I wasn’t sure what the first post for this blog should be, but one event from the past week has stuck out in my mind as something I needed to document as best as possible… my first half marathon!
The Training
Shortly after the start of the year, I was approached by a running coach, Lisa, about the opportunity to swap services – her coaching me in my half marathons in exchange for website design services. I thought it was a great deal – and so in February, I began running. She had me running 4 days a week and I stuck really close to the training (I’m sure you could ask Sam if you wanted to know when I failed to complete a run!)
Anyway, by the beginning of June, I completed my 50th training run. I then ran the Duvall 10k in 58 minutes and 40 seconds – over 8 minutes faster than I did last year. Gave me the confidence to push on with my training towards the big event!
Seattle Rock ‘n Roll
So, early in the morning on Saturday June 23, 2012, I got woken up by a loud knock at the door – my alarm had failed to go off and my ride was waiting for me in the driveway. I was very thankful I had laid out all my clothes the night before. I got out of the house in about 10 minutes. We were parked around 5:30am and then made our way to the corrals.
I had placed myself in the 2:15 pace corral and started the event about 40 minutes after the initial gun. I was there, I was running at it was great! Quickly I realized that I wanted to go faster than the people around me, so as we made our way along the downtown streets I passed scores of other runners. I felt like I was in my running groove about 15 minutes into the race. I felt strong and confident.
My good friend, Kristy Fassio, was on the sidelines around mile 4 with her two daughters cheering on her husband and other friends. She gave me a huge smile and a high-five which propelled me to pick up my pace. I was beaming. That beaming was a bit short-lived because as I turned off Rainier Avenue and headed through the neighborhoods over towards Seward Park, I knew a potty break was coming up. I had already gone 3 times before the race started, so I didn’t think I would have to stop, but my bladder had other ideas. Thankfully it was a quick stop somewhere between miles 5 and 6. Then I was off again!
I felt strong – really strong. I continued to pass people and I had completely lost track of my distance, I just ran – and it was awesome!
Once I was up on the I-90 bridge heading back towards downtown, I figured out what my pace was and realized that I was going to exceed my own expectations. I just ran and ran – passed the stadiums – and ran some more. The sun came out when I was running along the viaduct. Nothing was going to stop me – I knew I’d accomplish my first goal (which was to run the full thing, without walking). When I hit mile 12, I increased my speed – I knew I could run faster for the final mile.
By the time I got to the 13 mile marker, I was in the finisher chute. And, off to my left side I heard “Go Jaime! You’ve got this!” – from my dear friend Hilary Storey. That burst of energy allowed me to increase my speed yet again and I finished STRONG!
The Finish
Sam and the girls stayed home and watched my progress on the computer… so moments before I was able to grab a bottle of water, my phone rang with a huge congratulations. I think I told him I wasn’t ready to talk and that I’d call back shortly – I’m not exactly sure, but I knew I needed to grab my recovery fuel and finisher medal before I would be able to talk!
I didn’t even know my time – well not my official time. RunKeeper had me at 2 hours 8 minutes or so but I didn’t have anything official. And there were so many people, I had no idea how to get my official time – but thankfully it was online and I was informed that my time was 2:07:08.
Whatever my goals for this event were – I surpassed them. I was in awe of myself and what I had accomplished!
All this for someone who wasn’t a runner!