I have been itching to run another race since I ran the San Diego 1/2 marathon in 2013. That wasn't my best race and I actually wanted to quit halfway through but kept on going. The race was June 2nd (which coincidentally was National Cancer Survivor's Day) and for the entire 2 months prior, I was so incredibly sick that I didn't know if I was going to be able to run at all. I had already changed my race schedule since I was going to run the Nike 1/2 in DC and then do the San Diego FULL in June. That didn't happen because I had surgery at the end of March and the surgeon put me on a very strong antibiotic because of my cancer history. Because of that same cancer history, I also ended up getting incredibly sick from the antibiotics they put me on. I was supposed to take 3 pills a day for 2 weeks. I managed to take 2 pills before the side effects hit fast. After dealing with non-stop puking and other very dangerous symptoms for 3 days, we finally gave in and went to the hospital where I was admitted in isolation for the next week. The plus side was that they had me on the oncology floor so I had really great nurses. The downside was that I was on heavy pain meds, nausea meds and getting shots in my stomach 3x a day for blood clots. It turns out, I had c diff. So I spent the next month taking antibiotics and driving back and forth to UVA for oncology and primary care appointments for follow-ups. It is a nasty infection that made me drop down to almost an anorexic weight and is what ultimately made me drop the Nike 1/2 and change to the San Diego 1/2. Before then, we also moved from DC to California and in the middle of packing, I tripped and fell down the stairs causing a small fracture to my ankle. Add insult to injury and my San Diego 1/2 marathon was finished but not without pain and tears.
Fast forward to 2 weeks ago and my friend got us comp races so I convinced my husband to run his first 1/2 marathon with me. We are officially part of the #TeamNOtraining group and were going to make this a fun and enjoyable. Little did we know.
We hit up the Expo Friday before the race and cashed in our Hilton Honors points to stay for free. Went around to all the booths and got all our fun samples. Plus, I needed a new sweaty band. We caught up with our friend who got us the race entries and talked for a bit since she is still in California and we are not. Later that evening we returned to the hotel and got set up for our race Sunday morning. Saturday was spent just hanging out with friends and doing some shopping so we didn't do too much. Sunday morning rolled around and we got up at 4:30. Turns out, we actually didn't even need to get there that early because we were pretty close to the start line and parking was a piece of cake. So we hung out with our friend, hung out at the VIP tent which was fantastic because there wasn't a line for the restrooms. And they weren't stinky either. Go VIP!
Shortly before the race we went to our corral and followed the herd there. If you have never been in a race, you won't get the "herd" joke. We finally got to the start of our wave and headed off. #TeamNOtraining for the win! We decided to take a nice easy pace (which was probably close to a 12 minute mile) but we weren't going for time. This was just to have fun and see if my husband wanted to even run another one with me. Everything was going well except for two things; the hills and my god the pot holes. Denver is probably the worst city I have ever run in. The course had the worst hills ever and to add insult to injury, you couldn't run without looking down because you would roll an ankle. Either way we kept going and ran slow and steady. The 5k mark passed without issue.
There weren't many photographers around surprisingly. I think marathonfoto took maybe 15 pictures of us total and the majority of them were post race. At San Diego, I ended up having probably 100 photos taken of me throughout the race. Either way, we had fun when we did see the cameramen. So we kept running and the further we ran, the worse the hills were. The mileage was also off anywhere from .13-.33 which was a little odd. And not to mention that the water & Gatorade stations were too few and even though there were supposed to be 2 GU stations, they were non-existent. Either way, we trucked on. Past the 10k and finally nearing the finish line. The last 2 miles were absolutely horrible. Hubby was in a lot of pain and the road was getting worse and worse. Plus, they were allowing traffic to go through between crowds of people. I've NEVER seen that before. We decided we were going to run/walk the last 2 miles and then run again coming close to the finish line. We pushed through and ran across the line. Even though we were in pain, #TeamNoTraining crossed!
This is probably one of the best finish line photos I have seen. We had it planned out before hand so it worked in our favor that the cameraman actually took some great photos. After the run, we did our usual finish photos and snuck the phone out so we could get one of our own. Sorry, but marathonfoto is so expensive for one download yet alone a printed image. Just FYI for anyone running a race soon.
We came, we saw, we conquered. Following the run, we went back to the VIP tent where hubby got a massage and stretched complimentary from one of the businesses set up. I just sat around and relaxed waiting for him. I surprisingly felt really well considering I hadn't run in about 2 months. He was really sore and even took on my role and puked after the race. That is usually my thing. San Diego, I threw up right at the finish line. Nashville, I threw up along the course (but granted I was still in chemo). The 5k we did in Missouri, I yakked a mile before the finish. It's my thing, not his. lol But I didn't puke this time at all. I even walked to the car to get our change of clothes while he recovered.
Even though the course sucked and even though I ended up getting a terrible cold the next day (and 2 weeks later and still fighting it off) I had a great time. It was really fun being able to run with my husband because it's something I enjoy. Even if he decides he doesn't want to run another one, we have this one, our epic finish line photo, and the glory of finishing a half with #TeamNOtraining.
(Our happy photo & our how we really feel photo)
Now that I have run my 3rd half marathon, I am determined to run a full marathon but I will not be doing it without training. Each of my races I have had something wrong (first race during chemo, second race the whole c diff thing, and 3rd race no training). But every one of these experiences makes me want to run again and do the full 26.2. That is my goal for the future and even if it doesn't happen for a couple of years, I will accomplish it too. I am the type of person who strives for something and usually end up accomplishing it. I am very happy to say that even though we didn't train, we still finished in 3 hours which is great for NO training. Did I mention we didn't train? haha
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