Dawn's cousin's football team from Cleveland was in town this weekend playing a team from Cincinnati, St. Ignatius vs. Moler. Friday night we watched one cousin play in the JV game and then the freshman team played on Saturday morning. It was a lot of sun and Summer loved it.
Saturday afternoon I got all my race gear ready to go for the Columbus half marathon.
Well… my first half marathon is under my belt. I am going to lose a
couple toenails and have a handful of blisters and wouldn’t change any
minute of it. Traffic was a cluster getting into downtown and we ended
up letting my cousin’s boyfriend take the car to park. I ran along with
two cousins and one aunt.
As we got into the corrals and started moving forward after the start
I saw the doctor(medical director for the marathon) that helped me with
my stress fracture/glutes issues. He fist bumped me a hundred yards
from the start and said “Have fun out there today.” That totally pumped
me up.
I ran steady for the first 4 miles. Saw another aunt and uncle, then my
brother and the husband for the aunt running, then I was keeping my 9
minute pace a while. All of a sudden I saw my wife, daughter, and two
friends about a mile before the spot they said they would be. I ran by
and gave them all high fives. Summer, my daughter, looked at me like
What the heck is he doing?! She was adorable with her sign for me.
I tried to find other runners to pace myself and around mile 4 I started
to feel some pain. I walked and used some numbing gel on my gluteus and
hips. It took another mile of running before I felt the chilling numb.
At this point I was walking every mile, per docs orders, to see how I
felt and not over-do-it. Once I rounded the Children’s Hospital and saw
the kids outside their rooms along the route… that did it! I was
determined.
I saw a director from the station and he snapped some GREAT photos. I had about three miles left.
I started to feel a lack of endurance after taking the last 3 weeks
easier than my training plan. But I kept pushing on. Walked a little and
found someone to keep pace with for another mile or so.
I never got to see my grandpa and I looked for him everywhere. My mom
surprised me and took a photo of me about 200 yards from the finish.
2:01:35. My goal was 2 hours before I was injured. I’m very happy with
that, but would LOVE to re-run it. I coulda got under 2. I know I
coulda pushed harder. Next year.
YES!
Oh… and I got to ring the PR gong!
Thanks for all the support today on the course, and over the last couple
months on Tumblr. I’ve never done a half before, but I think I want to
break 2 then go for a full… maybe. I turned to head to the finish and I
thought “How the HELL are some of these people doing another 13
miles?!?!”
Here are some of the signs that helped push me on...
But I finished and so grateful for all the support. Summer was very happy to see me at breakfast following the race. On another note. Start to finish of my training and run… down 15
pounds(and that’s after a gallon of water and HUGE post race breakfast.)
Staying warm and windy for the start of the week followed by rain on
the way. Strong winds out of the southwest, 15-25 MPH with gusts 30+
MPH, for Monday and Tuesday will be pumping in near record
temperatures. The record high temperature is 83° Monday and Tuesday.
We will see a mix of sun and clouds Monday and Tuesday then some rain
returning late Tuesday and continuing on and off Wednesday and
Thursday. Rain starts leaving early Friday followed by cooler temps and
more sun heading into next weekend. Have a good one!
Best,
Andrew Buck Michael
Congratulations Andrew.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
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