Oakville Half Marathon Recap

Well, I ran my first half marathon this morning and I am so sleepy I don’t even feel like writing about. However, I know I won’t have much time to post during the week and, besides, I want to get this down in writing while it’s still fresh in my mind.

Pre-race jitters kept me up last night so despite going to bed at 9:30, I didn’t end up sleeping until midnight and woke up a few times during the night. I hate not being able to fall asleep when you really need to. This used to happen to me all the time in University the night before a big exam.

I woke up at 6 a.m. and ate a standard pre-run breakfast – peanut butter on a whole wheat English muffin with banana slices.

At around 7 a.m., Josh and my friend Renna showed up to walk me to the start line. Josh took a few action shots on the way and Renna had fun pretending to be my running manager – no photos, bitches!

The half marathon started a little late at around 7:50. Check out the dude in the chicken suit (I’m ashamed to admit that he finished before me )

As per usual, it took me about 5 kilometres to get into a good running zone. I started to enjoy myself around kilometre 6 and felt pretty good until around kilometre 12, when I started to lag behind the 2:15 pace bunny I’d been keeping up with up until that point. I started to pick up speed again at around kilometre 16. At 18, I suddenly had this amazing second wind and just zoomed ahead.

By that point, I knew I’d finish much faster than I expected (I had predicted around 2:20) so I just started booting it. Before I knew it, I was approaching the finish line.
  

I was of course bolstered by the cheering of the crowd and the sight of my mom, Josh and Renna in the distance. I think I should start paying people to stand around at specified points on my running routes to cheer for me when I run past – it’s definitely a big boost!

I was met at the finish line with a badass medal and a badass cinnamon raisin bagel from Tim Hortons that Josh was kind enough to pick up for me.

My official finishing time: 2:14:07.

Given that before I started training in July, I ran maybe once every couple of weeks and had never gone farther than 10 kilometres, I’m quite proud of what I accomplished today.

After I got cleaned up, I went out for lunch with Renna to celebrate. I didn’t take any pics of my post-run eats (you’ll have to take my word for it that they were delicious) because I hadn’t seen Renna in awhile and really wanted to spend a quality, relaxing afternoon with her. Sitting on a patio with one of my best friends, drinking beer and enjoying an amazing meal – I can’t think of a better way to celebrate!

And now I’m gonna P.T.F.O.