Rock n' Roll Half Marathon: Arizona edition

I dragged and dragged my feet in signing up for this half marathon.

Part of it was that I had injured my ankle over the summer and it took a long time to heal.

Part of it was because my last half marathon was miserable.

And part of it was because I didn't expect the next race to come up so quickly after the first one.

Aleks, frustrated with my indecision, finally gave me a deadline and by the time it came, my ankle was feeling better so we bought 2 race numbers for the Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon in Phoenix.

This time I had a slightly different training program; same amount of miles, but running 5 days a week instead of 4.

I also had more knowledge about nutrition during the race.

And most importantly I was planning to run it with Aleks.

Training went pretty well, it was sporadic around the holidays with my performing schedule, but I was mostly consistent.

And thankfully my ankle cooperated.

The majority of my training was done alone, on the treadmill, but Aleks and I were able to do our last two long runs together.

Aleks had a completely different approach to training.

He had hired a coach who was incorporating swimming and biking into his training schedule so as to keep up his triathlon chops.

Also, his runs were dictated by time, not miles.

From the get go Aleks let me know that he would love to have me run with him, but that he was not going to compromise his training plan or be pushed to run faster than he wanted.

He's got a big plan for the next few years and this race is one of the smaller steps toward that goal.

Even though I am able to run faster (not that much faster mind you! it's like I'm a slightly faster turtle than Aleks) I lack the mental confidence that comes so naturally to my husband.

Another of life's examples that shows me how Aleks is the yin to my yang.

Or something like that.

What I mean is, we balance each other.

So, for our long runs together, we braved the 30 mile an hour winds and freezing temps, running for 4 minutes and walking for 30 seconds.

And it was great, running with my husband.

SOOOO much better than running on a treadmill memorizing music or watching a movie.

There were over 20,000 people registered for this event and I expected packet pick up to take forever.

I was pleasantly surprised that we didn't have to wait in a line and the whole thing took about 20 minutes.

The night before I got a solid 8 hours of sleep and woke up before the alarm went off at 5.

We both ate a small breakfast and headed to the start line.

We both decided to just run with a fuel belt and to take a salt tablet before the race.

What we didn't expect was to be cold.

Thank God for the Methodists who opened up their fellowship hall and bathrooms to runners for free.

I think it kept our fingers from freezing off.

Of course, with such a large amount of people running the race, they did a wave start and so we stood in our coral for about 30 minutes before starting.

Those were a cold 30 minutes!

By the time we started, it was really, really hard not to go fast, just to try and get warm.

Finally by mile 2, my fingers were no longer cold and my muscles were warm.

There were some bands along the course and honestly, they were kind of terrible, but it was better than nothing.

We stuck to our plan, running 4 minutes and then walking 30 seconds.

At times it was frustrating for me, but that's where Aleks is really good.

He makes a plan and sticks to it.

I'm more easily swayed by how everyone else is running.

So we ran. And just kept going.

We Gu'd at 5 miles and I took another salt tablet around mile 7.

At mile 9 we were faced with a rather large hill and Aleks' hip really started to bother him and I could just see his morale plummet.

Ironically, it was at this point that I was feeling pretty good.

So, I tried to motivate Aleks and if he'd had enough energy, I'm sure he would have told me to shut up.

I Gu'd again at mile 10.

From my past experience, I knew that this was the hardest part of the race.

We'd gone so far, yet weren't quite in the homestretch.

Starting a half mile or so out from the finish line, spectators started lining the street and it got more and more dense at we neared the end.

I had told my mom to bring the girls and watch us cross the finish line.

It quickly became apparent that it would be a miracle if we saw each other.

We crossed together (well, apparently true to my selfless nature, I let Aleks cross the finish line ahead of me by one second) and were immediately given our medals and then bombarded with water and chocolate milk and protein bars and pretzels and fruit.

Official time was 2:57.

As we headed to pick up our bag, we just happened to see my mom and the girls sitting on the curb.

It was amazing we found each other in the midst of all those people.

Aleks and I were both tired and a bit sore for a couple hours after the race.

Today, I've felt good, mostly just tired.

It was such a different experience from the last time.

I felt stronger and happier at the end of this one.

I do feel a bit disappointed that I didn't run a faster race, but I'm glad that I stuck with my husband.

I don't know if I'll ever do a half marathon again.

Life is funny and you never know, but I think I'd like to train for something that isn't so high stakes.

Or maybe I'll become a bodybuilder.

Or a yogi.