13.1 Miles of Lessons: What I Got Wrong Training for My First Half Marathon

13.1 miles. It’s not superhuman — millions of people do it every year. But for me, finishing my first half marathon was a genuinely big deal. And not because I crushed it. I didn’t. I finished well below the average time, my knee was a question mark the whole way, the weather was absolutely miserable, and I almost needed an emergency bathroom stop at mile nine.

In this episode, I’m breaking down everything — the good, the bad, and the embarrassing. We talk training mistakes (I definitely violated the 10% rule), fueling experiments that almost went sideways, the mental war of the final three miles, and what I’d do differently if I could start over.

This isn’t a story about being elite. It’s a story about being a regular person who signed up for something hard and showed up anyway. If you’re thinking about doing your first half — or any race — this one’s for you.

In this episode:

•      Why I crammed my training into 8 weeks (and paid for it)

•      The honey and banana pre-run fueling strategy that actually worked

•      What happened when I almost didn’t make it to a bathroom at mile 6

•      How race energy is completely different from solo training runs

•      The mental trick that got me through the final 5K

•      My official finish time and what I’m taking into the next race

Key Takeaway: Give yourself more time than you think you need, train in conditions that match race day, practice your nutrition, and don’t skip the mental prep!

Until Next Time: Just Keep Running

Transcript

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13.1 miles. It's not insane. It's not superhuman. It's not undoable. Millions of people do it every year. It's not a Herculean effort. There's 80-year-old people who do it pretty regularly. So it's not the craziest thing on the face of the earth. But it's pretty difficult. It's a pretty big challenge. And for me, it was a pretty big accomplishment. I just finished my first ever half marathon, and it was exciting. It was difficult. The weather was terrible. And today we're going to talk about it. So the race I ran was called the uh Eastern States 20 Miler and Half Marathon. It was put on uh by an organization called Millennium Running. And shout out to them. They did an amazing job. Um the volunteers were awesome. Everybody was great. It was a really good experience. Um they did a great job. I did the half marathon version. I did, I am not ready for 20 miles yet, so we stuck with the uh with the half marathon. Uh, and that's what I was going for, what I was training for, and what I did. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate at all. Uh about two weeks out, I was looking at the weather and it said it was gonna be a beautiful sunny day, and I was like, this is this is too far out to be seeing sunny weather. So I was like, it's probably not gonna be good. And then sure enough, when we got to the race, it was terrible. Uh it was about 40 degrees. It was sleeting pretty hard at the beginning of the race, windy. Uh, it's right on the ocean, right along the side of the ocean. So it was very windy. Uh, and then the sleet changed over to rain. It was kind of mixed with rain from the beginning, but then it it changed over to basically just rain. Uh, so then we were soaking wet and cold and stuck in in the wind. So weather did not cooperate at all. It was still really fun. It was still a good race. It was still awesome. Uh, but yeah, the weather could have definitely been better. So before we get uh too far into the podcast here, I just want to mention obviously I'm in a hotel room. I'm traveling for work. So if you're listening to this uh or watching this, if you're watching it, obviously. Um I don't know what the lighting is gonna look like. It's probably gonna be not great, I would assume. Um I'm doing my best, but it's probably not gonna be great. And the sun's gonna be setting over here, so the window will just keep getting darker and darker as we go. But we can't control that. And if you're just listening, uh maybe you can't see the terrible lighting, but hopefully you don't hear anything crazy. The elevator's like right on the other side of this wall. So we'll see. Hopefully we don't get any any crazy, you know, people screaming at each other, kids crying, dogs barking, things like that. But it is what it is. We'll take it as it comes. Okay, back to the topic in hand now. So the reason I want to do this podcast is not to brag about how great I did in my first half marathon because that would be uh pretty foolish of me. I am not an elite runner. I am not even an average runner, apparently. Uh, the average time for a 38-year-old man to run a half marathon is apparently right around two hours. Um I saw online was like two hours 40 seconds to 2.02, somewhere in that range. I did not come close to two hours. So I'm apparently way below average. Uh there's nothing impressive about me running. But that's kind of the point. That's why I'm doing this podcast. Uh, I hope it can be relatable. I hope I can share some of the things that I did uh right, some of the things I did wrong, some of the things I learned along the way. So that if you are thinking about doing half marathon, um, maybe maybe you're kind of climbing up the ladder of 5K, 10k, half marathon, marathon, if if that's something that you're interested in doing, hopefully this can be a little bit of encouragement for you. That's that's my goal here. So that's why I'm doing this, and I'm gonna try to share kind of everything about my experience, good, bad, and otherwise. So hopefully that's helpful to you. Hopefully that's uh encouraging to other people, and hopefully you enjoy it. Let's jump right into training. What went well, what went poorly, what I did right, what I did wrong. Let's talk about that. So for training, I didn't do much right. We'll put it that way. There's more wrong than right. Um, I definitely could have done much better. So I was planning on doing the half marathon like a while ago, like last fall. Um, I did a 10K in October, and that was that was actually my first ever race that I did. And then my goal all along was to do this half marathon uh this spring. I saw I've had it on my calendar for months, and then winter hit, and I was I got scammed twice on Facebook Marketplace trying to buy treadmills. That was a that was a whole nother experience. The weather was just terrible, it was like constantly slushy, snowy, nasty, garbage weather. And I I definitely lost a lot of the progress that I had made going up to the 10k. So then I got my treadmill. I ended up just buying a new one from Dick Sporting Goods. I got a sole treadmill, um, which was great uh to have. It's it's it's definitely a blessing to have that thing and be able to train at home when the weather's bad and everything. That's been that's been super helpful and I love it. Um But I definitely lost some some fitness. I definitely lost some of my progress in that in that I don't know month or two period um after winter hit. So then I saw on the the sole treadmill, they have like coaching programs and like follow-along workouts and stuff you can do. And they had a half marathon prep course, and I was like, all right, I'll do that. So it was an eight-week half marathon prep. And so I decided to jump into that. Um and it it is good, it was good. Unfortunately, I didn't know what else to do. So I was doing their their two workouts a week. Uh, and then I was like, well, I gotta do my long runs, and then everybody says you should try to get up to like 10 miles before you do a half marathon. Everybody says if you run 10 miles, you run a half marathon. So I'm like, all right, I'll try to get up to that. And I'm looking at how much time I've got and where I'm at with my training, and I was like, I could run a 10K again right now, probably not super fast, but I could do a 10K. So I'm like, okay, so the way it worked out, I had time to do my long runs um uh six mile, seven mile, eight mile, nine mile, ten mile, and then have it two that ten mile would be two weeks before the race. And so I could kind of taper for two weeks and then do the race. So that was that ended up my extremely informal and undisciplined plan. And then part of the issue that I had with doing the sole half marathon training program was was at first I felt like they were way too easy. They were like 30-minute workouts and there wasn't much to them. Um there were a lot of intervals and stuff. And again, I'm not trying to knock the uh the workout, like they were good workouts, but I just I I don't know. I just I didn't feel like they were doing enough. So then like I tried to do more on my own aside from that, and then I'd be tired going into the long run on the weekend, and then later on, they started getting more and more difficult, and uh I was still kind of doing the same things the rest of the week. And essentially, I just did a terrible job training and I built my miles too quickly for sure. Like, even you know, they I don't know if you've heard of the 10% rule, but essentially, you know, you should build your weekly miles and your long-run miles by no more than 10% a week. And some people even say that that's a bit aggressive from what I've heard online. Some coaches and stuff that I've I've seen on YouTube um say that even that's a bit aggressive. So I was probably an idiot because I was like, well, six, you know, 10%, 6.6, that rounds to seven, so that's okay. And then 7.7 is close to eight. So, like, you know, I'll do that. But I was also like ramping up my weekly miles a bit too much. Um, so I definitely think I was overtraining. I didn't give myself enough time actually training. Again, like