Xenia Half Marathon
Sunday April 8, 2018
Xenia, Ohio
After my Key West half marathon, I spent a solid week on the couch with the flu, followed by a couple weeks trying to gain back strength and energy, throw in a whole-family trip to Disney World that added ten pounds to the scale, a week full of post tonsil surgery cuddles with very little working out, and two alternating weeks of spring breaks for the boys. Needless to say, I did not feel confident in my training the past two months.
Yeah, I have ran enough miles to get by. However, it was less miles than I have ran for any other half marathon and slower than my training runs in the fall. While I had “Xenia Half?” on my calendar, I was doubtful that I would actually sign up for it. I knew that I if I was going to run it, I wanted to be able to race it! (When I say race it, I mean against myself, of course). For the past two months, I did not believe that I was at that level again.
On the other hand, a lot of members of the Northern Cincinnati Moms Run This Town chapter were going to be running it. Although slower, I had been putting in the long runs. And over the past two weeks, I was able to crank out a few good tempo runs and some decent speed work.
When the weather forecast finally got a little more runner friendly (aka no snow or ice) I went ahead and took the plunge. I registered on Tuesday to run the Xenia half marathon on Sunday! My best running buddy, Sarah, had already booked a room a half mile from the start line. I could have easily drove up the morning of, but it was way more fun and relaxing to go up the evening before. Plus, we were able to drive the course parts that were not on the bike path. It seemed like a good course and got us excited.
After Sunday’s race results, ‘night before sleepovers’ may become mandatory.
It is funny. As a new runner, people will say, “all you need is a good pair of running shoes”. Then this happens…
Race morning was a blast! Our MRTT group may have taken over the locker room for a little bit. Everyone was talking about their personal goals for the day. Some gals were running their very first half marathon! Others of us were looking for much needed PRs after some disappointing fall races. And MANY gals were going for that precious sub two hours finish.
Before the start, we hung out in the gym for as long as possible. It was a below freezing day (which I was totally ok with). About ten minutes before the race, I headed outside to jog up and down the street a little bit to get my body moving. I paused to sing the national anthem. Then, I tried to find some of the other ladies.
Now, we had already joked before the race about my typical stellar race plan. Which was usually jet out like a crazy person sprinting and slowly die to a crawl. I told the gals around my pace that I would see them at mile eight.
As expected, I enjoyed mile one as a sprinter. The cool air was perfect! The sun was shining thanks to the later 8:00 start! Runners were falling into their comfort zones. And as I zoomed through the Xenia city streets I quickly found my friend, Lisa.
(You may remember a little about Lisa from back in October during our hard Queen Bee half marathon).
Anyway, my watched beeped at 7:58 for mile one and I knew I had to pull back. No matter how good it felt in that moment, there is no way that pace would last for me. It is a fine line between pushing yourself to your max for the distance without going overboard. Having Lisa at my side definitely helped with this challenge.
(Photo Credit: Event Photos by Tracy)
After the race someone asked me if we talked while we were running. Quick answer to that, “NO”! Listen folks, at the pace we were running, I was only spitting out two word sentences.
When we started running out of town a bit, I warned her that this looked like the hardest part of the course we were able to drive the night before. It was going to be the steepest hill. As we ran up it I told her, “It isn’t Beckett though”! She responded with, “Nope. We eat hills like this for breakfast”. BOOM! How does one not crush the hill after hearing that? Speaking of breakfast, how wonderful would it be if the Bob Evans factory at the top of that hill was handing out sausages?!?!?
Around the bend we flew and I almost missed one of the best sights during the race. All of a sudden Lisa was pointing across me yelling “CAMEL”!!! While I never did see the camel, or ostrich, I did see beautiful bison/buffalo running strong. Very cool!
On our way to the bike path a gentleman noticed my shirt and started talking about the Detroit Free Press Marathon. I tried my best to form sentences. He had ran the FreePress back in 1995. Of course, I invited him to return for 2018! Later on, a 2017 Detroit Free Press pacer passed us, too.
(Photo Credit: Event Photos by Tracy)
Alright, then came the bike path around mile four. Friends who have ran this race before had described the course as an uphill first half and a downhill second half. Correct! The grade is not hateful, but it sure seemed never ending. We may have made comments like “It just keeps going…When does it end…I’m ready to be at the top…I hope we get to run back down this”. Meanwhile, we kept pushing forward. I did not want to hold her back so I focused on keeping pace and hit it hard. We did not really talk much about how fast we were going. I think we both knew we were killing it, so it was best to just let it be.
Next thing we knew, we were seeing the leaders heading back in after the mile eight turn around. Those front guys always amaze me! Honestly, I was more interested in the females, though.
We verbally let the first three females know their place and cheered them on (we cheered on the guys, too). Then, we started counting. We knew our girl, Sarah, would rock this race! The pride I had when I saw her and could inform her “top 20” was incredible. I used some “Hammer power” and made it to the turn around.
