My first half-marathon. I had been planning to run barefoot, but have been focusing on trails lately in preparation for an upcoming 50K. The trails I have been running have lots of sharp gravel that I am not ready for yet, so I’ve been wearing my Luna sandals. Because of the lack of recent barefoot running, I decided it was best to run in my Luna’s. My choice of running gear consisted of; Luna originals, with red elasticized laces, SportKilt blue Hiking Kilt, some random long sleeve running shirt I have, with the race’s technical tee on top, and my camelback waist pack with a bottle of iskiate.
I hitched a ride to the race with my friend Chris, we got there and scoped out the start and finish lines, and then ran a short warm-up. After some opening festivities, we made our way over to the starting line and then we ran into a Vibram runner we had met a few months ago at a 5K in Hermiston.
Shortly into the race a guy wearing RunAmocs passed me. I tried to pick up the pace to talk to him about them, but he was going too fast for me. Not long after that I hear someone say “I’m glad I’m not the only one wearing a skirt” and look over to see Heather who I’d met recently at a ultra running clinic she organized for REI. About 1.5 miles into the race I saw my friend Kat and her daughters watching the race. At around the 3.5 mile mark there was a short hill maybe a couple of hundred yards long, but enough to pick up the pace. I went flying by a couple of people after going from my 10+ min/mile pace to about a 5min/mile pace for that couple of hundred yards. I hit the turnaround at about 1:07, which was nice to see, as I hadn’t looked at my time, and was just running what felt comfortable. About a mile after the turnaround, there was one other very short downhill, and for some reason they put an aid station right at the bottom of it. I passed by that aid station, as there was no way I was slowing down on a downhill. Over the next couple of miles I heard people say to me things such as: “sexy,” “you’re my hero,” and “that must be painful.” At about 9.5 miles I had to go back up the hill I had flown down earlier, but I had no problem, as I’ve been training on much longer and steeper hills. With that hill out of the way, it was nice and flat all the way to the finish. My wife and daughter (3) joined my just past the 13 mile mark for a few hundred feet, and then my friend Chris who had finished 20 minutes earlier raced me to the finish.
Finished in 2:20:23
After the race I heard some people complaining about going up the hill, my wife said she heard lots of people talking about that hill. I guess a lot of people don’t run hills much, because that hill was nothing for me. They didn’t have any beer after the race, but they had a ton of Pizzas which was nice (even though it was Dominoes.) Right before getting in the car after to go home, I saw a couple of girls who finished about the same time as me, and were close by the whole race. One of them wanted to know more about my sandals, so I showed them to her, and told her about them. She said she was going to look into them when she got home.
All in all a great first half marathon, and I even got my first finishers medal out of it! I did end up with one blister, near my big toe on the right side. I’m going to have to figure out what is causing that. Other that that one blister, my feet feel great today (the day after the race) and my legs are sore, but not any more than expected. I also found that the combination of shirts I wore didn’t work for me, as I ended up with bloody nipples for the first time ever. Now to finish prepping for the Badger Mountain Challenge 50K in a month, and the Eugene Marathon in two months. I’m going to take a break from running this coming weekend, and ski instead. I think my aunt said she was signing my up for a 10K XC race.
I hitched a ride to the race with my friend Chris, we got there and scoped out the start and finish lines, and then ran a short warm-up. After some opening festivities, we made our way over to the starting line and then we ran into a Vibram runner we had met a few months ago at a 5K in Hermiston.
Shortly into the race a guy wearing RunAmocs passed me. I tried to pick up the pace to talk to him about them, but he was going too fast for me. Not long after that I hear someone say “I’m glad I’m not the only one wearing a skirt” and look over to see Heather who I’d met recently at a ultra running clinic she organized for REI. About 1.5 miles into the race I saw my friend Kat and her daughters watching the race. At around the 3.5 mile mark there was a short hill maybe a couple of hundred yards long, but enough to pick up the pace. I went flying by a couple of people after going from my 10+ min/mile pace to about a 5min/mile pace for that couple of hundred yards. I hit the turnaround at about 1:07, which was nice to see, as I hadn’t looked at my time, and was just running what felt comfortable. About a mile after the turnaround, there was one other very short downhill, and for some reason they put an aid station right at the bottom of it. I passed by that aid station, as there was no way I was slowing down on a downhill. Over the next couple of miles I heard people say to me things such as: “sexy,” “you’re my hero,” and “that must be painful.” At about 9.5 miles I had to go back up the hill I had flown down earlier, but I had no problem, as I’ve been training on much longer and steeper hills. With that hill out of the way, it was nice and flat all the way to the finish. My wife and daughter (3) joined my just past the 13 mile mark for a few hundred feet, and then my friend Chris who had finished 20 minutes earlier raced me to the finish.
Finished in 2:20:23
After the race I heard some people complaining about going up the hill, my wife said she heard lots of people talking about that hill. I guess a lot of people don’t run hills much, because that hill was nothing for me. They didn’t have any beer after the race, but they had a ton of Pizzas which was nice (even though it was Dominoes.) Right before getting in the car after to go home, I saw a couple of girls who finished about the same time as me, and were close by the whole race. One of them wanted to know more about my sandals, so I showed them to her, and told her about them. She said she was going to look into them when she got home.
All in all a great first half marathon, and I even got my first finishers medal out of it! I did end up with one blister, near my big toe on the right side. I’m going to have to figure out what is causing that. Other that that one blister, my feet feel great today (the day after the race) and my legs are sore, but not any more than expected. I also found that the combination of shirts I wore didn’t work for me, as I ended up with bloody nipples for the first time ever. Now to finish prepping for the Badger Mountain Challenge 50K in a month, and the Eugene Marathon in two months. I’m going to take a break from running this coming weekend, and ski instead. I think my aunt said she was signing my up for a 10K XC race.