I had it on my calendar last fall. Like I've been wanting to do this race, um, and up till about November-ish, things were going pretty well. Um, but then with just weather, life, holidays, everything fell apart. And by the time I got back going again, I just did not have enough time. Trying to do everything in eight weeks, seven, eight weeks, um just wasn't enough for me personally, for for where I was with my fitness. It just wasn't enough. So I definitely overdid it, especially with the adding miles. And I was starting to feel that in my legs significantly uh later in the training cycle. And I knew I was overdoing it. I knew my legs weren't happy, I knew that I was probably exceeding, you know, I was I was definitely exceeding the 10% rule, and I was like, I kind of knew things weren't where they should be. Um, but I just kept doing it because I'm very like uh I don't know how to describe it, uh path dependent, I guess. Like if I set out, if I lay out goals or plans or a path, even though I made them up arbitrarily in my head, they are like set in concrete once I'm once I'm I make it. It's not changing, and that's what I'm gonna stick to. Uh and that's so that's how I was, which is probably just a character flaw of mine. But uh but yeah, so I had that, you know, six, seven, eight, nine, ten mile long run planned, and I was gonna do them no matter what. And especially the nine and the ten mile ones um really, really got to me. And on the 10 mile one, I was coming downhill and I was probably pushing the pace faster than I really should have been. And I was coming down a pretty long hill. Um, there's like when when I do my runs, there's like a mile downhill, mile-ish flat, and then like three miles of like mostly uphill. There's a couple of flat spots, but it's mostly uphill. Uh, and my pace wasn't great on my way back after I turned around at five miles, came back. So I'm coming down that uphill now, and I was like, oh, I'm gonna make up time, and I was running down the hill, and my legs already didn't feel good, and they were definitely telling me to ease up, and I didn't listen to them because I'm an idiot, and I kept trying to push myself downhill, and my left knee just started really aching. Um, I hyperextended it a long time ago, back in college, but every once in a while, like if I if I overdo it, that's that's the weak link because my left knee for sure, like that's where I feel it. And it started to hurt pretty bad. I had to walk for a bit. Um so yeah, that did not go well. It is not how I wanted my my peak of training right before the right before the taper to end. So I was pretty bummed about that, and that definitely messed with me quite a bit mentally uh leading up to the race. I also realized now that I was, I don't know if you've heard the saying, uh, you're running your easy miles too hard and your hard miles too easy. I was definitely doing that. The the runs during the week that were not part of the that uh that eight-week half marathon program on the on the soul app, and they were not my long runs, just my normal everyday runs. I was not running easy. I was running way too hard for sure. I should have been backing those down and just taking it easy, uh giving everything some time to recover and rest. Uh, but I wasn't. I was just pushing all the time because I felt like I was behind schedule. I felt like I was not gonna be ready and I had to just push harder. And yeah, it just doesn't work. It's like if you golf, it's kind of like trying to crush a golf ball. It never works. You always end up slicing it. For me, anyways, I always end up slicing it right. Or if there's water and I'm like, I could lay up or try to crush it over the water, it's going in the water if I don't lay up every single time. Uh and that's kind of what I did with my training. I was like, oh, I'm just gonna push through it and it'll be fine. And it wasn't fine. Uh so that was definitely something that I messed up, something that um I would caution other people to be careful with. And it's hard, right? Because especially like as a like I'm I'm fairly new at this. Um, and you know, maybe you are too. And you hear people talk about like, why you just gotta push through the pain, and you know, there's you know, nothing easy about running long distances, and you you hear like some elite ultra runners talk about the pain cave, and you know, you gotta push yourself, and you listen to David Goggins and stuff like that, and it's like, well, I just just gotta keep pushing. But it's but then you hear people say, Well, we're not talking about like pushing into injury though. You gotta know the difference between injury and and just normal pain. And when you're new like I am, it's kind of hard to know the difference between injury and normal pain. Um, so I I think I had a little too much of that floating around in my head and definitely pushed it too hard. If I could do it over again, I mean I the timing I can't really change too much. Um, but I definitely wish I had like a solid 12 to 16 weeks to actually prepare properly for the race and I could have taken my time to ramp my long runs up a bit slower. Um maybe that would have given me the confidence to run my easy runs easy and and not be so hard on my body. Um so yeah, if there's any way, like if you're on the fence and you haven't picked a race yet, and there's a chance like you got one that's like 10 weeks away, and one that's you know, 15, 16 weeks away, if you can choose the one that gives you more time, I think that would have been probably the best thing for me. That probably would have helped me the most. Um but I mean, it is what it is. I did what I did, and I can't go back in time. But hopefully you can. Hopefully you can avoid that mistake. So that's what this is all about, right? So that's basically my training in a nutshell or lack thereof. The next thing I wanted to talk about was um my nutrition strategy, what I did, what I experimented with a little bit. So for me, it's it's really difficult to run fueled and not fasted. Um, I'm always doing my runs first thing in the morning. A lot of times I'm getting up at 4 30 to go get my runs in. So it's just hard to like eat something that early and then go run. Uh, you don't really have time to digest anything. Um, and I'm usually still end up late for work by the time I'm done and shower and get ready. So it's like the the time is really a bit of a factor. But I I when I was adding miles, I could just feel that I needed something. Like the the just waking up and going for a run immediately was was not working. I could I could feel it in my energy, in my output. My heart rate was too high, like everything just didn't feel right. So I started trying to force myself um to do something so that I wasn't running fasted. And what sort of started working for me was um I tried those honey stinger energy gels, and I liked that, but they're I mean, they're not terribly expensive, but they're not cheap either. And so I'm like, well, I don't want to go buy like a ton of these things for every single day. So instead, I just bought some raw honey and bananas, and so I would literally I would just wake up and before I even like put my running stuff on just so it had a little time to digest, I would um take a banana and I just like pour honey over it, take a bite, pour honey on it a little more, take another bite, and just eat honey and bananas. And um that actually helped a lot. That one thing, because it would be like I'd do that, get dressed, either go outside, depending on what I'm doing, go outside or go to the down to the treadmill, um, do a warm-up, you know, some stretches and and warm up a little bit. So I I had like a half hour-ish between when I ate that and when I actually started my run, and that made a big difference. That definitely, like, you could tell my body had something to work with. So that was good. I don't know, I don't know how many grams of carbs I was taking in or whatever, because I wasn't measuring the honey. Um, but I assume it's somewhere like north of 60 grams between the banana and a pretty good bit of honey. So that definitely worked for me training-wise, especially on my like my shorter everyday runs, not my longer weekend runs. Then on my longer runs on the weekend, then I was able to actually eat something. So especially when I started, I think like this like eight-mile run-ish, I was like, okay, I'm getting to the point where I know I can't run, like I know I can't run the race without being fueled at all. I'm not doing that fasted. So I've got to start practicing getting my body used to eating stuff. So I started messing around with eating something for breakfast before my runs, and then taking a little bit of time before I went running to kind of mimic the race a little bit, which I was able to do on the weekend because I don't have to get up at four in the morning to run on the weekend, so that's helpful. Um, so I found, you know, eggs, uh, still some honey and a banana. I kind of like that combo. And um, my wife makes sourdough. She's an amazing cook. Um, but she's really into sourdough now. And so there's always sourdough at our house. So a slice or two of sourdough bread with some butter, uh, maybe a little more honey on it, have that, and then wait an hour to two hours before my long run. So I started messing around with that. And then I did start buying enough gels because I'm like, well, I need to see what I'm actually gonna do on race day. So I did about more of those stinger honey energy gel things. Um and I started using those on the long runs to get my body used to it, make sure it didn't make me sick. That doesn't give me any issues with my stomach. So that's I mean, for me anyways, that's a good