Three Things Thursday (J's Half Marathon Recap Edition) ...
Posted Nov 18 2010 8:11am
1. As you know, J ran his second half marathon on Saturday. He trained for months and walked away with a 15 minute PR (2:42:10 in case you were wondering). I was lucky enough to run with him from mile 9 to the finish serving as motivator, pacer and race photographer. Here are a few shots that I got in those last few miles ...
2. Although J got a HUGE PR, he had a lot of stuff working against him. On Thursday night and Friday morning before the race, J got a severe case of food poisoning while traveling. He couldn't keep anything thing down, was suffering from body aches and had to fly home from Indianapolis on Friday afternoon. He called me and I could tell it was bad. I told him to try to stay hydrated and pray for the best.
Once he finally got home, he immediately went to bed for the remainder of the day. He slept straight through dinner, only waking for about two hours before going back to bed for the night. When he woke up on Saturday morning, he hadn't more than 400 calories in over 24 hours. He was weak and we didn't really know how he was going to hold up. But, being a "runner first, logical thinker second," he decided to run. Needless to say, he fought for that 15 minute PR.
3. When I picked up J at mile 9, he was hurting. I tried to be positive and he basically told me to "shove it." It was all good though. I've been there. I knew what he was going through. We were pretty silent over the next two miles, but then at mile 11.5, J told me his foot was really hurting - with every stride. So, we slowed a little, walking a tenth here and there. He muscled through and finished strong on the downhill. But once we finished, he took notice of how bad his foot really was. And now, he's rocking a boot.
After all of this, I'm not sure that I am going to be able to convince J to run another half marathon any time soon, but he definitely has the running bug. His plan for 2011 is to focus on 5Ks and 10Ks and work on his speed. And I think it's an excellent plan ...
2. Although J got a HUGE PR, he had a lot of stuff working against him. On Thursday night and Friday morning before the race, J got a severe case of food poisoning while traveling. He couldn't keep anything thing down, was suffering from body aches and had to fly home from Indianapolis on Friday afternoon. He called me and I could tell it was bad. I told him to try to stay hydrated and pray for the best.
Once he finally got home, he immediately went to bed for the remainder of the day. He slept straight through dinner, only waking for about two hours before going back to bed for the night. When he woke up on Saturday morning, he hadn't more than 400 calories in over 24 hours. He was weak and we didn't really know how he was going to hold up. But, being a "runner first, logical thinker second," he decided to run. Needless to say, he fought for that 15 minute PR.
3. When I picked up J at mile 9, he was hurting. I tried to be positive and he basically told me to "shove it." It was all good though. I've been there. I knew what he was going through. We were pretty silent over the next two miles, but then at mile 11.5, J told me his foot was really hurting - with every stride. So, we slowed a little, walking a tenth here and there. He muscled through and finished strong on the downhill. But once we finished, he took notice of how bad his foot really was. And now, he's rocking a boot.
After all of this, I'm not sure that I am going to be able to convince J to run another half marathon any time soon, but he definitely has the running bug. His plan for 2011 is to focus on 5Ks and 10Ks and work on his speed. And I think it's an excellent plan ...