Navy-Air Force Half Marathon aka "The day I mentally quit"

Memories ...

Last year was so humid that I have my infamous "sweaty butt" post-race photo. There wasn't an inch of my body that was dry - it was sweat city for sure. Here we go for 2018 - the weather seems much nicer for this year's race - fingers crossed it stays that way.

Packet pick-up

Head to DC Armory for packet pick-up. Not that I needed to buy ANYTHING at the expo, but of course I did, including a new brand of headbands, treadbands - "non-slip headbands for the serious athlete". I'm a super serious athlete, so I definitely needed these babies {hopefully you got the sarcasm there}! They had a Maryland themed headband that I couldn't pass up, and there was a better price if you got two, so I wound up picking up three haha. I also picked up some more of my favorite Swiftwick socks, so I can continue to slowly phase out all other crappy socks for these babies - they're my new favorite, but they're not cheap. Not only did this race have a long-sleeve shirt, but they gave out gel insoles for our shoes! Never had that happen at a race.

Race morning

I hate waking up early, so I'm not sure why I keep signing up for these races in DC where I have to leave my house when it's dark outside, but alas, here goes nothing. I wanted to leave by 5:00AM to save time to park, walk over to the start, use the porta-potties, etc. We can see I definitely left my house on time. At least I made it to the start line in time.

I won these Brooks shoes last year at the Marine Corps Marathon race expo and finally sent in the card and they mailed these beauties earlier this month. I haven't had a chance to break them in yet, so I figured there was no better time than the present - hopefully they don't kill my feet! New shoes and a new headband - it's gonna be a wild run!

I was feeling pretty decent the first 5K (3.1 miles) - I started off slow-ish. Made sure to screenshot my Nike run app so I'd know at least I started off okay. Majorly slowed down the next part, from a 10:31/mile average pace the first 3.1 miles to an 11:43/mile average by a little over the halfway mark. I felt like I was dying.

 

But I kept running. Well, walking and then running and then walking some more. I have no clue why I stopped to take a photo at miles 7 and 10, but I did. Maybe to breathe. Maybe to remember where I wanted to quit. Repeatedly, I wanted to quit during this race. And I was so sweaty that I could barely use my phone because my hands were sweaty and my clothes were sweaty and I couldn't get the screen to turn on due to all the damn sweat. At least the mile markers were fun to look for.

Possibly the most disheartening spot was right before mile 9. I've ran this race before. I knew where the turnaround spot is on Rock Creek Parkway. Except for this year. This year, you had to go PAST the water stop, up this stupid incline for about 0.2 miles (although it felt like an entire mile). It was at this point that I decided I would walk the remaining 4+ miles of the half marathon. Oh, and right before I reached mile 6, I could see the front runners as they were approaching mile 12 and almost done. And I wasn't even halfway there yet. Ugh. I am totally questioning why I am still running.

 

So I said that I was going to walk the last 4 miles. I walked a majority of it, yes, but I did at least TRY to run. The problem was that my body just didn't want to run. Have I mentioned that this was also the weekend that Hurricane Florence was set to destroy the east coast? They almost cancelled the race - thank goodness they waited it out, because Florence turned another way and we didn't get nearly what they were expecting. However, and sorry if it's TMI, but Hurricane Flo also hit me hard the morning of this half marathon, and every single step I took running made it feel like my uterus was going to fall out of my body. I was struggling to even stay upright because I just wanted to curl up in the fetal position at home with a blanket and a cat by my side. Hence my immense desire to quit. Unfortunately, I wasn't anywhere close to the finish line. I even stopped at the medical tent along Rock Creek Parkway to get some tylenol. It didn't make me feel any better though.

There's a positive though!

