Way back in May when I was just barely starting to train for the Disneyland Half Marathon I went ahead and registered for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. I think there was a coupon code for discounted registration. I don't know why else I would have done it since I still wasn't 100% sold on running at that point I don't think. But after actually starting to enjoy running and how I loved running the Disneyland Half, I was glad I had signed up. The husband actually signed up, too, so we could run together. It was his first half marathon.
The race was yesterday. I was excited about it but nervous because I really didn't feel like I'd been training enough leading up to it. I'd done all the long runs, but I had really slacked on the shorter runs during the week. Like REALLY slacked. I had the mindset that since I'd already done one half, surely I could easily do another. I wasn't entirely wrong, but I probably could have trained a little harder.
My previous half marathon time was 2:45. I really wanted to come in on this one at 2:30. The husband and I had been averaging an 11:30 pace on long runs which would just about put us there (we'd need to do 11:27 the whole time to get a 2:30 finish). We started off really strong, varying between 10:00 and 10:30 but maintaining close to a 10:30 pace. I felt great! I fell into the pace easily, my breathing was good, it was a GREAT morning for a run--not too cold, mostly overcast, wide open streets so runners weren't all smashed together. We had driven the route the day before so I knew where the turns were and how far we had on each straightaway and all that.
I felt great until about halfway through the race when my left calf muscle started to cramp. The right one soon followed. I thought maybe I could run through it and just kept going. Nope, it wasn't going away. There was a Gu stop at 7.7 miles, so I walked through that and then decided to stop for a second and stretch my calves. That helped initially but not long after the cramping was back. I stopped again at some point between miles 9 and 10 to stretch it some more. The whole time I was thinking, "I ran every step of my last half while suffering from strep throat and now I'm having to walk and full on stop because of a stupid cramp?!" I wasn't happy about it, but it HURT. The last three miles of the race were all literally downhill. It had been a gradual incline leading up to that which might have been part of the problem. I hate gradual inclines--I'd much rather power up a noticeable hill than go 1-2 miles where the elevation is just slightly increasing the whole way. Anyway, I tried to enjoy the downhill and let gravity do it's thing and help speed me along. We were still under our pace target at this point, with about 2 minutes cushion built in, so I was feeling pretty confident that we'd finish in 2:30. Then I started getting charlie horse cramps in my calves. I almost full on fell at one point from one of them. It was not cool. So, more walking. My awesome, sweet, wonderful husband stayed with me the whole time, too. I told him to go on ahead because I wanted to make sure he finished in the time we wanted to, I really didn't want to slow him down. Do you know what he said? He told me he'd carry me if he had to. I love him so much.
Right after the marker for Mile 12 there was a bridge. The husband said let's at least run across the bridge and see how it goes from there. I made it most of the way across before I had to walk again because the pain in my legs was AWFUL. By that point we had less than a mile to go. I walked a little and then forced myself to keep running the rest of the way. I knew with all the walking we were going to be cutting it close to hitting our 2:30 goal. I tried to reassure myself by saying that no matter what, at that point I was going to finish with a PR because I would finish before 2:45. It helped a little, but I really wanted my husband to hit his goal. I knew once Sun Devil Stadium came into view that we were in the home stretch. I knew I could make it at that point, and even though it hurt like, well, I can't really say because I think my mom reads this and she would not approve of the word I'm thinking of, and I wanted to walk I kept going. My dumb Nike run tracking app somehow was ahead on the mileage, so it said I was done when I still had something like 0.2 miles left to go. Not cool, man. Not cool. It was a glorious sight when the finish line came into view. We past my BFF's husband waiting in the crowd and gave him a high five. We were cutting it super close to hitting 2:30. Under normal circumstances, I would have sprinted for the finish but as I was struggling to move at that point, I knew that wasn't going to happen. When I stopped my Nike app, it said my time was 2:31. So close!! At that point I was just glad to be done and not have to run anymore. My calf muscles were screaming.
By the time we got home from the race (after all the post-race stuff and going to lunch), the official times had been posted. Mine was 2:30:55 and the husband's was 2:30:56. He's a little butt hurt that his was somehow one second more, but we're both rounding down the time to be 2:30. So not only did I get a new PR and shatter my old one my 15 minutes (18 minutes if I go by my official race time from Disney, which included two bathroom stops), I did it with cramped up legs.
I still have no idea what caused the leg cramps, and I haven't had a chance to research it really to see what it could have been from. My form wasn't any different, I wasn't wearing new shoes (I wasn't wearing new anything!). I don't know. It's especially weird because in all the runs I have ever done, I have never had an issue with cramps of any kind. I'm hoping my next half goes off without any hitches--no sickness, no pain, no cramps. It would be nice to just have a normal run!!
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