Half marathon #26 for me. All week I had been looking forward to this half. First because it was going to be another "new" half for me and second because it was in Pensacola, Fl. I love the beach!
The only problem was my hip/sciatic nerve down my leg had really been bothering me since the MS50 that was 2 weeks prior. I don't know if it was the rugged terrain that irritated my body or what. I spent days wondering what I had done wrong to cause this pain to act back up. All the miles I had put in between October and January with no pain at all and now I was full of pain. As with any runner, we begin to analyze everything we did differently trying to figure out where we went wrong. OR at least I do! The only thing I had done differently lately was not walk as much. I had done the past 3 marathons by doing a jog/walk program and now I had recently done the sea turtle half and the MS50 with little walk time. I figured the running was pounding my spine too much causing my bulging disc to irritate my nerve (my doc has always recommended a jog/walk program due to my DDD.. it's just hard to listen sometimes when your body feels good). It's not a good feeling when that nerve is irritated let me just tell you! I couldn't even sit without pain in my hip area. I rolled on my tennis ball for days. So I went to the race with no intentions of focusing on time or running hard. My goal was to simply cross that finish line. Two of my friends, Ashley & Jennifer, were meeting me and we were sharing a room so I looked forward to some girl time. :>)
It was a beautiful morning with the temp in the 50s. I was a tad worried about how fast it would warm up. I really like racing when the temp is 30-40 degrees at start. :>) I was excited to be going on base where the Blue Angels are stationed. We grabbed a few pictures before the race started.
The start line got crowded fast once they said for everyone to get in their corrals. They said there were 3,000 runners.
We had a Blue Angel fly over right before we started. It was so cool! Here it is......
And then we were off! Ashley who was coming back from an injury had said she was going to take it easy. Jennifer and I decided we would hang with her. I was glad about that since my hip was still bothering me. However, the first 5-6 miles we ran straight. Boy my hip started hurting badly. Every time my foot hit the ground the sharp pain went from my toes to my hip. :( I was so glad when Ashley started taking some walk breaks. LOL
I took a few pictures along the course when we were on walk breaks.
I wish I had filmed the water stations. They were a hoot! The guys were dressed up and even danced for us. One water station had a water sprinkler. Here's one picture I got at one.
I was so very glad when we finished the 13.1 miles! Ashley had a goal to finish in 2:30 and we finished in 2:20, 10 minutes under goal! I was very proud of her.
It was a HOT finish. I had a good time with these girls, but I sure was ready for either my hot tub or an ice bath to help my hip. I was not looking forward to the drive home! I had originally planned to stay 2 nights, but Jenn & Ashley were going on to NOLA to run a race again on Sunday so I decided to get on back home. Lord knows I got tons to do at my house in my yard!
So I finished another half.... just barely.. ha Whew I'm hoping the Rise and Shine half coming up on April 1st will not be anything like this half! I wish I had not had so much pain so I could have enjoyed the race a tad more. The only thing I didn't like is we did not run at the beach. We ran on the base and by the bay area for a short time. So no nice big sea to look at. The race itself was very well organized and it was for a great cause. I love our military!
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| Not a great pic of medal... it's real cute! |
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| Me and Jenn eating pizza afterwards |
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| My race bib "I run because it's so symbolic of life. You have to drive yourself to overcome the obstacles. You might feel that you can't. But then you find your inner strength, and realize you're capable of so much more than you thought." ~ Arthur Blank So for me it's STRETCH... STRETCH... STRETCH.. Foam ROLL... Foam Roll... and cross train...and get ready for April 1st! I will overcome this pain to push an ARC child during the Rise and Shine half marathon. :>) You must dig deep within yourself and find that inner strength! until next time...... D |
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