Go! St. Louis Half Marathon 2012

To finish off the most busy and wonderful weekend, I decided that since we were in STL anyway, I’d just go ahead and run a half marathon on Sunday morning before we headed home. 

I know.  I’m nuts.  It takes a crazy breed to do this at 5 AM,

 

I mean, really.  BUT I LOVEEEEE IT!!!!! 

In fact, I sent a text to Jack (who was still at the hotel snuggled into bed) when I got downtown to the starting area that said that exact thing,
 

 

 

Pre-Race Pics:

I may be a little biased, but St. Louis is a beautiful city in which to run.  I love it. 

But wow, how quickly did I go from this:

 

To this:

And just so I can be Captain Obvious here, I would MUCH rather be wearing the running shoes than the heels ANY day.

So the race started at 7am.  I was in Corral B, and I had in my mind a race “plan” that I had read about before, although I can’t remember where.  My plan was to take every mile and pray about and focus on one thing for that mile.  I started broadly and narrowed my prayer list down so that I could finish my last four miles praying for my favorite people.  As soon as I finished running, I typed out my list so I’d remember.  Here’s how it all shook out…

 

In the beginning, everything was going well.  The temps were a little bit warmer than idea but not bad, and certainly not like last year!  I love how the first 6 miles loop around through the brewery before coming back into the downtown area.  It also goes through Soulard-where they have the best block party with most of the residents outside in their pjs and drinking coffee while cheering on the runners…I remember liking this so much last year, too!

My feet felt good for the first 5 or so miles.  I had no pain in my toes due to the nerve issue that’s going on or anything else…yet. 

I had to take my first walk break at close to the 6 mile mark.  My toes started to tingle a little bit and I walked for a minute in order to try to give them a little break.

It wasn’t quite enough.

The next few miles were rough mentally as I struggled with some long, slow inclines and the tingling in my feet that was gradually turning into numbness.  I alternated running and walking.
 

So how do I describe miles 10-13.1…BRUTAL.  Oh my word.  Don’t ask me how your feet can be numb AND burn so bad at the same time but that’s what was happening!  I mean, wouldn’t you think that if your feet were numb then you wouldn’t be able to feel anything?!  But that was not the case.   My feet felt like they were on fire, literally.  Every step was a struggle.  That nerve pain is no.joke.  I remember thinking, “C’mon, Erica, you can gut this out.  You’re tougher than cancer for goodness sake, you can DO this.  One foot in front of the other.”

Geez, it felt like it took forever.

 

And to top it off, the course was LONG!!  And not just a little bit, but like .21 mile long!  Do you know how long that little bit extra feels like when you’re looking for the finish line at 13.1 and it doesn’t come until 13.31?!  Oh man. 

BUT, I did it, and I lived to tell about it.  Barely.

When I finished, I felt like I could barely walk.  And after finding Jack at the finish area, I promptly told him…”I’m never doing that again.”  HA!  Well we all know how long THAT lasted…I’m running another half this weekend in Nashville.  *heehee*

My official times:

 

I was VERY happy to be finished!

 

Something funny…on the way home I was reading the paper and this ad caught my eye:
 

Can’t imagine WHY, can you?! 

 

So, at the end of the day, my fourth half marathon is in the books. 

I spent some good quality time praying for and thinking about the things that mean the most to me.

And I reminded myself that  …and so are you.

Love you guys.

Remember to check your ta~tas, ladies.  You could save your own life.

xoxo