Lucky 13.1

This morning, I ran 13.1 miles before 10am. Cripes.

Start running? Oh crap. Luckily, I was too tired to realize what I'd gotten myself into.

That's me on the far left... with 12.85 miles to go!

I will be honest, I probably bit off more than I could chew with an impulsive mid-week half marathon registration. But I just couldn't stomach the thought of another solo long run today. I was scheduled to run 11 miles this weekend but was also feeling some pressure to 'make up' for last week's missed long-run (due to a 4-day bout of food poisoning).

I told myself I'd just take today's half really easy and cut back on my mid-week mileage to compensate for the longer distance (**by the way, I never would've done this if I didn't have a previously successful half under my belt from 7 months ago**). I think that plan would've worked, if the course had been flat. Here's what I read before signing up:

Peculiar's Lucky 13.1 Half Marathon takes participants on a fast and mostly flat out-and-back course from the football stadium at Raymore Peculiar High School out to Coleman Road and back to the school for the finish.

Flat? Fast? For once, my lungs and my stomach were cooperating at the same time, and I was facing a terrain that set out to tear up my knees and hips. I've never finished a race limping, but I am now. I was going strong until about mile 9 (which shouldn't surprise me since the farthest I've run since November is 8 miles). But those hills. Never. Stopped.

To be fair, they were gently rolling hills. Nothing super-long or super-steep. But definitely not flat either. This basically turned into an 11 mile run followed by a painful 2 mile walk.

I was lucky I rolled out of bed with my alarm, despite only getting 4 hours of sleep.

I was lucky I hydrated beforehand and carried water with me- it was already 75 degrees and humid at 5:45am!

I was lucky I only got lost once, and very briefly, on my way to Peculiar.

I was lucky I picked up my bib in time to get the last technical shirt in my size.

I was lucky the spitting rain and huge gusts of wind stopped 2-3 minutes before the race started. 

And I'll be lucky if I can get out of bed tomorrow and walk without legs that feel like bricks.