Thirteen Point Freaking One

"You're inspiring people, you were part of the crowd that never thought you could do this. Now go get that finish!"

Is the last thing I heard as I was coming down Lazy Way Lane and nearing the finish line.

Let me back track a bit and give you a sneak peek into how my morning went, or even the night before.

I showed up at 4:30pm Saturday to pick up my race packet. Neglected the line that was forming and walked right up to the table.  The kind lady told me that I needed to fill out the waiver and sign it before I could pick up my bib number.  Now, in any ordinary day, that would totally bug me knowing that someone didn't even take the time to look at the process that they so clearly had laid out...my excuse

I WAS SO NERVOUS! 
(going forward, I'll take this into consideration when I'm helping out at other events)

Anyway, as I signed the waiver, I think I said out loud, "holy shit" - people probably thought I was crazy. Needless to say, I pulled myself together, got my bib number, shirt, bag, some other odds and ends and was off.  Eric even bought me a new arm band for my phone, what a man, what a man, what a mighty good man!

So, the night went on and I was in bed by 10:00 and surprisingly fell asleep quickly, up at 5:00am.  As I got ready, I thought to myself, this is just another race, you've done 15 of them

NO. BIG. DEAL.

Eric took me down to the start,
(we met up with a good family friend, John who happened to be in KW for a few weeks, so good to see familiar faces!)
I paced back and fourth
fiddled with the arm band
text my best friend, Danielle "holy shit, please tell me you're landing in KW and coming to the start"
adjusted my fuel belt
ate some sports beans
probably was talking to myself
looked at my music list a million times
made sure my shoes were double knotted
and
fixed my hair

... then the sun rose over Trumbo Road in Key West and I heard the shot gun start.

(Sure, someone was speaking over the loud speaker and I didn't hear them, because I had a million and ten things running through my head... million dollar question... what were they saying?)

then, I just stood there...

now something you should know is that 5K races in KW are usually 200-400 or so people, if that.  This race was around 1450 people, I'm used to hearing the start and running right away.

Once we got going, I passed Eric and John on the sidelines, cheering me on, my music was blasting away and I felt great... yes, I felt great. The nerves left and it was me and the road, forget the people in front of me, to the right and left of me and behind me... at that moment,
I realized 100% this is my race.

I was running at about 11:30/m pace and felt good, my breathing was under control, no aches or pains, and my head was clear.  I made it a point to walk through all the water stations making sure I took water, accelerade and water again - took my sport beans/goos when I felt I needed them and got back up to running pace.

If you know the lay out of Key West, you'll know what I'm talking about, but the turn around point was the Naval Clinic... as I was coming around the corner of the airport, I could start to see the bridge right before Flagler, this was about mile 5-6.  Thinking to myself, "okay up over the bridge, down the bridge and turn around..." well my friends, the clinic is farther than you think, and it wasn't "just down the bridge".  The last stretch to the turn around was horrific, and I mean horrific  I felt like I was never going to reach it, however... I did and before I knew it I was up and over the bridge again on my way to the finish line.  As I came over the bridge I could see down the beach, people upon people upon people, coming towards me and running in front of me, both discouraging and encouraging at the same time.

While the rest of the run along Smathers Beach was tiresome, I couldn't have asked for better weather.  The sun was shining, the water was calm and I was in my own world.  Trying to maintain that 11:30/m pace if I found myself slowing down, I'd take a few walking steps.  I figured there is no sense running at a 12:30/m pace when I can walk that, and Bill and I had practiced the walk/run.

Mile 10 was difficult; as I look back, I see two parts of me, internal (heart/head) and external (feet/legs).  My heart/head were totally in the game 100% but my feet were killing me.  I knew that I could finish, at this point, I only had a 5K left... I can do that!

I knew that Bill said he'd come back for me and finish with me, so... down Higgs beach, along the Casa Marina, to South Street, Southernmost point... I thought to myself maybe he's tired, okay, maybe I'm tired, but I'm almost done! Out of nowhere, on Whitehead Street, Bill was standing there, ready to finish the last mile and a half with me.  We had a water station to walk through, back up to 11:30/m pace and finish strong.  I must have asked 10 times, "how much farther?"

Every time I got a new answer,
"you can do this"
"stay with me"
"you've trained for this"
"almost there"
"stay on my hip"
"people that cross the finish line with me don't cross without a little pain"
"if you want it under three you're going to have to work for it"

All these things I've heard before, all phrases that have encouraged me at 6:15am, and now again at 9:45am. I noticed that Bill had a medal tucked into the side of his shorts, all I wanted was to finish.

At the beginning of Lazy Way Lane, I pulled my other earbud out, I could see Gauron's sign from the other end of the road and I knew I was almost done.

That's when I heard...

"You're inspiring people, you were part of the crowd that never thought you could do this. Now go get that finish!" - Bill

I crossed the finish line, and couldn't believe it.  I was holding a medal that read,
"Key West Half Marathon" 
my feet weren't moving anymore, I was a hot mess, literally a hot sweaty tired mess,

but, I FINISHED!
finish 2:56:21/ net time 2:55:26
start to turn around split 1:26:53
turn around to end split 1:29:32

I cannot say enough good things about my trainers over the past year, Stay Fit Studio, my numero uno fan Eric, and all my friends and family who have encouraged, supported and pushed me along the way. 

In all honesty, if there would have been a table with registration for another half marathon I would have signed up yesterday.  2013 is full of new races! 

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

This same race, exactly one year ago, I was volunteering at the water station with Stay Fit.  I had just joined the gym and longed for a sense of community... I remember telling the people that I was volunteering with, jokingly... "maybe I'll do it next year".   
35lbs lighter
living a whole different lifestyle
25 years old
15 races later...

I LOVED EVERYTHING ABOUT THE HALF MARATHON!