It came very early. So early that when the alarm clock went off, the furkid didn't even give a thought to stirring. Not even when I got out of bed, and started moving about the place. It wasn't until I woke him up and made him go out just before leaving that he got up, and even then, I detected some attitude. The picture above is the clock in my car...and it's 20 minutes fast.
After a quick stop in Longmont to pick up my half-marathon buddy Natasha, we were on the road to Fort Collins. We pulled into town and I was surprised by the number of cars on the road. That is until I realized that they were all headed to the same place I was. We found a parking spot in one of the reccommended garages near Old Town and finished readying ourselves for the task at hand. I picked the garage farther from where the busses were loading after assuming that the one closer would be full from the marathoners who had to be there an hour before we did (stay tuned, this was probably the best assumption I've ever made).
I think the excitement of the event started to get to me a little, because while truthfully, I was scared and wondered what in the world I had talked us into doing, all that ever came out of my mouth was "I'm so excited"...
So we boarded the mandatory bus to the start of our race. Funny, we waited in line maybe 10 minutes or so, and it never dawned on me to snap a few pictures. Oh well. Once we were dropped off at the start, we had plenty of time to stretch and wonder some more about what we had gotten ourselves into.
Here we are waiting for the start with the Cache La Poudre river in the background.Just before 7:00AM, the whole lot of us halfers started to migrate toward the start. This was about the time that I started remembering the dreaded 5-10 minute run we used to start P.E. off with every day in junior high. I wasn't going to be running this race, but still, I knew I was in for at least 3.5 hours of walking, best case scenario.
Thankfully, Tash thought to get a photo as we actually got started. About a quarter of a mile down the road was one of the coolest scene of the race. There was a huge bend in the road, and the entire visible road had people trying to find their pace and place in the pack. It was pretty cool.
The route made it's way out of the canyon on the highway and into the little town of LaPorte where we met up with a hiker/biker trail that would take us all the way into Fort Collins, and mostly along the river. There were many beautiful scenes on the route, one hill and by mile 6, two big bad blisters that slowed me down significantly. I had serious thoughts of bailing at miles 8, 10, 11 & even 12 (there was no aid station at 9, or I would have thought about stopping there too.) But then, just as we came off of the hiker/biker trail and turned the corner...the most beautiful sight of the day appeared before my eyes.
There it is...off in the distance...the FINISH line! Again, thankfully Natasha thought to snap this picture, because finding my camera was the last thing on my mind at the time.
Thankfully, Tash thought to get a photo as we actually got started. About a quarter of a mile down the road was one of the coolest scene of the race. There was a huge bend in the road, and the entire visible road had people trying to find their pace and place in the pack. It was pretty cool.
The route made it's way out of the canyon on the highway and into the little town of LaPorte where we met up with a hiker/biker trail that would take us all the way into Fort Collins, and mostly along the river. There were many beautiful scenes on the route, one hill and by mile 6, two big bad blisters that slowed me down significantly. I had serious thoughts of bailing at miles 8, 10, 11 & even 12 (there was no aid station at 9, or I would have thought about stopping there too.) But then, just as we came off of the hiker/biker trail and turned the corner...the most beautiful sight of the day appeared before my eyes.
There it is...off in the distance...the FINISH line! Again, thankfully Natasha thought to snap this picture, because finding my camera was the last thing on my mind at the time.
Here we are, just past the finish line, with our half-marathon finshers medals. We did it! After hanging out at the finish for a while, sending some messages and getting some much needed water, we headed off to the car. Here's where that assumption about parking came in quite handy...the car was just across the street from the finish! And by some miracle, we had even managed to snag a spot on the ground level, just inside. After unloading our bags and finding our flip-flops, it was time to get back on the road and head for home.
Loveland is half way between Fort Collins and Longmont. Loveland is also home to the only (that I know of) Runza in Colorado. We decided to stop for a post race celebratory lunch, and stretch our legs a bit too. I'm sure it wasn't the best choice for post-race dining, but it can't be any worse than the pizza they were serving at the post race party which we skipped.
When I signed up for this race, my only goal was to finish...and I did it. The next couple of days were pretty slow going, and I was quite surprised. But by Monday night, I was sure that I'd be signing up again next year. And now I have a time to beat (hopefully by a bunch), lots of advice on keeping the big bad blisters at bay and hopefully even some motivation to really train for it, and maybe even run next year.
Last weekend Natasha and I got together to celebrate one more time - this time with post race pedis. We figured a week later, our tootsies deserved a little pampering!
Now, time to find the next race. It probably won't be a half, but having something on the calendar is certainly a little extra nudge to get to the gym more often.
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