On Saturday I ran in my first race post Brooke. My first race in a year. I was nervous, I guess because I never know if I've still have the same fight in me after each child and also because I had worked really hard (way harder than after my previous two pregnancies) to get back into shape and I wanted to run well. Well last week around Tuesday I hurt my left glute. As the week went on it only got worse and I was hobbling around my house all day. Friday morning I tried to go out for a short,easy run and it was misery. I came home and told Aaron that I didn't think I would be able to run the race, I was really bummed. On Friday I massaged, iced, heated, stretched, foam rolled, tennis balled, Adviled, Aaron massaged - everything that I could think of to do and went to bed hoping that I could walk in the morning. Saturday morning started early and I could walk so I decided to go for it. I knew it was going to hurt and I might not make it to the end of the race but I was going to start. I ran this half with my dear friend Jeana who I also train with. She picked me up and we headed out. I repeated all the previously mentioned procedures and then it was game time.
Jeana and I at the start.
I just tried to push the pain out of my mind and get going. Now this race was run just outside of Austin in the hill country. And true to its name it was so, so, so hilly. I mean super hilly. I would say 5 really big hills, tons of medium hills, and about 7 small hills. The hills start right off the bat and go on for 10 miles. It was a tough race. Sometimes in races miles start to just fly by and you don't notice them and all the sudden you've run 5 miles, well not in this race. Not a single mile "went by." I was watching my watch, waiting for the mile markers each and every time. After the big hill at mile 10 it flattens out to run around a golf course. The course is beautiful, full of wild flowers and trees everywhere, just really tough. Like my friend Jamie said, "there's really no way to prepare for that." I stayed about 20 seconds behind Jeana the whole race and just tried to hold my pace. I had told Aaron the night before that I knew it was going to be tough and I was running injured but I really wanted 1:45. Keep in mind that the woman who won is a professional runner and she finished in 1:30 - this is as hard course. Well here's the official results:
HALEY PIERSON
Half Marathon » Austin, TX
I was so happy at the end. Jeana finished 40 seconds ahead of me, 11th place for her and 12th for me, and I crossed the finish line and literally collapsed into her. She had to carry me over to the grass, I couldn't even sit down by myself. I could not walk, it was ridiculous. It took us forever to get through the snacks and get around. I was pitiful. Everyone thought I just had a rough race, Jeana was telling everyone, "she was injured before the race, she won her age group." She stood up for me. We got our awards, (I won my age group, she took second in her age group- hers was faster than mine), took pictures, and started to head back to the buses. I needed to get back to feed Brooke.
Well we were obviously moving at snail pace and a sweet man stopped to pick us up with the rest of the injured and drove us to the buses. We had to take a picture of it.
This sweet man then carried me onto the bus. That's how sad I was. Aaron had to take care of me the rest of the day and while he felt sorry for me he reminded me that I chose to run the race injured. He is absolutely right, I did, and that makes me even prouder of myself. I fought hard for this race. Now I just need to figure out how to start walking again. :)
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