My First Half Marathon
I’m honestly surprised I have enough energy to write this, but I am excited to provide you with a race recap fresh in my mind. Yesterday I ran my first half marathon at the Whidbey Island Marathon. The course started and ended at Windjammer Park.
Andy getting his carbon shoes all laced up. Photo by me.
Leading up to the race, I had two nightmares on two separate nights about missing the start, which almost became a reality. The start time for the Half was 8:30 am. We had to cross Deception Pass to get there, but the Marathon started at 7 am near Bowman Bay, which meant Deception Pass would be closed from 6:45 am – 7:45 am. We arrived at Deception Pass at 6:47 am. We had just missed the cutoff. I freaked out and cried because I thought I was going to barely have enough time to get ready and then immediately race. I accepted my fate and got out of the car to watch the marathoners come by. Then the state patrol officer told us to go back to our cars shortly since there weren’t a lot of marathoners this year. This meant the road would be open soon enough to get us to the start line in time. I was relieved.
I had originally signed Andy up for the Half, but he wasn’t able to train at all because of a bad knee, working a lot, and then had to take care of a family member. He had loosely planned to go down to the 5k to not hurt himself, but then stuck to the Half! I was surprised and a little worried, but he found some $80 carbon shoes at the REI garage sale, so I knew that would help him feel the miles less. We did some active stretches, ran a little, and did some strides. Then we made our way to the start line when I saw DEBBIEEEEE!! I was like “oh my goddddddd”. I gave her a big hug and was so excited to have my friend on course and watch her crush it. Andy and I were ready to go and then we started!
I think this was around mile 5, so still feeling good! Photo by City of Whidbey Island.
My race plan, which my coach came up with, was to race the first 1-6 miles at 10-5 beats within my heart rate threshold, then 6-10 miles at 5 beats within my HR threshold, and then go all out for the last 3 miles, at or above threshold. I followed that plan really well! Here's a recap of how the course felt: The first 4 miles were great, and then the next 2 were a little spicy with all the hills. At this point, it was a little after 6 miles, and it was time to turn around. We went on some pretty gnarly hills on the way out, and now it was time to go up them. It was hard and I started feeling the miles in my legs and especially on the sides of my butt. It wasn’t painful, just felt sore and weak. Then came the long awaited, last 3 miles to go all out. It honestly wasn’t that ‘hard’ to go all out but it just hurt. My abs started to cramp, and that was painful. I felt a bit like the Terminator just going forward because I just kept going. I started to pass people, which felt good. There were still some hills at the end and that was hard mentally and physically. Then it came to the home stretch, the last half mile. I picked it up a little, but then I couldn’t hold that fast pace. My heart rate was high, and I couldn’t get going any faster. I finished strong, though! I was happy to be done. I’m very proud.
I thought it was very cool that I finished below the 1:50 mark. I ran my first half marathon in 1 hour, 48 minutes, and 35 seconds. Which is around 8:15 per mile pace. There were 800ft of climbing and lots of rolling hills. Andy gave me good encouragement to move my arms, which helped. Andy was with me the whole time, which was really cool. We crossed the finish line together.
Deb and I flexing our Team Bellingham gear after finishing! Photo by Andy Dewey.
This half marathon was a huge stepping stone in my athletic journey. When I was in high school, I couldn’t even run a lap around the track without my legs feeling like they were on fire. The longest I ran, before today, was 10 miles in May 2021. I am going to be doing my first 70.3 this year, and I wanted to make sure I could do this distance and make sure I didn’t hate it. It went by surprisingly quickly and I know I have some faster times in me. I only had like a week of solid training before this race, and yes, 4 years of consistent endurance training, but I know I can run faster. I am a little nervous about running a half marathon off a 50-mile bike, but I’ll cross that bridge when I get there. I will be better trained then too! My first 70.3 will be on June 13th at the Pacific Crest Endurance festival in Bend.
On the way back, around mile 7. Andy is by my side. Photo by City of Whidbey Island
One last note: Comparison is the thief of joy. After yesterday’s race I went on Instagram and saw that this girl form my high school ran a 3 hour marathon and I was like “that’s two 1.5 hour halves together!” I just need to remind myself that, I’m on my own journey. I was asking my good friend and mentor, Kristen, what a good Half time was and she could tell what I was getting at. She said “Focus on your journey. This is your first half. You’re going to learn a lot. Running a half is big!”. She also congratulated me, as well as Debbie, which felt really nice coming from them. I didn’t run absolutely amazing but I also didn’t run horribly! I ran well.