge to punch him (I swear, it's just the running thing...the whole time my mind was like "He is just trying to help. He is so supportive. He is the best husband ever." but it was also like "SHUT UP. Just SHUT UP." I am glad that he ran the Pig with me that one year, because he went through the same thing with me, and now he understands. :)

We were actually having a really good time, despite the fact that we were now regularly climbing steep Hyde-Park-Blast-type hills.

We were also doing this back and forth type thing with this other group of runners, who, at about mile 10, decided to change their run to a run/walk. My inner goal was to beat them.

Before we knew it, we were at the end!!! (And we passed the team in black that kept being behind and then in front of us.) And let me tell you, it was the first race where I didn't want to pick up my pace when I saw the finish line. I just didn't have any more left.

I was actually happy with myself even though my time was way off what I am used to. (I got a 2:46.25, which is a 12:44 pace. Last year, in similar weather conditions and on a hillier course in Queens I got a 1:54.07 which is an 8:42 pace. I only point this out because I am amazed at how much your pace can change without you having any control over it.) The medal was also nice, and I wore it all day, even over my swimsuit when we were hanging out at the beach afterwards.

And besides being super-chafed and having swelling feet, I felt pretty good physically. Definitely good enough to scarf down the free after-race food (a hot dog, an apple, two pieces of pizza and a half pint of fruit punch). :)