Race Four

Race number four took place on March 27th.  This race, the Oakland half marathon, was the second in my Northern California racing series.  Joining me for this race was Alle and Sara.  We set out early in the morning because we wanted to make sure to get one of the free parking spaces before the race started.  We walked around and had plenty of time to walk back to the car multiple times.



Here we are before the race started!



Before we even started the race we saw a woman in a gurney being covered by race blankets and having heating pads placed on her.  Hypothermia had definitely set in.

Let the race begin!!

It was time for the race to begin. My goal was to run one mile with Sara and Alle before letting them take off. Little did I know they had a different goal for me.  I ran the first two miles with them.  Then they took off.  But I didn't give up and I didn't let any negative thoughts enter my mind.  Before I knew it I was at mile 3.  It felt like forever to get to mile 4, but mile 5 and 6 felt good.  I loved getting to run "through" the fire.  I kept checking the time and just knew that I was on track to finish under 3 hours.  I felt like I was doing great!
At mile 10 I all of sudden had massive cramping in my thighs.  I have never felt pain like that. I had to keep moving though, there's no giving up especially when you've come so far!
Right before I hit mile 13 I had a cramp in my left calf that almost made me fall over.  I wanted to stop, but by now I was so close.  I knew I could still make my time.  I saw Sara and Alle to my right and told them I wanted to stop because it hurt so bad.  I ran passed them.  At the time I was very disappointed in myself. I had run more of this race then any race before and yet I still finished in 3 hours and 1 minute.  I had let myself down.

YAY!  We did it!

It wasn't until I had time to reflect on the race that I became proud of myself.  Even though I said I would never finish over 3 hours again, I had achieved more this race then any race before. 
I had run the vast majority of this race.  I ran two miles of this race with Sara and Alle.  I continued going even though I wanted to stop because of pain.
I could have finished in a better time had I not been in pain, but hey I finished and I'm proud of myself for continuing on this journey I have set before me!

Next Race: SMC 5K