Wine Country Half Marathon, 10-10-2010

I have the race results.

I have the photos.

It’s time to do a proper race recap for my Wine Country Half Marathon on Sunday, 10/10/2010!

Saturday

I mentioned getting up early for Levi Leipheimer’s Gran Fondo when I recapped Saturday’s weigh in. I was up and out of the door by 7am so that we could catch the start of the Gran Fondo at 8am. After spending a couple of hours at the event, I went home to shower and get ready for the rest of the day. On the agenda? Going to pick up my race packet at the Kendall Jackson Wine Center, and then heading back to the Gran Fondo to see some of the finishers come in and to also oogle cute cyclists. Finally, we were going to end the day with a delicious carb-loading dinner at Union Hotel.

On my way to pick up the girls to go up to the wine center, I realized that I probably should have a little lunch since we wouldn’t be having dinner until at least 5 or 6pm. I ran through the Taco Bell drive-through and got a bean and cheese burrito and a small Diet Coke to tide me over.

Sadly, this is when the day started going downhill.

I haven’t had a burrito from Taco Bell in a while. I’m not sure if it was bad, or if it’s just because I haven’t eaten one lately—but I started to feel sick. I pushed it out of my mind while we went to get bagels and cream cheese for marathon-morning breakfast and then up to get our race packets. By the time we went back to the Gran Fondo, I was feeling pretty nauseated and suddenly sleepy. Luckily, we only stayed at the Gran Fondo for a little while and then I broke off from the girls and headed home for a nap. I was hoping that a nice nap would kick the stomachache!

We met back up at 5:30pm for our carb-loading dinner at Union Hotel. I ordered a cup of minestrone soup and spaghetti with marinara sauce. I ate a bit of the soup, but I could only stomach 1 bite of the pasta…not a good sign! The girls looked equally worried about my lack of appetite. I had my dinner boxed up and decided to call it a really early night. I went home, laid out my race outfit, and was in bed with the light off by 7pm. A new record!

Sunday

I slept pretty well and woke up feeling pretty well rested at….2:44am. Err…this is what happens when you go to bed at 7pm! My alarm wasn’t set to go off until 5am, so I tossed and turned and dozed a little longer until the alarm went off. I got up and felt pretty good, and I didn’t feel as anxious as the night before when I thought that I might be too sick to do the event.

But that was speaking too soon…as I got dressed and got all of my race stuff together, I started to feel nauseated again. The taste of my toothpaste almost made me hurl. I felt shaky as I combed my hair and put on my visor.

Was I going to be able to pull this off?

I knew I had to at least try. I threw my stuff in the car and went to pick up the girls. When I got to Amy’s, they were happily munching on bagels and drinking coffee. My skin was crawling. I took a half of a bagel for the road, knowing that I had to eat something, especially since I hadn’t eaten any dinner to speak of. By the time we got to Healdsburg, I knew that I couldn’t stomach the bagel and I left it in the car. With a bottle of Gatorade and a couple of swigs of Pepto Bismol straight from the bottle, I headed to my doom.

As the sun came up, all I could do was pace around the starting line. Anyone who saw me probably thought I was a nervous wreck. Really, I was oscillating between feeling super sick and being frustrated and upset that I may not be able to finish the race. As the starting time approached, Sara, Amy and I lined up with the crowd. They kept assuring me that I would be fine and that I would totally finish. In my head, I had serious doubts. But I just figured that I was keep walking until I fainted or puked or both. And then we would just go from there.

And then we were off.

Mile 1 and 2 were pretty rough, honestly. I felt light headed and a little dizzy. I just kept walking and sipping my Gatorade. And praying to the half-marathon gods.

In between Mile 2 and Mile 3, two panicked deer galloped by, obviously disturbed by the vast amount of people running through their tranquil Sunday morning. The deer were bleeding from their mouths (a product of trying to jump the chain link fencing along the freeway and missing, thankfully) and running for their lives. All I could think of, besides concern, was, “I know how you feel.”

Luckily, the two deer came to a break in the fence and darted down into a wooded creek bed. And we came up to the first aid station a little past Mile 3.

By the time we reached the aid station, I started to feel a little better. I had gotten into a groove…a little slower than usual, it felt like, but good enough under the circumstances! We turned up West Dry Creek Road and pressed on for Miles 3 through 8.

The scenery in the Dry Creek Valley is stunning, as I’ve said many times before. If you have to do a half-marathon while feeling like garbage, this is definitely where you want to do it.

As we cruised along between Miles 5 and 6, we started seeing full marathoners coming back on their return trip. The full marathon was an out-and-back course, while the half marathon course split off from the full course at Mile 8, did a little loop, and reconnected to the full course a little over a mile from the finish.

Did I feel bad that this guy had already run like 20 miles while I had walked only 6?

Not even a little bit.

GO HIM.

We pressed on.

We stopped for a photo op.

We passed the halfway point.

We finally hit Mile 8 and split off from the full marathon course. As we cruised along, now in the scorching sun as opposed to the nice shady stretches along West Dry Creek Road, I started to feel…well, not so great. I put on my headphones for a little “Eye of the Tiger” pep talk.

I had to stop to take a few rocks out of my shoe, but other than that and the 96 degree heat, we reached passed Mile 11 without any major hiccups.

It wasn’t until I could see the freeway on-ramp sign that I knew I could make it in. The Mile 12 marker came and went. We cruised along. I was wearing my watch, but I hadn’t started the stopwatch when we started. (Like I said, concentrating on walking and praying.) But…if my general sense of time was on point, we could finish in under 4 hours which was my goal. If we hurried.

Amy and Sara were about 15 yards ahead of me as we finished the last 0.2 miles of the race. As they approached the turn into the finish line, they started to run. I just kept cruising along at a moderately brisk walk, smiling at the people who were cheering us on. I love that people stand right along the last stretch and cheer you in…that is always the coolest feeling!

The girls were there to take a picture of my finishing the race under my goal time of 4 hours…my official chip time was 3:57:54.6.

I didn’t win….heck, I came in 700th place….but I FINISHED.

AND I beat my last race time by 27 whole minutes!

And that is all that counts.

I simply must give a shout-out to my dear besties who hung in there with me. I guess they were right after all…I was like a little kid who bonked their head. If we just pretended like I wasn’t about to puke, it might just go away.

Also thanks to Sara, who was awesome at documenting our journey in photos. Nearly all of the photos here are courtesy of her! I’ll be posting a link to her photo website as soon as it’s up.

Now, I’m off to scour the internet for my next race entry!

xoxo,

~Melissa

Tagged as: awesome, half marathon, Healthy Living, Inspiration, Marathon Training, Walking