13.1

13.1.

Such a little number but it certainly deserves BIG bragging rights, let me tell you!

Uff da. I can now cross Half-Marathon off my bucket list. I finished!!

Got up in time. My friend and "half" sister Chris and I got on the 5:30 a.m. shuttle and confirmed our race strategy. Just like in training, we were going to run a mile, walk one minute, run a mile, walk one minute, etc. We'd stick together and smile at the finish line. That was the plan anyway.

The good news right off the bat was that we had pretty good weather for it. Cool and sunny to start, then windy and cloudy but it did not rain when I was running anyway. Chalk that up to one of the many positives about this event.

They capped the Half at 3,800 runners (photo courtesy Fox Cities Marathon Facebook page). Quite a group, eh? Not too big for the organizers -- who honestly made sure each and every one of us was taken care of. Along this very long route, we not only had water and Gatorade stations, we had Kleenex stations (although I had 8 packed in my pocket), Vaseline stations (for that irritating chaffing) and GU gel stations (I carried my own since I didn't want to try out a new flavor on race day). But that's not all.

Also along this very, very long route (you can't imagine how long), there were DJs, boom boxes blaring run tunes at the ends of driveways and live bands (including a nice jazz ensemble). There were cheering groups of fans all the time. Some held up signs for friends and family (Go, Mommy, go!) or just yelled encouragement to us. Since our race bibs had our first names in bold, I could hear people saying, "Keep it up, Robyn" and it would get me through awhile.

We also got to pin signs on our backs about what "moves" us...
C'mon, you gotta love that! I got a lot of comments on that so I know I'm not the only fan!

A couple other things I recall from the mother of all races (for me anyway)...

In the first mile of the race, there was a kid and dad holding up a sign that said: Worst. Parade. Ever. Is that not the best sign ever? We all laughed out loud.

At mile 4 we saw an appropriate sign: Find your happy pace. Cute.

Shortly after mile 6, I said, "This is officially the farthest I've run in a race!" (I just did that 10K/6.2 miles and everything else has been shorter. To date.)

At mile 8, in the sea of Packer green, I saw a cheering kid wearing an Adrian Peterson jersey. I run over there and get a high-five and say, "Go Vikings!" Trust me, that carried me through that mile!

At mile 9, I hit a wall. I was struggling. Up to that point, I'd dealt with some pain in my left leg (thankfully just during miles 2-4) and a stitch in my left side, which I willed away. The nice thing was that at this point, we were running along the lake -- Lake Winnebago -- so I just concentrated on the pretty scenery. And breathing. I told Chris, "Don't slow down for me. Just keep running at our pace and I'll try to keep up."

At mile 11, I proclaimed: "This is the farthest I've ever run. In my life!" In training, we'd always say, "What's 2.1 more miles after that?"

I'll tell you what it is: Hell. Oh my gosh, it was so hard. (But I guess if it was easy, everybody would be running half marathons!) I told Chris to just go ahead so she could finish with a good time. I knew we were right on pace for 11-minute miles but I didn't know if I could keep that up for 22+ more minutes. And right then I didn't know if I wanted to puke, pass out or lay down and take a nap.

At the 12-mile marker, the drink station was all these people dressed up in Gilligan's Island clothes with the grass skirts and coconut bras (even the guys). I smiled and thought, this it the point where I told myself I was going to sprint (ha) the last mile or at least run as hard as I could. However, my legs felt like lead and it seemed like I was going a half-mile an hour. I looked at my watch and knew I couldn't walk if I was going to finish in less than 2 1/2 hours. I kept saying to myself, don't walk or you're going to be really ticked if you miss your goal by a stupid minute. So I kept going somehow.

What helped was that the entire last mile of the route was packed with people with signs and noisemakers and cheering. It almost made me cry. It was so cool how supportive they all were. Even the sign that said, "Remember, you actually paid to do this!" (I know. What was I thinking?!)

When I made the last turn, I could see the big FINISH line sign a mile away. Well it seemed like a mile. Probably a quarter mile. I knew I had precious few minutes to get there in time, but somehow I did! I crossed at 2:28. Two minutes better than my goal!
Here I am after I had crossed the line. I'm on the left there in the white hat.
If I zoom in you can see I'm just trying to breathe!
I don't even want to zoom in here or you'll see the pain on my face. I was seriously a bit disoriented at this point. But then they handed me my FINISHER's medal, wrapped a Mylar blanket around me to help me acclimate to the cool air temperature, and I heard hubby's whistle. I turned and saw Jim and Carter and staggered over to them with a huge smile on my face, pointing to my stop watch. "Look, I finished in 2:28!"
Chris finished 2 minutes ahead of me and came over to congratulate me and get our picture with our medals.

They are pretty darn cool!! It's actually a windmill on there but at first glance, I got excited and thought it was a lighthouse. Ha. I'll still keep it!! Smiling more with water in hand and my "Half-Marathon Finisher" shirt!

We refueled on their goodies and knew we had to just keep moving for awhile. My right calf muscle suddenly seized up on me a bit, so we stopped by a big tree so I could stretch. And stretch. I wanted to get one more picture in the beautiful Finish Line park.

Then we walked a mile to the car (that was good for us) and went back to the hotel so I could shower and we could head out of town. Next stop: King Cone in Plover.

Don't even say I don't deserve it!