thing. It might for other people, so that's definitely something you want to experiment with before race day. But for me personally, that worked really well. Um, so then I started using one of those an hour, and then um hydration, unfortunately, I didn't have a belt or a vest or anything like that. Um, and I just get annoyed carrying things, so I would not hydrate on my long runs, which is probably really bad. Um, but that's what I did. So I did start getting used to fueling a little bit during training, but not hydrating during training. And that was probably another mistake in hindsight. I should have just carried a water bottle and tried to get used to it for sure. There was one time before I was using the gels, there was one time on the eight-mile run, nine-mile run, I can't remember. Um my wife brought me some of the honey. I didn't have the gels. So uh she came to meet me, so my girls could wave to me and stuff. My daughters, you know, they like to see me when I'm running, so they come out and and uh stop by the road. I said hi, and she brought the honey, so I just like just like shot some honey in my mouth, you know, uh, and drank a little bit of water. And I don't know if it was that because I've never had any issues with that before. But like, oh boy, did it get the bowels moving quickly. So I turn around like right after she saw me, and she like drives by, waves, and everything, you know, and then I'm at like, I don't know, six, I think I was at about six miles in. And uh I call her up. I'm like, you gotta come get me. I'm not gonna make it home. So she comes back, she gets me, I run home, use the bathroom, she brought me back to where she picked me up, and I finished my run. But I I don't know. I I don't think it was the honey or anything because like I had been eating honey before my runs for a while at that point, but man, for whatever reason, I don't know what it was. I felt perfectly fine when she left. I actually felt it really good. And then like a mile later, I'm like, oh boy, I need a bathroom. So I know a lot of people have issues with different like gels and any sort of energy product. So whatever you plan on using, make sure that you actually use it in a run. Um and don't just use it like sitting on the couch and be like, yeah, this doesn't bother my stomach. No, like use it on a long run and make sure that you don't need a bathroom immediately after. Uh, and maybe plan your runs so they're closer to bathrooms if you can. Because that was that one was that was almost bad. So uh that was my worst. I don't know if it's a feeling mistake or not, but that was probably the worst thing that happened to me during training. Uh that kind of made me a little paranoid for the race, actually, because I was like, oh, hope this doesn't happen during the race. Um, but anyways, yeah, that was that was my funny uh long run training story. So now we're through training, we're through the failures of nutrition and hydration. Um and we kind of we get to that 10-week point and my knee is smoked after that 10-mile run. I I killed it, it was extremely sore the next day. I was icing it, took an ice bath, like it was just in pain, and there was no changing it. So then I was like paranoid. I was like, I don't know if I can even run the race. I got two weeks left, but like I don't even know if I can run. So I'm like, well, I need to just really take it easy. Like, super gentle on it. I was icing it every day uh for the taper, but then I started getting paranoid. Well, now I'm not running at all, and I don't know if my leg can do anything. So now I'm like getting more paranoid because I'm not running, but I'm scared to run because I don't want to hurt my leg more. So then I ran a little bit and it felt okay. So that that first week of taper, I did a couple easy runs in the three mile-ish range. I think they were like 5k runs. Um and I got through them, but my knee was extremely sore after. Like as soon as I was done running, I'd have to ice my knee for a while. Like I'd give it 20 minutes of ice. And so that was making me kind of nervous. So then the next week, one week to the race, I kind of made the decision that I should just not run at all because I was scared. But then I got to like Tuesday, and I was like, now I don't know. My leg feels like it. I was even more scared because I wasn't running at all. So I did like a two-mile run on Tuesday and another two-mile run on Thursday. Very easy, like like super low pace. Um, and my knee hurt, but not terribly. It was like kind of okay, but kind of not okay. Um, so that definitely, oh man, I don't know if it was good or bad. Uh it it let me know that at least I felt like, well, I can run. It might get really painful, but I think I can run on my knee without getting injured, you know, like seriously injured. So I'm like, okay, I think I can do it. So I think it was the right decision to do a little bit. It helped me mentally a little bit, but it's still, there's still like this massive question mark in my head of what my knee was gonna do. Um, especially like mile nine, ten. I'd never run further than 10 miles before, so I'm like, oh boy, like what is this thing gonna do in the last three miles? So I think everybody has their own version of uh nerves and anxiety. And mine obviously was was the left knee. That was that was my big thing that like I just made me freak out. Um, and like I didn't even know if I was gonna be able to finish. I'm like, man, should I just not try? Should I like what if I really hurt myself? I had all kinds of doubts going into it. Um, so that was not great. And then the other thing that went on that week is work was absolutely terrible. So Monday, I'm like, I'm just hoping for like a couple some easy days, you know. I wanted a nice, easy week. Kind of rest. I was hoping to get, you know, get done work early and be able to ice my knee up every night, you know. No, no, I was traveling for work again. Um, Monday, I didn't get to my hotel room till nine o'clock at night. Tuesday, I got to the room at 8:30. Wednesday, I finished up on a job in Massachusetts. Then I had to drive three hours to Connecticut and help uh another crew tie rebar and build forms for a concrete pad that we were pouring. And then we got done, I don't know, we got done around seven o'clock that night. Um, and I still had to like go check into the new hotel and unpack and everything. Then Thursday we poured concrete, um, which isn't like the the type of concrete pouring we were doing. It's not the most physically demanding, but concrete's never easy. Um, so I was pretty worked over from that. Uh raking concrete, shoveling concrete, moving concrete. Uh that was not the nice, restful, easy week that I had planned, that's for sure. And then Thursday we ended up coming home uh because we got the pour done Thursday. So we were like, well, we'll just let this set up. There's nothing really to do on Friday. So we went home Thursday, which was great. I was glad we were able to come home, but then another night where I didn't get home, I don't know when. Uh, I can't remember now, but it was late, like after eight for sure. Uh so I had like a whole week of 13, 14-hour days, like every day. That was terrible for the lead up to the race. I was exhausted. Uh luckily Saturday went better. I was able to rest a bit. Uh, my wife kind of watched the kids for a little while without me so that I could take a nap. That was very helpful. Um, but yeah, it was not the lead up week that I was hoping for for sure. And then it's so funny, like obviously I'm running a decent bit every week, right? Like, I was obviously training, not the way I should have been. But I mean, I was running. It's not like I wasn't running, but the the mental doubts that creep in because of the last three miles that you haven't done before, right? Like you've done the 10 miles, but you haven't done that last 3.1 miles, and it just like in your head, it just eats at you, you know, like for for me anyways. And um I still I think I think a lot of people do for a long time. I don't know that like if or when I'll get over it, but I definitely get um imposter syndrome and feel like I'm not a real runner and I'm not that good, and you know, everybody else is better than me. Um so those doubts really started creeping in, especially once the crazy work week was over. So like that Friday and Saturday, those thoughts really those thoughts really started taking over. And yeah. They did not they didn't help, that's for sure. I was definitely nervous if I was even gonna be able to finish. Um like I said, it's further than I've ever run before, so I was super like should I even be doing this? I'm not ready. I didn't train enough. Uh yeah, I just I felt very uh what's the word? Very unworthy of accomplishing the task I was trying to accomplish for sure. Um and my wife kept telling me, like, it's gonna be fine, you're gonna do fine. And I'm like, nah, it's gonna suck. It's gonna be terrible. Um but yeah, that that was like gnawing at me for a bit that last couple days. Uh sleep luckily was decent. It wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible. Um, I was able to get some sleep, so that was that was helpful. And I also thankfully like the work week calmed down. And Friday and Saturday I was able to hydrate really well. That was another big thing. Uh that whole crazy work week, like with the late nights and traveling, like I I just I didn't drink enough water at all. All week I was very dehydrated. So then like Friday and Saturday, I drank a lot of water. Um, electrolytes, coconut water, regular water. I drank a ton of water. Um, and I think that definitely was a good thing. If I didn't get to do that, if things had stayed crazy, especially