Now I understand why they call them endurance races

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

My Half Marathon

Lots of thoughts to share, I'll just do it with some bullet points.

1. I forgot to turn off my timer when I finished, I actually finished at 2 hours 21 minutes. Which translates to a pace of around 10:45 miles.

2. Ended up 180th amongst all men, 321st overall, 34th (out of 37) in my age group.

3. Don't know why, but my legs especially my left started hurting pretty early (around the 6 mile mark), which was surprising because I don't get that kind of pain even when running my 10 mile practice runs. My suspicion was that it had something to do with my pace, hydration, and over training a little (dead legs). So I could have done better had that not hit.

4. I now understand why they call these long runs endurance runs. Because I was really at the end of my limit as far as pain tolerance by then end of the run. My legs were just shot, and I spent most of the day in pain, icing my knees, lots of sports cream and ibuprofen.

5. I am really glad I did it, but I am also ready to give my body a break from the long runs. Not do much more than 6 miles until next year.

6. My respect for the marathoners is greatly increased now, that really is a whole different level of running. I mean 13.1 miles just about killed my legs, and to think about doubling that is a really big step. But it's a step I want to try next year, but I know that I will have to work a lot harder on my training to get there.

7. It is hard to describe how much it meant for me to see Kim & the kids at the finish line. My races have all pretty much been solo affairs so far, which has been fine. But for this one it was a really big deal and made all the more special to have the family there cheering me across the finish line.

8. I am still awfully sore, and will likely not do more than some morning walks until the weekend. Then I will resume my running. Because it is way more than just training to make that 13 mile mark, running has become a fixture in my life, and I don't see any reason to stop doing it.

9. One odd thing, my wind has really gotten good, because even though I wasn't exactly sprinting, I certainly wasn't breathing hard even at the end, it was just my legs that would have kept me from going on.