Thursday, May 5, 2022

Eugene Half Marathon: My Final 1/2

My FINAL half marathon? Is it?? I think so. Or is it, I think so? I spent so much time during my training just struggling. When I could run I was doing great. My legs were happy, my mind was happy, training was awesome! But just as awesome as it was, it suddenly kept shifting to being really difficult and scary. I never wanted to run too far from home or Katura's school because what if something happened? Ménière's Disease was taking over and the joy was fading. I felt a bit of relief when I finally accepted that I needed to just retire my half marathon shoes. I am NOT done running. I LOVE relays. I can still run a lot of miles, just broken up into 3 different chunks. 13.1 miles has always been my favorite distance once I finally did it, so having this be my last was kind of emotional and sad. BUT I had a happy surprise that changed it so I didn't run a sad race!

I completely abandoned training for this race. Who goes out and runs 3 races in a row with zero training? Apparently ME!! Going into the Eugene Marathon weekend I still didn't know if I would run or not. In my head I was visualizing the course and trying to figure out a game plan if I couldn't finish or if I had a terrible Meniere's attack and needed to stop or get help. I wondered if I was going to drive up to Eugene and end up turning around and driving home. I WANTED to run, but was also scared. So finally it was race day. At 3:30am my alarm went off and by 4am I was on the road to Eugene. When I arrived I was super early, which I prefer, and settled in my parking spot. I walked to the porta potties and then to the start area to see them setting everything up. That solidified it. I was ready to race!


The sun came up and I made my way to the start area. As I was walking around just taking it all in I was so excited to see Emily! This was going to be a great retirement race! We decided we'd get through it together, and I am sooooo so glad we did. 

I conducted an experiment during this race. Okay, if you missed my pouting .... I had tickets to see Hamilton. I didn't let myself get excited about it until I was there. I was not even a block away and said to my mom, "Well, now I can get excited! We are here! It's happening!" Less than one minute later I learned the show was cancelled due to a flu outbreak among the company. Instant tears. I was heartbroken. **I now have tickets again for later this year.*** So to celebrate my new tickets I had decided to listen to Hamilton during the race and see how far could I get in the course before the show ended. This was my plan before I saw Emily, but I decided to stick with it because why not?!?

Once we crossed the start line I hit start on my Garmin and start on Hamilton! And we were off for 13.1 miles of non-stop chatter. Seriously, Emily, I had so much fun. Thank you! We talked about so much. Crazy medical things, races, Broadway, traveling. We never shut up except for when we were drinking water I think!

Run wise I don't really have things to report. We did it! Emily had her Garmin beeping at us in ratios so we'd rotate between running and walking. Thank goodness we had that. I honestly don't know what I would have done solo. I mean clearly I'd have been that girl performing Hamilton alone, but would I have remembered to start running if I walked? Would I have survived that last 5K?

The last 5K. Ugh. I've said this every time I've run the Eugene Half Marathon. The first 10 miles are the physical part. The last 3.1 is the mental challenge. The course gets quiet. No spectators. No hills. Just you and the half marathon runners since the marathon course diverts at that point. Around mile 8.7 you actually pass the finish line. From that point on it is just this mental battle. You get tired physically and you need your mind to help you, but it gets hard. Thank goodness for teamwork and laughter!! Another bonus, we found Jenn on course during this rough spot. Sometimes you just need to see a happy, familiar face to help revive a bit of a bounce in your step!

The last mile actually seemed to fly by now that I think about it. We entered Hayward Field and oops, costume fail. For some reason it seemed like I needed to put my sunglasses on. I don't know why. My brain was dead. When I tried it made my pirate bandanna fall off. So yeah, I totally had us stop so I could fix it for the finish line. I don't know!! I think we did a great job on the track keeping smiles on for the photos and coming in strong to the finish line. I even heard them say my name! I never hear it because I'm usually in a fog. I'm so glad that for this final race I actually heard it!

At the finish I really noticed my Meniere's battle, and thank goodness I found a fence I was able to grab on to. I didn't even grab my medals right away! And what I noticed and really appreciated was nobody tried to shoo me along. Sometimes at the finish they try to get you out ASAP. I physically couldn't do it. Heck a volunteer even brought me a barf bag (that I didn't have to use thank goodness). They were all so nice and patient then smiled when I was finally ready to grab the bling.


Yeah, we got TWO medals! Both Emily and I were doing the Doublestack Challenge which meant the bonus medal. Hot dog, I like ending with a bang and bling! Lots of photos happened before we made our way to the post-race party. I indulged in grilled cheese sandwich squares at the end and collected some yummy cookies. From there it was a mission to McDonald's for salty fries and a Coke! 

I'm so glad I did the race! It got hard at the end, but felt so dang good once I hit the track and got to see the end in sight. It's been a great run of great runs, and I am happy they aren't all done for good. Maybe some day I'll be back reporting on 13.1 miles. We shall wait and find out!


No comments:

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my little blog, your comments rock my compression socks!! ºoº