Friday, and I only had Saturday to do it, I think I would have been in trouble for sure. Um, but I think having like two days to really hydrate was was super good. So that's one thing about the lead up week that actually did go well for me. All right, so let's talk about race day. We're finally there. Um we've made it through, well, we haven't made it through the butterflies and the anxiety, but we've made it, we've made it to race day at least. Uh that's one good thing about time. It just keeps going. You get there eventually. Um so yeah, we're it's race day. Um one uh certainly not the hardest thing of the day, but one of the more difficult things, like the surprisingly difficult thing for me was making myself eat a big breakfast. Um because I always when it back in the day when I played team sports, um and did other other athletic stuff, everyone always said, you know, you want to eat a big meal four to five hours before, you know, whatever the game, the event, whatever the event is, right? Um so the race started at 10.30, so I was like, well, so that means I need to eat something by like 5.30, 6.30 at the latest. So I got up at 5.30 and I just went straight downstairs and ate breakfast, and I tried to make myself eat a lot of breakfast, which was, like I said, surprisingly difficult because I was not hungry. I don't normally eat that much right away. I don't normally eat a lot until later in the day. Um, but I made myself eat uh some eggs. My wife made a quiche uh the day before so that I could just microwave it. So I had like this big old, big old chunk of the quiche that she made uh with a bunch of veggies in it, and like uh cheese and onions and peppers and I think broccoli and spinach and stuff. So there's like a whole bunch of stuff in that. That was really good. Um and then again I I went with uh a bunch of her sourdough. So I had a uh a few slices of sourdough. I think I had like four. Um, and then I had another coconut water and I like chugged that and uh banana, I think that's pretty much it. But yeah, that was actually really hard. Like I was forcing myself to eat that stuff. I did not want to eat it at all. Then we get going. Um my wife drove uh some of the way because um there was no place to park at the race. You had to just like drop the racer off, and then and then my wife and kids had to leave. Um so drank some more, and I had to pee a lot. So I think I peed like four times on the way there. It's only an hour away. I peed like four times on the way there, and then I got there, had to pee again really bad, got in the outhouse line, which was enormous, peed again, got checked in, uh, got my race packet and everything, peed again, uh, and then I was doing a warm-up and I had to pee again. So I was very well hydrated. So that's good. Uh, but it was very annoying because like the whole morning I just had to pee the whole time. But I was so paranoid about being dehydrated that I just kept drinking and drinking uh more and more fluids. So yeah, I was extremely well hydrated, which was a good thing, but it made me pee a lot. Um, so anyway, so we get there, my wife drops me off, and it it was kind of weird. The volunteers and everything did a great job like telling us where to go and everything, but it's just like super awkward. There's just like this little like pull-off on the side of the road, and like they just have to drop you off, and then that's it. Like you're just on your own. So I got my bag, uh like a little duffel bag, and my wife and kids had to take off, and then I'm just like by myself, which like it shouldn't feel that weird, but it did feel oddly odd that I was all alone. Uh, but anyways, go like I said, I did use the bathroom first, but then I get in the the registration line uh to get my bib and everything. I was already I was pre-registered, but just to to check in and get my bib. Um so I'm in that line, and I'm going and I'm going and I'm going and I'm going. And uh finally get up and I I thought my number was 1018. It's like, oh yeah, 1018. And I didn't say my name, and the volunteer never asked my name, and she just gave me the bib for 1018, and I'm like, okay, cool. And then I look at the back of the bib and it has someone else's name on it, and I'm like, what? So I get my phone out and I check my email. I was actually 1518, not 1018. So I'm like, I don't know where 1018 came from. I was like so positive that my number was 1018 until I saw the back of that bib, and I was like, oh, you gotta be kidding me. So then I had to go like all the way back to the back of the line. Um I I went and gave it the bib back to the lady. I was like, oh, this wasn't my number, I got the wrong number. And then I didn't want to like cut in front of people and look like a jerk, so I just went to the back of the line. So I had to wait like another 20 minutes to get my bib. Luckily, we got there early. We got there at like 9 15. So I had like over an hour before the race started. And because I'm an idiot, I basically needed all the time because I had to sit through the half hour registration line twice. Uh, but anyway, so I get I got that straightened out. I got my bib. Um and then it was just it was like weird because there's still kind of a lot of time left, there's still like a half hour, 40 minutes left till the race, but not enough time to really get ready. So like I just had I had the like my normal everyday walking around shoes on. So I took my duffel bag, and of course, uh again it's raining, so I'm trying to like everybody's like hiding out under anything they can find. Um there's no building or anything. It's at a state park uh on the ocean, but the park is closed, so you can't go in anything. Um, there's bathrooms, but the bathrooms are all locked. You can't go inside those. You can only use the outhouses. So there's like nowhere to get out of the weather. And it's just like raining, sleeting, hailing, just terrible, ugly, ugly weather right on the ocean. So I found this, this like short, scrubby little pine tree right next to a rock wall, and the ground kind of like dropped away behind the rock wall. And so like I literally crawled into this little hole, basically, under the tree. I could kind of I could stand up under the tree branches where they were like hitting my head. Um, and I just like kind of hung out under there because the rock wall was breaking the wind a little bit, and I sat on a rock, uh, changed my shoes, put my running shoes on. Um, I had a gel because that was my plan. I had a gel a half hour before the race started. And then um I did some warm-up stuff, and then I was like really debating on gear. I was wearing, I had long pants on, which I knew I was good with those because I've run in those quite a bit in the cold. So I'm like, okay, I'm good with these pants. And I had a sweatshirt on, which I've run in the sweatshirt before, but not with a rain jacket on. Um and so I'm like, I don't know, I'm gonna get annoyed. Like, I just I felt like super puffy with it on. So then I'm like kind of freaking out about what I should do. Like, I didn't want to get cold and nasty and rainy because it is like it was miserable weather out, but like I didn't want to feel like I couldn't move either. So I did some warm-up laps uh on the beach and stuff, and I ran around a little bit and got my got my blood pumping, and I was like, I think I'm gonna dish the sweatshirt. So I ended up ditching the sweatshirt, threw it in my bag, and uh, and then brought it over to the bag check. And then um, shocker of all shockers, I had to pee again, and I did not have time to wait in the line for the outhouses. And so I just ran off in the woods and watered a tree in the woods because I was like, yeah, there's no way I'm sitting in that line again. Uh so then by that time, it's like time to start the race, pretty much. They're like calling everybody over, they're like, Oh, we're gonna start five minutes, ten minutes, or whatever, whatever it was. Um, so I got my bag checked really quick, got over to the starting line, um, and then I started getting scared that I should have worn my sweatshirt because then I started like shivering. And that's when the sleet really started. It was kind of raining before that, and then it started sleeting wicked hard, and it was getting cold, and I was like, oh my word, maybe I should have cut my sweatshirt on, but they're like already bagging up. They uh putting all the bags like in a big pile to put in the truck and stuff and to take to the finish line, and I was like, oh, well, it's too late now, I just gotta deal with it. So then getting into the starting line, I was like, well, I'm not very fast, so I shouldn't go I shouldn't go into the starting line. Um, I wanted my goal was as long as my knee held together, I didn't want to walk. And then beyond that, that was like my main goal. I just didn't want to walk. And then beyond that, I was hoping that I could be two and a half hours. I wasn't sure if I could be two and a half hours, but I was hoping I could be two and a half hours. So I was like, all right, maybe we'll do that. But then I'm looking at like average race times and everything, and that's pretty far back. So I'm like, you know what, I'm just gonna go like all the way to the back of the giant crowd of people trying to start the race. So that's what I did. There was probably like, no, there are a few people behind me, but not many. Um, so I was like all the way in back, and I couldn't even hear the start gun go off. I didn't even know when when the race technically started. Uh I just saw like I kind of think I might have heard a crack, but I'm not sure. And then people started moving, and I'm like, oh, okay, cool. Um, so then we get going. So I'm in this massive crowd