My First Half-Marathon

What follows is the description (as listed on the website) of my first half-marathon, to be run in April of 2009:

THE ESCAPE ROUTE


The Escape Route: Escaping from Prison Hill is a daunting task….much like a real prison break. But before you are sent to “prison” you must do the crime! The first part of this course is a “crime”. For the first 3/4 mile you will find yourself on a fairly flat, dirt/gravel road that circles the interior of the Silver Saddle Ranch. As you complete this section of the race you get a little sloppy in your work and the authorities begin chase. Life gets a bit tougher here as you begin your initial ascent onto Prison Hill. You begin this section with a climb via single-track onto Prison Hill in an effort to thwart the authorities. For approximately the next 4-1/2 miles you are faced with a series of “small ups and downs” that will begin to test whether or not you even considered training for this event. Finally, you complete this section of the course (by thwarting the local authorities) and begin to enjoy the fruits of your labor…or so you think. You will now begin a descent along the western face of Prison Hill, approximately 1 mile. Once here, you continue to “live it up” along the mostly flat terrain for the next 2 miles, thinking that you will never get caught.

Ha!! You fell right into the arms of the authorities. Someone is going to prison. If you are doing this event solo, it is you. If you are part of a relay team then your partner is going to prison. The next 1/2 mile is a series of short, fast, rolling hills that bring you to “Prison”…a 1 mile ascent on the south slope of Prison Hill with 800 feet of altitude gain. Once at the top you realize that you just can’t stand it anymore and you begin your “ESCAPE”. You begin with a spectacular descent down the south-eastern slope towards the Carson River, thinking that by dousing yourself in the river you will lose the dogs that are following your scent. For approximately 1-1/2 miles you try to evade your followers but it doesn’t work. They’re hot on your trail. You make a dash across the Mexican Dam and run a flat course back towards the Start/Finish thinking that you’d be lost in a crowd. It begins to work…for 1-mile that is. Just when you think you’ve eluded the authorities you’re faced with one last challenge. You begin a 1/4 mile ascent on a single-track that actually takes you away from the finish. You can’t believe it. You ask yourself if it can get any worse. Actually, no! With just over a mile to go it’s mostly flat with a final 1/4 mile into the chute. You’re finally done! You’ve ESCAPED!

I chose this race because my father lives in Carson City and I thought this would make for a nice trip.

If anyone has any training tips, feel free to throw them at me! Right now I'm working on running to the tune of Free Bird--easy pace and then speed it up all the way through the guitar solo.

Motivation

People often equate pregnancy and/or labor with running a marathon (including Natalie Morales of The Today Show in the Aug 08 Runner's World). How much one buys into that probably depends on whether you've ever run a marathon, but one thing that is for certain is that both require MOTIVATION to stay positive!

During my second pregnancy, my two-year-old daughter came over to me in bed one morning, looks at me and says, "Are you mean mom or nice mom today?" That was a wake-up call! I guess I was pretty grumpy. So now I'm on my third and I am in an entirely different state of mind.

How does one stay motivated while running or otherwise? Can you see “the light at the end of the tunnel”? Sometimes seeing that n-1 mile marker or even the finish line is what you need. Of course, in pregnancy, the metaphorical light at the end of the tunnel is actually the headlights of an on-coming train!

So working out helps me stay positive about the tail end of pregnancy. I stay motivated to work out because I know how much easier it will be to recover post-baby. I stay motivated to push that HEAVY jogging stroller because it is making me so much stronger and faster whenever I have the chance to run stroller-free. And I stay motivated to race because I am just so darn competitive. The faster you run, the faster you’re done!