Amberly and Kevin: St. George 1/2 Marathon

I feel an obligation to myself to post about the half marathon this past weekend. So I'm going to.

I tried really hard the week before the race to take it easy so I wouldn't hurt myself more while still being active enough that my knee would be happy. I did a lot of ice/heat combinations, and leg exercises and stretching. Apparently it wasn't enough.

I felt awesome for about 1.75 miles. Then we got to the top of this hill and I was like "Crap. Here comes the knee pain." I hoped it might loosen up, but it didn't. It continuously got worse for the next 11.26 miles. In the past, whenever I have had IT band pain I reach a point where my legs will not work anymore and I have to walk for a half mile or so. I was afraid that this was going to happen. I decided to try and push through for as long as I could. We quickly got into a rhythm of running for .8 of a mile and then walking until the next mile. There were water stations every 2ish miles so we would stretch like crazy every time we got there.

It hurt so badly. Anytime I lifted my leg off the ground and bent my knee it felt like there was a giant metal hook in my knee yanking it and tearing it. So even though we were running the majority of the time, were running super slow (like 12-13 minute miles).

My mom was awesome. For the first 6 miles or so I kept apologizing for being so slow, for being such a mess, but she made it clear that she was here to run this with me and nothing else mattered. I really appreciate her support.

When we hit 8 miles, we stopped and stretched, but when we started again it felt like the knee pain had tripled. This worried me a lot. We decided to walk the next mile and then see how we felt. So we literally walked an entire mile. It was beyond frustrating. Everything else on my body felt incredible and I was aching to just RUN. But I had decided that I was going to have a good attitude about this race even though it was hard. So we had a grand old time just walking away and when we finally hit 9 miles things felt a little better (about as painful as it had been earlier).

4 miles left. We started running .75 and then walking the last quarter mile. I think we stopped stretching at this point because it was literally doing nothing anymore. Once we hit 10 mom said, "we just have a 5K left!" For some reason that kick started it for me. When we ran I was running a little faster.

I realized toward the beginning of the race that when I was going uphill, my knee didn't hurt nearly as bad, and then the second it leveled out/started going downhill the pain increased exponentially. So the whole race we were killing those uphills and then as soon as we'd go down I would practically cry. Most of the time we walked downhills. It felt so funny and opposite because normal people walk uphills and let the downhills carry them.

When we hit mile 11 I wanted to run the whole thing. That's what I said, "I think I can run the last two miles without walking." Not even 5 minutes later I was like "Just kidding!!" because the knee pain got way worse. So we started walking about 11.75 and decided to walk until 12.25. Right when we hit 12.25, my aunts and their friend showed up. They had finished the half something like an hour before us (I know right?) and came to see us to the finish. They helped distract me and I was able to pick up the pace more even though it hurt like heck. I just wanted to be down SO badly. My aunt Frances was coaching me through the whole time. "Okay girl, we're just going to go around this corner and then turn right and it'll be right there. Can you hear the announcer? You're almost done!"

When we hit mile 13 and went around the corner I spanked my mom and started sprinting (a little too soon). My knee was screaming at me. I think if it could have made sound, we all would have been deaf from the noise. There was hardly anyone left at the finish line to cheer us on because we were way at the back of the pack. I saw my amazing and supportive husband with the camera, taking pictures, then running to get ahead of us again. Then we crossed the mats at 2 hours 57 minutes and I about collapsed. I instantly wanted to just sit down and never move again, but the abrupt stop made my legs start to cramp up.

Kevin jumped the barrier and grabbed me in his arms. I cried into his neck a little bit. I drank chocolate milk and ate string cheese and fruit leather and forced myself to walk around so I wouldn't cramp. I was done. I had finished. I had pushed through even though it hurt for 2 1/2 hours straight. I felt like I could do anything.

I'm incredibly bummed that I was injured for this race. I trained really hard all year and I wish my run could have reflected that a little bit more. But in some ways, I'm even more proud of myself for pushing through when I was in so much pain. I didn't know I was capable of that, but now I do. I really can do hard, painful things and that is an empowering thought.