Well, I did it. I’m officially a finisher of the Colorado Half Marathon. What can I say about it? It was fun(?) It was hard. And really cold.

For a May 1st race, I expected to be wearing a tank top and shorts. Mother Nature had other ideas.

We ran the race as if living in the old Window’s screensaver, with snow falling on us the duration of the 13.1 miles. It was cold while we were waiting for the start, then glorious as we warmed up, then absolutely frigid once we cooled off and the wet weather chilled us to the core.

No Excuses

Actually, I had a lot of excuses. My foot still hurt for most of April, even with my new shoes. I was out of town for several weekends in a row and “didn’t have time” to train. And then it snowed eight inches one weekend.

And then, it was race weekend, with a forecast of a high in the low 30s and definitely snow. But I’m cheap, you know. And I paid good money for this race. So I woke up at 3:45 am, dragged myself out of my warm bed to drive a half hour to get on a bus. The bus took my friends and I up the Poudre canyon to drop us off at a (very) chilly start line. An hour after arriving, we started the race.

After this morning’s experience, I’ll never again be able to use the following excuses:

1. It’s too cold! (when it’s above 25 degrees, that is)

2. It’s raining! (I won’t melt, you know)

3. I don’t have time! (apparently it’s possible to wake up before 4am to go running)

Alas. I’ll have to be more creative in coming up with excuses. 

Just Keep Running

Paige talked me into running my first half. Now that I finished it, I wonder if she helped me choose this particular one for a reason. The bus dropped us off just over 13 miles away from where I parked my car. There was only one way home; short of hitchhiking, that is.

At several points in the run (mile 9, then miles 11-13, to be specific), I wasn’t fully sure that I wanted to finish the race. Lucky (or unlucky?) for me, there really wasn’t another way home. So what do you do when you’re in the middle of the mountains and you’re really ready to be back at your warm car?

You just keep running.

Celebrate

Ah, that feeling of crossing the finish line. There’s nothing like it.

Actually, at first it’s completely wretched. Wretched. I sprinted (ha, that’s a loose term) the last 0.05 mile, so when I finished, I was about 80% certain that I might die then and there.

That feeling passed fairly quickly, though. Then came the cold. The beautiful snowfall had melted on our clothes and left us shivering. My hands were so cold that my texting speed went down to two words per minute (because that’s what’s important at that point).

Finally, though, we went to breakfast at a local restaurant down the street and were served hot, black coffee. Oh, sweet nectar of life! We warmed up, rejuvenated, then walked down the street to claim the “free” pint of beer awarded us for participating in the race.

Some people will work for food. I will run for beer. 😀

All right, Paige. The half wasn’t so bad.

No promises for a full, though.

With love, from Peas and Hoppiness.