Saturday, April 20, 2013

Cleveland 2011 Part 1

With the Cleveland Half Marathon coming up, and the attention that the marathon sport has had over the past week, I have been reflecting on the past.  Come along with me as I take you on a trip.  A trip that is my first half marathon.

The Cleveland Half Marathon was my first solo race.  It was also a race where I raised money for Active:Water.  It was also a race that I trained for almost completely on a treadmill.  I can say that this is because I lived on a busy street but really it was fear of running outdoors.  The treadmill was safe, plus I could watch TV!

A month before I would do my first official race, a 5k with my good friend from work.  It was her first race too.  She kept telling me before the race that I'd be ahead of her and I didn't have to run with her, but I'll take running with a friend at a slightly lower pace than running by myself.  

There's a picture of us finishing but it must not be on digital format...  You get the idea.  We had a good time!
A few weeks before the big race I received an email from my military unit.  Our one day drill weekend turned into a two day drill weekend, with one of those days being the day of the race.  I did not panic.  I called my team leader and explained the situation and waited for him to bring it up the chain.  A day later I received a call telling me I couldn't miss drill for the race.  The reason I couldn't miss the day was because I did not pass my physical training test (PT test).  (Side note: for years up until my relationship with running I was out of shape and overweight.  Hence not passing my PT test.)  This is when panic set it.  It slipped me into a mild depression for a few hours.  My sentence had been read and I was going to miss the big race.  I wouldn't be refunded my entry fee.  I would also let down everyone who had donated to my race.  Maybe it was the running I had been doing but I decided to stand up for myself, which used to be a rarity.  I organized my case and eventually got it up to the highest ranking sergeant in the company.  I noticed that the people I've run across in my past life as a military service member are not that flexible.  Especially with a dead beat PT test failure like myself.  Well, when God has a mission for you a stubborn Army unit can't get in the way.  They allowed me to skip Sunday to run the race but I was still required to go Saturday (although I had given proof that the race offered no race day packet pickup, he ASSURED me that they had race day pick up (they didn't)).  I was fine with this.  We could go to the expo Friday.  Army and relaxing Saturday.  Race on Sunday!  

On that drill Saturday we were going to have a PT test.  Knowing that this was looming I incorporated push ups and sit ups into my work outs.  One night while doing sit ups something happened.  My feet were under my wife's hands.  She switched from her hands to her knees (because holding someone's knees in sit ups SUCKS).  I did a sit up and the added pressure on my feet caused me to pull something in my foot/shin area.  Ouchies.  To aid this I purchased a sleeve for my ankle/foot/shin area.

A couple weeks before the race I had a 10 mile run on the training plan.  I had been warned about the difference of running on the treadmill and on the road.  With this warning fresh in my mind, I decided to test out my sea legs and run outside.  I had no idea what I was getting myself into...  It was a beautiful rainy (monsoony) early May day in Ohio.  It would be a 5 mile out and back.  I was equipped with a rain jacket, Ipod, and water bottle.  Less than a mile in I took out the music because rain and headphones staying in your ears do not mix.  Less than 3 miles in I was walking up the hills.  I turned my run around at mile 3 and ditched my rain jacket because I layered up too much.  There was no way to get back to my car except by running or walking.  I decided on the latter, minus my ankle sleeve because it was digging into my skin.  Following this training session (I still can't bring myself to call it a "run") my confidence was pretty low.  **See above about God having a mission for me.  A crappy session wasn't going to stop the race from happening**

It was finally race weekend.  We went to Cleveland on Friday to pick up the race packet and go to my first race expo!  My inner race noob came out when I walked up to my last name area and the kind volunteer asked for my bib number... (the following conversation may not be verbatim... it's been 2 years)

Me: "Bib number?"
Volunteer: "What is your race bib number?"
Me: *blank stare*
Volunteer: "You don't have your bib number?  You have to go over to the computer to verify your registration and get your bib number."
Me: *looks over to computers*
Volunteer: "What is your last name?  I will look it up for you." *pulls out cell phone* 

Well.  That was embarrassing...  Thank you race volunteer for saving me the time of waiting in line to find out my bib number.  I wouldn't be surprised if drool started coming out of my mouth.

Wow.  I didn't realize it would be this long of a post.  I'm going to split it into two parts.  In my next part I will go over my one day Army weekend and race day.

Thanks for reading!

Part 2

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