I FINISHED! I had mentally quit on this race, and right around mile 12 or so, I saw Lien James run past me. You may be wondering "who the heck is that?" I've never met Lien, but she posts all the time in one of my Facebook running groups: Marine Corps Marathon & 10K Club. This is from one of her posts from 2016 and gives you a look into all that this amazing woman has accomplished: 

"Fifteen and a half years ago, I signed up to run MCM for Team Lombardi as my first marathon to celebrate turning 50. I ran my first miles at age 49 1/2 and was clueless how long a marathon is. As I went through instructions how to write letters to raise $3,000 for this wonderful cancer research and treatment, I found out that I would have to run 26.2 miles after six months of training! Well you can guess what went through my mind! But with encouragement and support from my wonderful husband and my two sons, plus my determination, I trained and discovered my passion for running. I was on top of the world when I crossed the finish line of MCM on October 28, 2001. After my third marathon in March of 2002 in my hometown Washington, DC, I set a new goal: complete a marathon in all 50 states by age 60. But before completing that goal, I decided to train for the JFK 50 miler and completed one at age 56. After rearranged my schedule, my busy life, I fulfilled my second goal by finishing the marathon of my 50th states at Pacific Crest, OR, three months before turning 60. To add to that milestone, I ran the Washington Ragnar relay, 198 miles from Cumberland, MD to National Harbor with 11 teammates on my 60th birthday and had a blast! I continued to sign up for more marathons, and came up with another goal: complete 100 marathons in 12 years. I did it by finishing MCM on 10/27/13. I officially became a member of this exclusive 100 Marathon Club of North America! My goal now is to inspire and transfer my running passion to as many runners as I possibly can. So set your goals, follow your dreams, conquer your fears, and reach for them!"

The Chicago marathon in October 2018 will be her 121st marathon. I stayed right near Lien for the last bit of this marathon - she inspires me with her positive attitude, helpful tips and advice, and hard work ethic. After the race, I caught up with her and introduced myself. She had someone take our photo after we got our medals, and then she also took my photo in front of the monument. "Wait, wait! All these people keep walking in your photo! Now now now! Smile!" She has such a big heart and bubbly personality and I was so happy to have met her in person and tell her how much she inspires me, even during this race when I just mentally quit. When I asked what number half marathon this was for her, she goes "I don't even count half marathons anymore!" and continued to tell me about the rest of her marathon schedule for this year.

Flowers

I parked behind my favorite DC museum: the American Museum of Natural History and took some photos of the gorgeous landscaping on the back side of the museum. My husband must be rubbing off on me.

Fruit roll-ups? My fav!

The lines were really long for the post-race food, so I decided I was only going to pick up a fruit roll-up today. Pretty sure this is also the first race I've ever gotten one of these at the finish line. It was at the same spot with some pretzels, so I got a bag of those, too, and wound up giving them to a homeless guy asking for money on my walk back to the car.

My husband is amazing.

Michael only ever texts me during a race when he's there and wants to know where I am on the course, or to tell me where he's standing. I probably should have known something was off when this conversation happened:

9:04am - Michael: Let me know how you did when you finish.
9:09am - Me: I'm walking the last 4. My stomach is killing me.
9:21am - Michael: That's not good, but at least you only have an hour-ish left.
9:33am - Michael: Did anyone else run this race?
10:27am - Michael: How you doing?
10:29am - Me: Walking back to the car. No one from Dunkirk, a few ladies from Lakas.

And a minute later he calls me to tell me "not to worry" but he had to take my furbaby James to the emergency vet for hypoglycemia, or crazy low blood glucose levels. I stopped by and visited with my sweet orange tabby on my way home from DC, where he was wrapped in a "bear hug" (the machine is really called Bair something) to raise his body temperature back up.

Michael knew how upset I would be, so he waited until I was done with the race to tell me about James. This is the first pet I ever owned by myself, and I've had him since he was about 2 weeks old, if that. He is truly my fur baby - he's been in my life longer than Michael. 

I went home after hanging out on the floor at the emergency vet about an hour. Michael and I headed back that evening around 7PM to visit with James again. I hated leaving him overnight, but hopefully he knows it was to make sure he was alright. [side note: he's home and ok right now - changing up his insulin dosage and trying to figure out why he keeps going into hypoglycemia]

The medal

I might have mentally quit during this race, but I finished all 13.1 miles and got this finisher medal. I didn't notice at first, but the little airplane on the side actually moves in the groove, so that was pretty cool. A few weeks later, I also got my Ultimate Warrior Medal, which you can buy for completing 3 races organized by a U.S. military service branch, ending with the Navy-Air Force half marathon.