of people. Um, it took, I forget how long it took. I think it took like two minutes or something to even make it to the start line after after people started moving. Uh, because I was because I was so far in back. And then I'm like, people are going really slow. And everybody tells you, don't start fast, right? That's like the number one mistake that everyone says people make, especially when they're new, first races, rookies, whatever, is you start too fast and you burn yourself out. And don't start too fast, don't start too fast, don't start straight fast. So I'm like, okay, I don't want to start too fast. But then people are like basically walking in the back, you know? So I'm like, well, this is too slow. So then I'm like trying to pass people, but we're on this, like, it came like the race, just there's a starting line, you go across the starting line through a parking lot, and then there's a road at the end of the parking lot, uh, and a sidewalk that goes like parallel to the road through the trees, and you go down that sidewalk, and then you end up on the road. Um, so we're like on this sidewalk, and everybody's like funneling in and stuff. So I'm just like trying to get to keep moving somewhat, you know. So I'm like in the bushes, like I was literally like just scraping my legs on brush and stuff on the side of the trail, like off the sidewalk, just trying to keep moving. I wasn't like flying past people and I was trying to be polite, but at the same time, like some like most people towards the back were just like just plain walking, like because it was so crowded and stuff. And I'm like, well, if I start off too slow, then like you know, if I lose a minute now, that could be like a big deal later on. I'm not gonna be able to make up a minute later on in the race. So so, anyways, that was that was a bit of a struggle. Um, I maybe I I don't think you want to start too far forward for sure. That's definitely a mistake because you don't want to get sucked into people's paces that are way faster than you. Um, and also just like mentally, for me, like I didn't want people like just blowing by me because that would just make me feel like poop. And I didn't want that. So that was probably a good thing that I started in the back, but I probably could have started a little bit further forward. And this this race wasn't big enough where they had like starting corrals based on your time. It was just kind of like where whatever, everybody pick your own, pick your own. Spot, you know. Um, so in hindsight, I kind of wish I would have started slightly further forward. Um so that hopefully I could have avoided maybe some of that walking at the beginning, but oh, it is what it is. Uh and I I think it could have been worse to start too far forward. So I think it was the better choice of the two bad choices. Um, but yeah, I definitely was frustrated at the beginning of the race for sure. So then the first couple miles went by pretty easy easily. Yeah, I'll say easily. Um it wasn't it wasn't difficult the first few miles. I was like, oh, okay. Um they were it was very encouraging the first like two, three miles, because my knee was actually feeling really good. I don't know how or why, but it was actually feeling really good. So that was that was like a big, big boost for me for sure. That made me feel better. Um, so that was a big thing, thankfully. Uh and I was like, yeah, you know, this this is cool. We're running a race. And and there's something about like the energy of a race, you know, it's so much different than just running by yourself with like nothing else around you, you know, and you're just like jogging down the road by yourself. Um, it's just a totally different energy, it's a totally different vibe, and there's just something about being in a race and everybody's kind of doing the same thing and excited and moving the same direction. Like it's just something cool about it. I really enjoy it. Um, so I was kind of feeding off of that for the first few miles for sure. That that kind of carried me um through the beginning. Um oh, I forgot to mention I had to pee at like mile one. Like I already had to pee again. So I'm like, are you kidding me? And then I'm like, well, maybe it'll just go away. Because like, you know, sometimes when you get going, you get dehydrated, then like it it goes away. So I'm like, all right, maybe it'll just go away. So I'm going, going, going. Then the first outhouse was at like mile three, I think. And for like there was like five people in line. And I'm like, okay, I'm not gonna waste three minutes waiting for an outhouse. So I was like, I'll just go past that one. Uh I took I took a sip of water and just kept going. And we'll we'll bring that up. We'll revisit the bathroom break part later because there's kind of a funny story about that. All right, what's up, guys? Uh so when I was recording in the hotel room there, what you were watching and listening to before, uh my battery died when I was in the middle of recording. So now I'm home. I'm back in my office. I'm gonna pick back up uh where I left off. And hopefully it doesn't sound uh too funny if you're listening to this. And if you're watching it, obviously it looks very, very different now than it did before. But whatever. Technology happens. I'm not the greatest with technology. So so yeah, so those early miles, everything was going really good. Um first aid station, like I said, skipped the bathroom, uh, got a sip of water, kept going. My heart rate was a little bit higher than I wanted it to be. It was like getting up into the 160s, and normally on my long runs, I keep it a little bit lower than that. So um that was slightly concerning, but it wasn't I didn't feel bad. So I thought it would be okay. Um, but I think I mentioned this before too. My pace was really, really consistent. I have my my mile splits here. So my my splits were 1041, 1039, 1037, 1039, 1027, 1037. Then I slowed down a bit mile seven, eleven oh one, ten fifty-one, ten fifty-one, eleven oh three, ten fifty-five, ten thirty-nine, ten fifteen on the thirteenth mile. That was that was good. I was really trying to push that one. I was actually trying to get under 10, but uh I was still pretty stoked that I put a mile that good and that late in the race. Um, and then the last you know, tenth of a mile was 940 because I sprinted a little bit at the end. But yeah, so I was pretty happy with my pace overall, and my heart rate was staying pretty consistent, uh, just consistently higher than it normally was. And normally on my loan runs, I would run, you know, 145 to 150, maybe below 150s, something like that. Um, and my heart rate was like consistently in the 160s. So that first five miles, I was feeling fine, but I was also like a bit worried that I was gonna burn out or that I was gonna hit the wall, and you know, the last four or five miles were just gonna be a struggle, and I was gonna be walking and just waiting for it to end. So I was a little nervous about that, but at the same time, I really wanted to beat two and a half hours, and I felt like, well, if I slow down very much, then I have like no wiggle room at all for the last couple miles. So I decided to just keep that pace going. And um, yeah, like you saw from the pace times, it was it was I was able to stay pretty consistent. Those first five, six miles went pretty good. Um, I was really stoked about some of the spectator support. It was really funny. Um I I'm not, I don't know, I'm kind of a social person, but I don't really feel like I need other people to make me feel better. Like I'm a pretty self-motivated guy, you know what I mean? Like I don't need uh other people telling me I'm doing a great job or anything. So I uh didn't expect to get that much of a boost from the crowd, but it's actually it's really nice when the crowd, you know, is cheering for you when when somebody next to the road is okay, you're doing a great job. Um even though they don't know what your goal is or if you're really doing a great job or not, right? Uh like if you're if you're making yourself proud or not, they don't know that, but it still feels good that they say it. And there's this one guy in particular, um, I think we saw him, we saw him around mile three, I believe. And he had this sign that said, uh, on a scale of one to ten, you're 13.1. And I was like, oh, that's kind of funny, you know. So I saw a sign and I laughed, and then he was like, You're killing it, bro. You're doing great. You're the fastest guy I've seen all day. And we were just kind of like, I was like, oh, thanks. You know, we were laughing with each other, pointing at each other and stuff, and um, it actually did give me quite a boost. So that that was that was also really nice, um, and kind of unexpected for me, honestly. Like I said, I didn't expect that to be um one, I didn't expect there to be that many people, like, especially in the early part of the race, because it's a point-to-point race, um, kind of lining the streets and parking on the side of the road and all that sort of stuff. So that was a little bit of a surprise, and also just um like how much it helped me mentally. I was surprised by that as well. So that was really cool. Um and definitely helped ease me through those first five or six miles. Then we got to mile seven, where the pace went up over 11 minutes a mile for the for the first time. For whatever reason, there was an aid station um at the end of mile six, and um I had a gel before the aid station, and then got some Gatorade. And I think I just I don't know if I chugged the Gatorade too fast or up, but I got a bit of a side stitch, and so I was um dealing with that for a little while at the beginning of that mile, and it just