One of the folks on the RWBF started a thread to invite others to share their first half marathon stories as a motivation for himself as he trained for his first. I never really wrote anything comprehensive about the experience, so I thought I'd repeat my response here on this blog:
* The 15th of January started out with cool overnight weather, mid-forties Fahrenheit I think. I was wearing a shorts and a short-sleeve tech fabric shirt with the logo from the CBS show "The Amazing Race" on the front. I watch the show regularly, and it certainly seemed amazing that I was even actually out there!
* I had wanted to attend the Catholic Mass service in the George R. Brown, but by the time I finished my business in the porta-potty line, it was over.
* The first part of my race plan that day was to just walk the first mile to get warmed up and then turn it into a twelve-mile run. I was amazed at the sight of thousands of participants around me as we streamed over the 4-lane Elysian bridge around mile 2
* I was really touched by the people I didn't know who were cheering for me. More than once, I heard someone shout my name from the sidewalk. The first time it happened, it took me by surprise. Then I remembered that our first names were printed on our bibs. This is probably no big deal for anyone who played sports in high school or college, but this was new to me.
* The Tundra Dancers were running the race! These were "super-sized" guys who served as timeout entertainment at Houston Rockets games at Toyota Center. I spotted them ahead of me at mile 2 and promptly passed them up. There was no way I was letting them beat me.
* I loved the inspirational and humorous signs. I really liked "FREE BEER. JUST AHEAD."
* I also loved the high-fivers on the sidewalks, especially the kids.
* Then there was the group of teenagers standing along Montrose Blvd at mile 8 wearing letter jackets from my old high school. By coincidence, this was also where the race passed by my old college! It really reminded me of how old I am now, but I also rejoiced in knowing that I'm not too old to run. It turned out to be an emotional pick-me-up.
* I remember making the turn on Allen Parkway and watching runners from the Chevron Houston Marathon merge with us half-marathoners and pass us up on the way to our common finish line. I realized just how fast these people were knowing they were already on mile 24 (and passing us) while we were just on 10!
* In the finishing miles, runners who had never met before were giving pep talks to one another, resolving to run together to the finish. Everything's hurting at this point, and after I made the turn on Rusk Street, I could see the finish line six blocks away. Six blocks never seemed so long in my life.
* I must have been breaking down mentally towards the end because after the race I realized that I forgot to consume my final GU gel at the desired interval, and I could have used the energy too.
* On the 10 o'clock news that evening, video of me waddling under the clock was illustrating "...some were just grateful to finish." It was absolutely a laugh-out-loud moment.
Event: Aramco Houston Half Marathon (15 Jan 2006)
Distance: 13.1 miles
Chip Time: 2 hours, 42 minutes
Experience: Priceless
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