Another highlight of the race came over the next mile or so heading back the other direction. One after another we saw inspiring MRTT rockstars doing their thing, cheering us on as we cheered them on. I wondered if the people running near us were annoyed by our seemingly constant shout outs, but then again, I did not care. We were all out there supporting each other and running this race together!!!
Not until after the race did I hear this, but it made me laugh and is probably my favorite quote of the day. Kristin, is one of the crazy Dawn Patrollers I run early with often. Post race, she said, “I don’t know if it’s dark or I’m always running bedside you or if you always look like that running, but you did not look good…you looked like you were in a lot of pain”!
Around mile 9.5 I knew I was to the point of holding Lisa back. I encouraged her, “Go on. I’ll be right behind you. See you at the finish line”. I kept her in my sight for awhile.
Then around mile 11.5, a silly side stitch came on quick. I started doing the math (up until that point I had not really paid attention to the overall time much). I knew I could PR as long as I kept moving at a steady pace. I thought to myself, “There is no way you are giving up this PR. You have ran too hard today to let it slip away now”.
I concentrated on my breathing, took some Propel water from my belt, thought about my run cadence and getting those legs to keep turning over, and tried my best to ignore the pain in my side and hips.
There was a kiddo holding a sign on the way up the hill that I thought of in this moment. It said something along the lines of, “Pain is only temporary, but pride is forever”. I pictured myself getting a new PR and feeling that joy. There was no option but to give it everything I had left.
As I made the final turn, I thought, I knew how close I was to the finish line. It was time to finish this thing strong!!! Next thing I knew, there was my favorite Brit in her minions hat jumping and waving her arms for me. I’m pretty sure the smile on my face showed ALL of my teeth!
Up another block were, medal wearing, Sarah and Lisa, screaming out my name. They got flashed one of the gigantic smiles, too. I followed that smile with, “where the heck is it”?!?!? I had thought we just finished the race on the street, but instead it turns to finish in the parking lot. Therefore, I could not see it until the actual end.
(Jackie, Kristin, and Me)
When I crossed the finish line the clock read 1:51:07, my watch said 1:50:55, and my official time was 1:50:37. I will admit, when I saw the official time it had a bit of sting with the joy. So close, yet so far, from that big dream of sub 1:50:00. One day!
Before we went inside to check the results and grab food, we cheered on our friends. I painfully hobbled down the street to stand with Jackie. She immediately embraced my sweaty self in a big bear hug. It was a bittersweet day for her. She was supposed to be running this race (and would have finished well before me). But she is currently sidelined with injury. Instead, she drove up to cheer us all on. REAL TROOPER! We watched as our friends came running to the finish line.
By this point in time, I was absolutely freezing. It was still below freezing and my post race chills had settled in. I wanted to wait on a runner who has a special place in my heart though. I knew her goal was sub 2:15:00. She had to be coming. Last year, I got to see this lady complete her first 10K race. And in Xenia I got to see her hit yet another goal. I spotted her and started screaming her name. As she got closer, I could tell she was sobbing. We kept yelling her name and shouting encouraging words.
We quickly walked up the hill to the finish line. As soon as she got her medal, she walked straight over to me. Then, it was my turn to pass that big bear hug onto someone else!!!!! Moments like that are the ones you do not forget! The pride, the joy, the camaraderie, the victories, the conquered obstacles are all what make us lace up our shoes.
Next up was FOOD TIME!!! Salad, pizza, cookies. (I figured I earned the cookie).
We all sat our plates down on the floor and stared at them for a minute trying to figure out how we were going to get ourselves to the ground. It was a slow go with lots of sore laughter.
(Lisa, who came in at 1:49:20, is in the pink. I cannot thank her enough for the extra push at Xenia. My race would not have been the same without her by my side for most of it).
It’s a MRTT party!!!
Apparently hills and cold weather are our thing. Like Sarah said about the weather as we walked to the car in the morning, “Oh, we got this. We train for this”. Each lady here ran either their first half marathon or a new PR!!!!!
My boys sent two thumbs up for all the Xenia runners!!!
Half marathon number ten is in the books. It was a perfect day to race! This one went down without bells and whistles. The start was literally a person saying, “GO”! The crowd support was nothing compared to The Pig. But the post race yummies and PR hanging medal around my neck make me excited to run Xenia again in the future. A cold weather, low key race with friends ended up being just what I needed to push myself to a new PR. Now, onto trimming off those last 38 seconds. #DreamBig
To all the MRTT ladies who crushed it at the Xenia half, I am super duper proud of you! Thanks for peer pressuring me into joining you and encouraging me the whole time. You are all ROCKSTARS!
Next up is half marathon number eleven in Indianapolis for the Indy Mini in two weeks. After that, I will start looking forward to number twelve at the Detroit Free Press International Half Marathon in October! Come join me in Detroit on October 21st; use the code KELLYROCKS2018 to save 10% off at registration (freepmarathon.com).
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