Life as a McClellan: Half Marathon Practice

Monday, October 1, 2012

Half Marathon Practice

This past Saturday was my second "long run" in preparation for my half marathon. I went 7.2 miles on September 8th, but I hadn't done one since then. Jake had a guys weekend planned in Las Vegas with his dad and brother. They were supposed to meet at his dad's house Saturday morning. I didn't want to have to drive Jake over there, but I also didn't want to leave one of our cars there all weekend. Then it just hit me - I could "run" there from our house and then drive the car back!

When I went for my long run September 8th, I went to Westlake High School's Seminary building and then back to our house and I HATED it. Granted, part of that is because there was an incredibly steep hill involved. For the most part though, I hated going somewhere and then turning around to come back. I wanted to just run to a place and then be done with my run. So running to his mom & dad's would be PERFECT!

Jake was a little skeptical at first but when I told him it was less than 11 miles, he felt a little better about it. I think the main thing he was worried about was that I wouldn't be able to call him to come get me if something went wrong because he would be in the backseat of his dad's car on the way to Vegas. But he agreed to let me go, as long as I called his mom if something went wrong. Saturday morning, he woke up and packed and then left, and an hour or so later I got my running gear on to hit the pavement!

I promise I don't wear this BYU shirt everyday. Just on running days. Mentally it pushes me harder because I know people can see that I obviously am a BYU fan. It sounds lame but hey it works for me!

My new under armour knock off jacket over my running clothes. My half marathon will be really early in the morning, in the canyon, at the end of October so it will be cold and I need to get used to running with a jacket on.

I put on my headphones and had my phone strapped to my arm underneath my jacket, grabbed my sunglasses and I was off! As soon as I got out of the Highlands neighborhood and onto the jogging path, I set my fitbit and started jogging. For about 100 yards. My socks were sliding down, and that drives me CRAZY! So I stopped, yanked the back of my sock up and starting jogging again. For another 100 yards - my socks were sliding down again. So I stopped, took off my shoes, pulled off my socks and shoved them in my pocket, put my shoes back on and started running again. I slowed down and jogged in place at a few signals while I waited for my turn to cross, but other than that I made it to the Smith's at Crossroads {4 miles} without stopping!

As soon as I got through the signal at Smith's, I started a slow jog but didn't make it too far before my calf cramped up. Like SUPER bad. I stopped and stretched it for a second and tried to keep going but it hurt too bad. I stretched it again {right in front of Kneaders} and then walked a little bit. I started jogging after a few minutes, but because it was uphill and my calf hurt I didn't make it as far as I wanted before I needed to walk again. I only made it to the next signal - maybe 0.7 miles. I walked some more, up to the top of the hill until it was straight down from there. I hurried and ate my granola bar I had brought {it was approximately 5.5 miles total at this point} and then made my mental goal - run to the stop light at the corner of 2100 North & Redwood Road. It was all downhill, so I could totally do this - only maybe 0.5 miles and then I could walk again!

I ended up running almost 2 miles before I stopped. I had a series of awesome songs come on and it was downhill and I just was feeling it and had serious adrenaline pumping. When I stopped, it was probably around mile 8, maybe a little bit over. I walked for a quite a while - it was a slight uphill and my calf was on fire. As soon as I got to the freeway entrance to I15, I started to jog again until I turned into the neighborhood by Jake's parents house. I walked until I was probably 400 yards from their house, gathered up a little more energy and ran the rest of the way.

I was so freaking proud of myself when I finished, but also disappointed I had walked as much as I did. I had wanted to be close to jogging the entire thing. But this is my first half marathon and I need to cut myself a little slack. And I ran without water, because I don't want to carry it. And I didn't have socks on.