Sore, but happy

My half-marathon is over, and I am sitting at home enjoying the last bit of my night off.

We packed up the kids and headed out Saturday morning and made the seven-hour drive to Lake Tahoe. We had to pick up our race information at a casino conference center. I walked with R in a front pack, and T pushed Q in the stroller as we made our way through the smoky casino by slot machines and roulette tables. It was kind of strange.

We have a friend in Lake Tahoe whose dad owns a resort. She got us a room in a motel they had recently bought, and it was an interesting set up. It was old with peeling paint and an ancient TV. There was a king bed and a cramped bathroom, but a giant hot tub. It seriously could fit eight people. I was really looking forward to a nice soak after my run, so it was fine with me. The lack of heat and even a phone was a little strange, but we're not too picky.

Saturday morning, we were out the door early. Our plan was to have T run the 5K, take the kids, and then I would catch the shuttle for the half. Unfortunately, it was a very long drive to the start of the 5K, and we couldn't find it. We eventually caught up to the runners, and T joined them about a half mile in.

I parked the car in this makeshift lot among tall pine trees and then dragged the kids to the shuttle stop. The bus was late, thankfully, because T had to run from the finish to meet us. He made up the half mile he missed in the beginning. I got on the bus and was off to the start.

I have run four marathons, one half marathon, and many 10-milers, 10Ks, and 5Ks, but this race was hard. First of all, it's in the mountains so the altitude was high to begin with. Then, about three miles in, it got higher. We had a one-and-a-half mile climb that took us up 500 feet to almost 7000'. The air was thin up there! I have never seen so many people walking in a race. I was running for most of the "Hill from Hell" as it was aptly described, but I also gave in to walking before I reached the top. There were a few more killer hills that reduced me to walking and also some crazy downhills. It was just hard. But, I finished strong, though in a pretty slow time of 2:19:22. I was just glad I wasn't doing the marathon. That would have been excruciating.

As I got close to the finish line, I saw T with the boys. Baby R was wailing. I had to finish, grab my medal and a bottle of water, and sit down on the beach to nurse him. Craziness.

T and I spent some time in the giant hot tub, and then enjoyed a nice dinner with out friend. She ran the half as well.

T, Q, and I spent the night in the king bed, while Baby R slept on a blanket on the ground. Q kept thrashing around, waking up, and kicking us, until T moved to the roll-out bed. I could never do that co-sleeping thing. You'd never get any sleep!

We set out very early Monday morning. The boys were relatively good, though had a few screaming fits that actually made my ears hurt.

It felt good to run a race again. I had to stifle my perfectionist inclination to feel like I should have run the full marathon, or should have run faster, and just be happy to run.


--MM