kind of, you know, it threw me off my pace a little bit, and I like because I had been really, really consistent up to that point, and then all of a sudden I was like 20 to 30 seconds of a a mile slower. And uh for whatever reason, like I f like the side stitch kind of cleared up by the end of mile seven, and I felt fine again falling off of my pace like I did, like it just really killed me as far as getting back to my pace. I I kept thinking that I was I was like, oh, okay, now I'm back in that, you know, 1040, 1035, 1040 pace again. It feels feels like it. And then I look at my watch and I'm running like an 1115, and I'm like, what is what is going on? Like, I don't know why, but for whatever reason, after that weird little hiccup there at mile seven, it took me a while to like just get my cadence back and like have my legs feel normal because I was I was kind of like running, you know, stretching my side, running like that for a little while, and it it threw my side off, my my stride off and um kind of screwed me all up for like that mile, but it just it it was just not coming back to me. Um and that was probably the first time that I really started feeling like mentally and physically, like, oh no, I don't know. I don't know if I'm gonna make it all the way without walking like this. This might turn into three hours plus here soon. Um, because I really just my legs just kind of felt like concrete, you know, they just didn't want to move. Um, I didn't feel great mentally. I was like, oh my word, like I feel like I've been running for so long and there's still so much to go, you know. Like all of those thoughts started setting in. And uh I was just I was just getting like not not down. I was still having fun, but I was just like, oh man, I don't know if I'm gonna be able to to do what I wanted to do, you know, do what I what I was hoping to do. Uh so that was that was like kind of making me a little worried. And I think that probably just fed off the pace like that, kind of screwed the pace up, and then the pace being screwed up fed into those thoughts, you know, it kind of turns into a little bit of a vicious cycle. Um, so I was dealing with that for for a little while. And then, like I said, the side stitches cleared up, they weren't too big of a deal. Um, and then we got to, I think it was about mile nine. And this is the other funny part of the bathroom story. So we're the the way the the the coastline kind of goes like this, you know? So you can see the um you can see the aid stations for a ways because they'll be like on this point and you're gonna run all the way around. So like when you're on this point, you can see it pretty good. So I saw the aid station and I could tell that that one had an outhouse, and I'm like, okay, sweet, I'll finally be able to pee. Like, we're pretty late in the race. There's not that many people around. Everybody's pretty spread out at this point, you know? So I'm like, this should this should work. I should be able to go use the outhouse. So um I'm keeping an eye on it as I'm as I'm getting closer. I'm still like a few hundred yards away, and there's two people in line for the outhouse. And I'm like, oh my word, this is killing me. I don't want to stop if there's two people there. So I'm like, well, if if it gets down to like no line, then I'll I'll go try. So I'm running up to it. And this lady comes out, guy goes in, like right before I get there, and I'm like, oh, sweet. This guy's just gonna take a leak real quick, he'll be out, I can go in, we're gonna be on our way. So then I'm sitting there, and this the girl in the blue jacket that I had been pacing forever, uh, I was still like a hundred yards behind her, and then she's like taking off, you know, down the road. And that was frustrating me. And I'm waiting for this guy to get out of the outhouse, and he's like, not getting out of the outhouse, not getting out of the outhouse. So then I waited there for like 20 seconds, and then I was just like, screw it, I'm just gonna keep going. So I left and I kept looking back, and uh, he was in there for a while, so he probably had some other issues going on, but yeah, it was just so frustrating that made me so mad that I wasted those 20 seconds, even though like obviously I'm not racing really anybody, like it's just it's just me and trying to to do good. So like it's not like my time really matters or I'm getting paid to do this or anything, but it just irritated me so bad. But for whatever reason, that that anger, uh maybe this isn't healthy, but that anger got me back kind of into my into my normal pace a little bit. Like I started I started getting back into it. Like the more I thought about it, the more mad I got. And the and the girl that I had been following in the blue jacket was like a ways ahead of me, and that was making me mad because I was really hoping to pass her by the end of the race, and then um, yeah, so that just kind of lit a fire under me. But I got going again and and got back to my pace. So even though I didn't get to use the bathroom, it was helpful anyways. Uh so so yeah, so then we got past like mile nine and ten, like I said, kind of got remotivated. And um I'd been waiting. I I don't know, I follow Andy Clays on Instagram, and he's always like at the end of his ultra marathons, he's al he always posts like he'll do, you know, like a like the Arizona Monster 300 or something, or like like some 250 mile race. And uh when he gets down to the end, whenever he's got like 3.1 miles to go, he'll be like, oh, 5k to go. Your mom can run a 5k. And when I when I got into the little bit of like um mental mental low low state, I guess, uh, when I was in that like six, seven, eight, nine mile range, I was like, oh man, I just can't wait till there's a 5k left. So then I got to 10 miles and I was like so stoked. I was like, so I yelled, I was like, your mom could do a 5k. Like nobody was around. I was just by myself at this point. There's like people, like, I don't know, a couple hundred feet behind me, a couple hundred feet in front of me. So like no one really heard me. But I just said it to myself, and then I was like busting up laughing. And that was another one of those little things that just like I don't know, mentally it just seemed like, okay, I can do a 5K. And it really was like, now I've got this. Like, now I'm not worried about making it to the end. Now I'm not worried that I'm gonna blow up before I get there. Like I can tell my legs are sore, everything's tired, but I can tell I can make it. So that was another big mental boost when I realized like there's no danger of not making it. I'm gonna make it to the finish line. And I'm gonna run all the way to the finish line. So that was definitely a big mental boost for me. So then the next big for me, the next big thing was like I knew I was gonna beat 230, but I wasn't sure if I could beat 220. So then I really started like wondering if I could beat 220. I started trying to do math in my head. Um I was like at 11, 12 miles. Uh and I realized when I got to the point where there was one mile left, I realized if I could break uh I think what did I need to do? I needed to do like uh 948 or something like that for that last mile. And I would make it. That would give me if I could keep that pace, I would get under 220. So I was like, all right, I I think I can do it. Um so I really pushed. I was like, I'm gonna get a sub-10 minute mile no matter what. I'm gonna get a sub-10 minute mile at the end. I'm gonna push, right? So I start pushing. I get about, I don't know, a couple minutes into that first mile, and I look down and I'm like, okay, going pretty good. And then I realized I was get I was starting to get pretty winded. I was like, oh shoot. And I looked down at my watch when I was doing like a 9.15, and I was like, oof, I don't know if I can maintain that. So then I tried to slow down. Um so then I like I got into like the 9.30 pace, which like at the beginning of the race I probably could have done for a while, but at the end of the race, not so much. So yeah, so I was giving it all I had. I was trying to maintain that 9 30 pace. Um ironically, I screwed up the math in my head when I was running, which was probably pretty obvious. Um so even if I did get a 945, I don't think it would have made it. I needed to be like under nine minutes for it to actually work. So I was forgetting about the tenth of a mile. That's right. I was at because I I did that math when I was 12 miles in, and I was like, oh, one more mile, but I had 13.1 miles to go, so it wouldn't have even worked, even if I did get the pace I wanted to. But anyways, I'm trying to maintain this pace, and I'm I'm going pretty good for a while. I was like sub-10 for most of that last mile. And the end of the race, where we we get like off the main road and we go down this little side road, and there's houses on both sides of the road. You can't really, it was a really narrow little road. You can't see anything side to side, basically. And right in front of you is the finish line parts, like getting up in the background, you can see the big arch and the and the chute with all the spectators and stuff. And I'm like, oh man, it's not that far. I can do it. I can do it. I'm gonna, I'm gonna make it. I'm gonna make it in under 10 minutes. I'm gonna get it. So I'm like, I start giving it everything I've got. I'm like, I'm gonna make it, I'm gonna make it. And uh I get to the end of the row of houses, and the finish line is like in this parking lot right here, right? And I realized there's a fence that I didn't really notice was there because there was like a little bit of a hill, I didn't really see it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:07

