Sunday, April 15, 2012

The Martians Have Landed




Yesterday I ran the Martian Half Marathon in Dearborn, Michigan.  I have run this race every year since 2007.  It is always a very fun time.  It's usually my first race of the year and it can either snow, rain or be sunny and 65.  At the start the weather was good cloudy and somewhat cool.  The clouds looked awfully threatening though...  I was excited to see so many familiar faces and friends.  I was not anxious at the start, I was very relaxed and was just looking forward to a nice, easy, slow, long-run.  Perhaps I was so relaxed because I was among such good company, my Husband, my Mom and Step-Dad were all running the half as well.  The crowd was full of energy and the people watching was excellent.  People ran by me dressed as martians, wearing neon green tutu's, knee-high Wonder Woman socks, and all kinds of crazy costumes.  I have never dressed in costume for race before.  I am feeling like I am too square, and may consider giving it shot.  Maybe for Flirt with Dirt in June for my Dirty Thirty Birthday!  Hmm...I'll need to think about that.  Any suggestions are welcome. 

The first 8 miles went by fairly quickly.  The course is an out and back, on a very flat road.  This allows for an excellent up-front view of the actual "race" that takes place.  As I am still heading out to the turn around, the leaders of the half-marathon come towards me on the other side of the street.  This is always extra motivating.  I people watch intently to see the first girl and then cheer for her.  After sometime, I see my Step-Dad, then shortly after my Husband and his friends, and even later my Mom.  It was neat to see them and yell and cheer each other on as we pass each other by.  Around mile 9 the rain really came, it was cold and I was really wet.  The rain was filling the grooves in the road.  My shoes were soaked.  I could feel several hot spots on the pads of my feet and my toes.  The pressure was pretty intense, so that only means one thing.  My entire feet are wrinkly little prunes covered in blisters. 

The last 5 miles I just survived and kept moving forward.  The crowd was still thick with run/walkers and the full marathoners were finishing (since they started almost 2 hours earlier this year), so there were lots of people around to help me keep moving forward.  It's when you are all alone and tired that sometimes you just are tempted to walk it out.  So I just kept picking someone in the crowd and trying to keep up with them.  First it was a lady in a neon shirt with a bible verse on the back, then a 12 year old boy, then it was a 80 year old guy with a huge fanny pack,  and then another lady in a green tutu.  Eventually the finish was in sight, my Husband was at the 13 mile mark and handed me a much needed water.  I kicked it in hard the last tenth of a mile, and smoked the tutu lady that was also really giving it a go.  You better watch out tutu lady, I was a sprinter in the third heat on the 9th grade track team! LOL!  I finished 30 minutes slower than last year....sigh.  However, I finished 10 minutes faster than Rock CF.  That's certainly a small victory. I'll chalk that up to part improvement and partly that this course was lacking a little thing called hills.




 "Thanks for the medal. Why were you gone so long this morning?"

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