Done and done!

Sunday was the Calgary Police Half Marathon, and I ran it. I was a little weary leading up to the race, with my shin injuries, and then dropping a garbage can on my ankle on Wednesday which got swollen and hurty, and then me not running at ALL the week leading up to the race (because of the garbage incident). I wasn't really sure what to think about anything. It also blew snow and rain the entire day on Saturday. Anyway, at 8am on Sunday morning, I started the long 21.1km trek from Mount Royal College to around the Glenmore Resevoir, up the Weaselhead hill and back to MRC. I also had a huge fan club. Kristen, Matt, my mum, Della, and my dad all came for the start. About 100 m after the start line they were there and Kristen had a big poster that said "run like the police are chasing you" which made me giggle. Then, at Glenmore Landing everyone (sans my dad because he had to leave) was there again with a poster that said "hurry up, we're cold" which also made me giggle. Then, after the hill of death (which wasn't THAT bad, but I walked up half of it) they were there AGAIN, with an other poster that said "go heather" with a picture of me.

This picture has a bit of history. I can't really remember how old I was, but I decided it would be funny to take Kristen's clarinet and pretend to play it and put my mum's magic bag on my head. It made her laugh, so mum took a picture. That picture is still on her fridge, and any time she feels a little blue, she just looks at it and she giggles. Kristen and I also just need to think of the picture and it makes us laugh. SO, there they are, with a bazillion people running by, with a huge sign that says "Go Heather" and then there's me with a magic bag on my head playing the clarinet. I think I said "you're dead" but I laughed too.

Anyway, back to the race. The last 2 km of the race were pretty difficult. We had to run up a pretty long not that steep hill. If you were just walking, you probably wouldn't have noticed that there was even a hill there, but when you've run 19 km, every little incline makes a big difference. I also was very tired. Anyway I was feeling a little sorry for myself, since I knew I was a little shy of making my 2:00 hour goal, and I was wasting my finishing kick on surviving the hills, when out of nowhere (well, somewhere) came Kristen, and she decided to run the last little bit with me. So I was not really talking, grunting more, giving her looks of pain, and she was all "go go , don't stop, you've got it, keep going" and it helped. It would have helped more if she had picked me up and carried me, but this was a close second. She left me to finish the last tiny bit because she figured she shouldn't actually cross the finish line. Then there was Matt, saying "go heather" very calmly, like he does, then there were mum and Della, who yelled all enthusiastically, and then my boss from the store was there (looking way too well rested for someone who had already run the race) and he yelled at me to "push it girl" and told me apologetically that there were 100 m left... And then I saw two of my friends, one of whom had finished probably 25 minutes prior, who yelled at me to keep going, and then I finished. And I was happy. I ended up with 2:05 and I'm happy with that. My old time was 2:13, so shaving off 8 minutes is a pretty big deal for me, and that's that.

So I was the most popular participant (ha!) in the race with the best fan club who went to 4 different spots, and I felt WAY better during this race than my first. As I put it, I was less miserable for way less of the race, which is great. The first one, I felt awful for probably the last 5 k or more, and this one was only the last 2k. So I'm improving. And with the help of everyone, the race was a great success! And I pretty much had no pain! My knee crinked a bit at the start, but other than that, my body waited until after the race to hurt!!!

Now I have to remember I have a super sprint triathlon to train for. Speaking of that, I'm off to the pool!