Let me recap the weekend:
Friday afternoon I could tell I was starting to get a tickle in my throat & a little stuffiness, by that evening it was on...full force...which caused me to worry & stress out. I was leaving the next morning for a 4 hour road trip to my half-marathon destination! I sent my husband out to Wal-Mart for items not in my cabinet (Benadryl, Claritin, Emergen-C, Vitamin C drops, etc). My hopes were to load myself up on stuff to hopefully knock it out before it got worse. I slathered on Vick's VapoRub, did the Neti pot, used a Breathe Right strip, and ran the vaporizer. I was hoping to get a half-way decent night's sleep, since I knew I wouldn't on Saturday night (just from nerves & excitement), but that didn't happen. I was up before 5am and wasn't planning to be on the road until 10am! I couldn't sleep, so I decided to unload & load the dishwasher and reduced the mountain of clothes on the dining table, that needed to be folded, to a molehill...all before the sun came up...and I am so NOT a domestic goddess! I'm sure my husband really did think I had fever!
So, we finally get on the road 30 minutes later than expected...no biggie. Had to stop along the way a few times...lots of hydrating! I think I may have only slept for about 30 minutes in the car...was hoping for more rest. We stopped for lunch at Logan's...much better grilled salmon there than the ones around us! I also carbo-loaded & ate 3 of their rolls (that's the excuse I'm using)! We arrived at the Sheraton Birmingham right around check-in time (3pm).
Let me just say...we had no idea what we were walking into! At this very nice Sheraton, Kami-Con was taking place. This must've been Birmingham's version of Comic-Con. It looked more like an Anime/Furry Convention...interesting to say the least! After checking in, we met up with "Coach" Ruthie & her son, Brad, to hit up the expo & pick up our race packets. My husband bought me a bragging rights/Yay you did it t-shirt from a company called RUSeen? which makes reflective gear...pretty cool. Then we had dinner in the hotel with Ruthie & Brad...loaded up on more carbs. After dinner, we decided to "people" watch all these interesting characters and the reactions of hotel staff. Comical! We even walked all up in their convention! As my husband always says..."Act like you're supposed to be there!"
Went back to the room around 8pm to soak with Dr. Teal...in the hopes that it'd help me sleep. Also loaded up on more meds. I think the meds had an adverse reaction...I think I saw every hour (sometimes every 30 min.) on the clock! I finally crawled out of bed at 4:30 to start getting ready...had to meet Ruthie & Brad at 6:15 to head to the race venue. Boy was I cranky toward my husband...just stressing & panicking...my first half-marathon that I was all excited about & here I was sick and sleep deprived...just felt like I wasn't going to have a good run...
So we all head down to the venue...can you say BRRRR! It was quite chilly. I felt sorry for my husband to have to stand out in the cold for 3 hours altogether. The race got under way at 7:03am. I tried to stay with Ruthie in the beginning...we stayed pretty close for the first 3 miles or so, then I got ahead of her. My pace was looking faster than expected...when I got to the 10k checkpoint, I was about 2-3 minutes faster than my fastest 10k time. I really wasn't trying to run a fast pace...my original goal I set for myself to complete a half-marathon in was 2:15. I finished the race in 2:02:59!!! Yay ME! I think that's not too shabby for being sickly & sleep deprived. I ran the entire thing without stopping!
The only regret I have is that during my training I should've been doing more hill workouts! There were quite a few inclines/hills on the course, but there were also many recovery spots & declines. I would do this race again!
Now for the recovery...I feel like I've been steamrolled, but it was SO worth it!
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