And you had to turn and go up like this, and go all the way around the parking lot, and then back to where I was, and then turn to go to the finish line. So I was like, oh my god, are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_00 1:01:21

There's no way, there's no way. Like I thought I was almost there, and I had given it pretty much everything I had, and then I realized, yeah, there's there's no way I'm gonna maintain those pace till the end. So then, and then I started getting kind of nauseous. So that that last little bit, I think it was about the last quarter mile around around that parking lot and stuff. Um I had to slow down kind of a lot. So then I ended up slowing down to like an 11 plus minute pace. Um and almost I I thought I was gonna throw up for a minute, and then it just went away. I don't know what it was. It just for like 30, 40 seconds, I just felt like I was gonna throw up and then it went away. Uh and then I I kind of got back into my like 1040-ish pace and finished that mile. That last mile was the the 1015 mile. So I was close to 10 minutes, but I didn't quite make it. And then uh I turned the last corner and I'm running down the chute, man. And I'm like, I always try to like give it all I've got at the end, you know. I like even on a lot of my training runs and stuff, like I'll I'll always try to give it like as much as I possibly can at the end because I just like mentally I want that to be like the last thing that I remember. Like you pushed your hardest at the end, you know? So I'm like, I'm sprinting all out. And like in my head, I am flying like the wind. Like I am a white short version of Usain Bolt in my mind, right? Like I'm just cruising. And uh I waved to my daughter, I see my daughter wave to her, she was on my dad's shoulders and stuff, and then I crossed the finish line and I'm I'm like, you know, gasping for air. I was dead. Um it was amazing. But the funny thing is, afterwards, my wife shows me a video that she took of me in that sprint.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:16

