On Saturday, AJ and I headed to Cleveland for race weekend. I was signed up for the half marathon and him, the 10K. However, ever since he ran in the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay a few weeks ago, he's been entertaining the idea of running a half marathon. He'd run nine miles with me and had no problems. He decided that if he was able to switch events when we got to the race expo, he would join me for the half marathon. I was beyond thrilled - since strep throat knocked me off my feet and killed my last week of running training, I thought having a running partner would help me get through 13.1 miles when I didn't feel adequately trained or ready.
Our bibs, all ready to go
Luckily for me, AJ was able to switch! We got to the expo in under two hours, got situated, and headed to lunch. We stumbled upon this really great, family-owned German pub (thank you, Google app!) and had a fabulous lunch. Sauerkraut balls, a giant pretzel, giant beers, etc. What better things could we have eaten before running 13.1 miles, right?
Our first course...
We headed to our hotel, which left a lot to be desired. All of the official marathon hotels were booked by the time I decided to run this race, and this was the hotel with the best location that had rooms available. It wasn't terrible. But I would not pay to stay there again. One room on our hallway REEKED of pot. We switched rooms because our tv didn't work. The next room was fine, but the shower ceiling looked like it was going to fall on us. Luckily, aside from sleeping, we were only in there for a total of 2 hours. Not too bad.
Our respective lunches...they were insanely good.
We decided to see a movie (and get out of our hotel room) that night - gotta make the most of a kid-free night! (A special thanks goes out to my mom for house/kid-sitting on Saturday so we could enjoy race weekend!) We were still full from lunch (again, not the greatest approach to marathon fueling, but whatever) so we grabbed cheesecake and ate it outside before our movie. We saw Neighbors. It was a typical fraternity-esque comedy. We laughed a bit. Not a ton.
Here we are before lining up at the start. Brr...
We both had a little trouble sleeping - too many nerves the night before! Our alarm went off at 5:45, which just stinks on a weekend. We were out the door by 6 and walked about 10 feet to the public transportation center. (You see? Our hotel had one thing going for it, and that was the easy access to the bus. Super convenient.) We had about a 10 minute ride, and it dropped us about 2 blocks from the start line. It was FREEZING! I think it was about 37 degrees, which I know is not technically freezing, but still pretty cold nonetheless.
Just a small view of the insane amount of people lined up
There were about 20, 000 people running in 3 different races, all of which started at the same time and in the same corrals. Not very smart planning there, Cleveland. It was insanely crowded, and we had a tough time dodging people during the first few miles. We just took our time and chatted. Well, AJ chatted and I listened. He was a very peppy runner - super excited about his first big race. I just wanted to get it over with.
He had to use a port-a-potty at mile 4.5, which was annoying, especially since he got mad at the line and ended up deciding not to go. We lost about 4 minutes there, but we weren't trying to race, so it was ok. The next 5.5 miles went well. It was a very flat course through a lot of neighborhoods. There weren't nearly as many spectators out as there were in Pittsburgh, but it was still good.
Here we are on the final stretch.
Funny how seeing a camera makes you stop looking miserable!
At Mile 10, the course went near the lake on an interstate. This is where the race went bad. Mile 10 started with a giant hill - not steep, but just never-ending. We got excited after running to the top and getting to go downhill for a bit. We got less excited as we got to the bottom of the hill and saw another gigantic hill. Seriously? Why do race planners feel the need to throw hills in so late in a race? It's just uncool.
We (well, I - my knees were very unhappy by this point and reminded me with each step that I wasn't really ready to run such a distance) walked a bit over the next two miles. It was just too, too hilly. Everyone around us was walking, except the marathon winners. We got to see two Kenyans fly past us on the other side of the road. It was impressive!
Crossing the finish line -
hand in hand!
Finally at 12.5 miles, we headed off the highway onto a ramp (downhill!) that led back into town. We were able to finish in a strong run, only to find out that the course was actually 13.5 miles. That's a big difference from 13.1! I am not super happy with our time of 2:34, BUT when I consider a bunch of things (the 4 minutes we lost for AJ's potty break, the extra .4 of running, the fact that I could barely run two miles two days before, and the fact that six days before I couldn't even get up from the couch due to a 104.5 fever), I think we did ok. We used my Garmin watch to calculate the 13.1 minus the potty break, and it put us at 2:25. We are very, very happy with that time! It's only a little more than my Hershey time, and I was much better trained for that race.
We couldn't smile any more...
AJ did great - he felt strong the entire time. I think it's safe to say he's hooked on running! He stuck with me so we could finish together - we held hands as we crossed the finish line and quickly headed to get some snacks. I felt extremely weak - I was a bit woozy running in the final stretch and thought I was either going to pass out or throw up. Luckily, bananas, chocolate milk, pretzels, popsicles, and sports drinks were only steps away. I felt better about two seconds after getting some sugar and salt in me, so we posed for a few photos. My legs and feet were pretty beat up at this point, so I was glad to not have to walk very far to hop on the bus. We got fast showers and said goodbye to our hotel! We had planned on going to the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame, but given all the race traffic downtown, we opted not to. Instead, we had a great carb-loaded lunch of pasta and headed home.
The photographer grabbed me while I was
searching for food!
It was a really great weekend, despite the toughness of the course. AJ and I are both a bit sore today, but are moving around almost like normal people :-) We are currently discussing where we'd like to run a half in the fall. I had considered not running any more than six miles after Cleveland, but I feel like I need a redemption run - one where I'm healthy and trained, and one that is preferably FLAT. We'll see where we end up!
Close up of our medals. They are pretty awesome!
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