And I was like, Are you kidding me? That's what I looked like. She's like, Yeah, what do you mean? I was like, man, I look like an 80-year-old guy trying to get to the bathroom in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:26

I couldn't believe it. But I looked so weird. Like my legs just were not moving, right? It was the weirdest looking run you've ever seen in your life. It was just, it was so awkward. But uh, I felt like I was running really fast and I was running kind of fast, like, but not not really sprinting. So, anyways, it was just a that was just a really funny story. Uh that I actually I didn't she didn't show me that video until the next day, too. So it was really funny. Like uh I had that I had that unrealistic moment in my mind for about a day, and then the video proved it for me. Um but yeah, then I crossed the finish line and I was just so ecstatic. I was so excited that I crossed the finish line and I achieved my goals. I was I was pumped. It was amazing. So then, of course, like the first thing you get when you when you get across the finish line, they give you your finisher's medal. And I actually I was stoked. I know it's not like I didn't win in anything crazy, it's not like the most amazing thing in the world, and I know a lot of people have um a lot more than one finisher's medal and for full marathons and ultra marathons, and this is you know just a half marathon, but I'll tell you what, when when the volunteer put this on me, I was I was really, really stoked. And it's I I thought it was pretty cool. It's my first real finisher's medal, but I think it's a pretty cool one. I like the way they did it. They got the little sunburst with like the stained glass looking plastic thing in there. So I think it's pretty cool. I'm gonna wear it for the rest of this podcast because I like it. Um but yeah, so I got the finisher's medal, and then uh the first person I see coming up to me is is my dad and my daughter, my oldest daughter, and that was just that was so cool. She comes up to me and uh gives me a big hug and and uh she had an electrolyte drink mixed up for me. She was like, Here you go, daddy. And uh it was just it was amazing. It was an amazing feeling, and she was proud of me, and um, you know, she would have been proud of me no matter what, but it's still just awesome to have your kid there supporting you, you know. And um she gave me the biggest hug ever. She wanted me to hold her, and I was like, kid, I'm sorry, I can't you're you're getting a little too old. I can't hold you right now. Um My back is not gonna take that. My legs are dead. Um but yeah, it was it was really cool. Of course, my wife took some hideous pictures of me gasping for breath afterwards. Uh so I've got some some photographic proof of uh the the toll it took on me, I guess. But yeah, the the emotions were pretty surprisingly powerful. I was really stoked. I was really excited, ecstatic. Um and I felt pretty good for the most part. I realized though my legs were like done. Like when you're running, you kind of can ignore it a little bit. But then like once you stop, it's like, oh my word. Um and then my left foot for some reason was like killing me. The the muscle right behind the big toe that kind of like runs along the arch of your foot. Um I have a theory. I talked to a physical therapist about it, and we our theory is that because I was doing a lot of the training in the wintertime, uh, I was on treadmills a lot just for different reasons. Uh so I was running on like a perfectly flat surface for a lot of my training. And then when I ran the race, we were on the side of the road for most of the race, like almost all of the race. So the road was pitching like that. So I was like, you know, do you think more of my weight was just on the on the inside part of that foot than than had been through most of my training? Like, could that have been what strained it so much? Um, and she seemed to agree. She's like, Yeah, that could be something else. But she was like, that is actually a pretty logical theory. So that that could be it. Um, so I think that's what happened, but man, it got so tight and so painful, like I could barely walk. I was just like limping around um to like go get my my gear bag and everything. Um and then the other thing I realized after I stopped running was, you know, when you're running, you're nice and warm. And even like right when you stop, you're fine. You're you're plenty warm for a while. But man, like being soaking wet because like between the sweat and the rain and the sleet and everything, and it was still windy and cold at the finish line, it was it I started getting like really cold. So by the time we got everything, I I grabbed a couple bananas and ate them and drank the electrolyte. We got um got my t-shirt and stuff. Um, and then there were uh there were some volunteer massage therapists there. They're they're like, they're going to school for massage therapy, so they volunteered to get practice basically, and they just were giving out free massages, and I was like, oh, I'll take one of those, uh, because my my calves and my feet hurt so bad. Uh so I got one of those, and the the girl got to my foot and grabbed my foot pretty hard, and I like almost jumped off the table. I was like, oh my, that hurt really bad. And the teacher was watching, and she comes over and she's like, Was that you being ticklish, or was that face because of pain? I was like, No, that was pain. And she's like, Oh, let me take a look for a minute. So then she did it a little bit on my foot and she touched it, and she's like, I winced again, and she was like, Does that hurt that bad? I was like, Yeah. She's like, I was barely touching that, so I don't know if it's a good idea to keep going. And I was like, Yeah, I don't think so. Um, so I really appreciated the massage of my calves uh and my hamstrings. That was really nice, but the feet just didn't end up working out because they were they were too bad. And and she told me we we kind of both thought that I just needed to ice it. So, anyways, by the time that's all done, we're walking over to the car and I was shivering. I was I I couldn't believe how cold I was. I when I got my bag and put my sweatshirt back on under my jacket, um, kept the rain jacket on and tried to keep the wind off me. And man, I was just shivering to death walking back to the car. Um, and then we're driving home. My wife was driving uh so that I could ice my foot and I had my heated seat on, the heat blasting, and I was still like sitting there shivering, which is not like me at all. I'm I work outside in the cold all winter, so like it really normally never bothers me. And if somebody's complaining about it being too hot in a vehicle, it's normally me. But my wife kept like telling me that it was too hot, and I was like, no, I'm freezing. So she ended up I had the heat like blasting on my side and she like cracked her window open because she was so hot. Uh so that was I think just obviously a f a function of being so cold, like the wet, cold, nasty weather. But I think also like I just pushed myself kind of a lot and uh I burned a lot of calories and used up a lot of energy, and I feel like my body was just kind of done. It didn't have enough energy left to really heat me up and keep me warm. So I'm assuming that's what it was from. Um But yeah, that was that was kind of weird. Like that was an unexpected thing for me for sure, because I I normally don't get cold like that at all. So that was a little bit weird. And then yeah, like after after we were driving home for a little while, it kind of started really setting in, like, wow, I did it. Like that's that's awesome, you know, like I actually did it. And that was that was a really cool feeling. Um and it's funny, this is one of those things where like I feel like I need to work on a little bit with myself, is I tend to just like blow past accomplishments and not really give them any credit because like I have bigger things that I want to do, you know, like I want to do a full marathon and then I want to do ultra marathons and I want to do like more things, and then I want to improve my time and get faster and like all these things that I want to do, right? Um but I really like this accomplishment was was really cool. Like when I was when I was training at when I first started training, I did like a 5k just on myself uh or by myself. I did a 5k and that was kind of a big goal at the time because like you know, you start running and you run a mile and you're dead, right? Um you might not even be able to run a full full mile. So like I thought a 5k was gonna be tough to get to, and then I got to it, and I was like, okay, sweet, but then I just kind of mentally checked the box and I'm like immediately on to the next thing. 10K is next. Then I do the 10K race, and again, it was really hard and it was challenging to get through, and a lot of the same things that I went through to get through the half marathon went into the 10K, but again in my head it was just like check the box and didn't really appreciate what I had done, and then you're just on to the next thing like okay, the next goal's half marathon, gotta get that knocked out. Um, and so when I was done with this, like I think just the fact that it took more of a toll on my body, like it took more effort, took um took some some time to recover. Like I didn't run at all the next week because my legs and my feet were just toast. Um but like you know, that didn't quite happen to that extent with the 10K. So with the with the half marathon, I really like made an effort mentally to appreciate the accomplishment and feel good about it. And um, you know, I think a lot of people are a bit the same way, right? You have a goal, you have you have different goals that you want to achieve. And as soon as you achieve one, it's like on to the next one, on to the next one, on to the next one. And I think that's important to keep you driven and keep you motivated. I think it's in some ways a good thing, but at the same time, I think it's dangerous to never be content with anything. My wife tells me that all the time. She always tells me that I'm not content because I'm always chasing more. So I really like mentally just tried to soak this one in and appreciate it and um not take it for granted, you know, and really be be proud of myself for doing it. Yeah, I also think that not letting yourself appreciate the accomplishments that you have kind of reinforces some of the imposter syndrome stuff, you know, kind of feeling like you're not a real runner because you you discount what you've already achieved. And, you know, I know for me that's true anyways. Like, and with this one, I've made a real effort to be positive about it, and I am I'm super stoked about it. I'm really happy with the way the race went, and it felt amazing, and you know, I really do love it. But at the same time, it's really easy to get caught up like days, weeks later in starting to feel like, oh well, you know, the average pace is, you know, two hours, and now is an hour and 20 minutes. So, you know, uh, you know, my official time was two hours, 21 minutes, and 11 seconds, and it's like way below average, you know. But it was still a really good effort for me, and I'm still really stoked that I did it. And I I didn't even know if I was gonna be able to do it. I didn't know if my knee was gonna hold up. I didn't know um if I'd be able to keep running the whole way. We need to let ourselves be proud of our accomplishments, you know. A lot of people haven't done a half marathon yet, a lot of people haven't done a 5K yet. Um, like I said, when I first started, it was all I could do to get a mile and then mile and a half, and then eventually two miles. I think I actually went like a mile and three quarters and then two miles, you know, and you're always pushing as hard as you can. And then running this half marathon, that's the farthest I've ever run. And you always just feel like you're pushing yourself as hard as you can. So your training doesn't feel a whole lot different. So even though it just always kind of feels the same, right? It always feels like, oh, I'm pushing really hard and running is hard. Um it's not the same. You've actually improved probably more than you realize. Um, so definitely let yourself appreciate those things. Let yourself appreciate the wins. That's definitely something that I learned personally from this race was making sure that I take the time to appreciate all of these things and all these accomplishments. So now let's move on to some practical tips. If you're in the same situation I was in, you're trying to get ready for your first half marathon, you've never done one before. Um things I learned as a very novice runner and not at all a pro, even close to being a pro or elite or anything like that. Um, you know, if that's you, if you're kind of in that camp, what are some things that I would suggest doing differently? Um, the main thing we've already touched on quite a few times is the training, right? Um give yourself more time. Again, if you've got if you've got the option to take a race in eight weeks, 12 weeks, 14 weeks, 20 weeks, take the one in 20 weeks. Don't rush it. Take your time. Um sign up for a race that gives you plenty of time. Work on your slow, easy running a lot. Um, I've really boiled my training down to a very simple philosophy. I can't remember, it's from a running coach. I can't remember the guy's name right now. Um, but he basically said one hard workout every week, one long run on the weekend, and as many easy miles as you can get the rest of the week. And that's basically what I've been doing uh since I got back into training. And it I think it's working a lot better than what I did before the race, honestly. So yeah, give your time, give yourself time to train is my number one thing that I screwed up that if you're in my boat, you should try to avoid for sure. The next thing is gear and kind of has to do with with training in different conditions. Um, I did have some legitimate reasons why I couldn't run outside during a lot of the training, but once I got the treadmill, I kind of used it too much, I think. I think I probably should have made myself go out on some nasty rainy days and run in a raincoat with pants on to get myself used to that because that was um that definitely adjusted the difficulty level for sure. I think it definitely added uh five to ten seconds per mile of pace, I would estimate. So try to make sure you train in any condition that might realistically pop up on race day so that you're ready for it. That's definitely something that I wish I would have done that I didn't do. The third thing that I would suggest is do a better job. I did try some different stuff with nutrition and and gels and like I said, eating the banana with honey and stuff before some of my long runs, but I didn't really start that till I did like I think my seven-mile long run. So I only had like a couple chances to mess with that and practice with it a little bit. Um, so I would if again, if you can take advice number one and give yourself more time to train, so it kind of flow nicely from that concept, right, of having more time. And that would be practicing your nutrition more before the race. I it worked out pretty good. I think I did all right, um, but I definitely should have practiced a little bit more with nutrition and also hydration. I never carry anything for hydration in training, and that was a little bit different too. I think that's a little bit of why I got those side stitches and kind of screwed my pace up. I think I drank too much water at one of the aid stations. So that was another thing I I would suggest is like really try to dial those things in in practice so you know before you get to the race, oh, this is too much. This isn't enough. I need to do this, I don't need to do that, things like that. That would that would be a huge thing. And then lastly, my last tip or the last thing that I would work on your mental game a little bit. And for me, like I said, um, waiting to get to the 10-mile mark where I could say your mom could do a 5k, that was like a I really think that that little goal helped me. And psychologically, for me, it was like I've done a 10-mile long run, so I know I can get to the 10-mile point. And then I have this funny little anecdote from someone else that isn't even mine that can kind of help motivate me to get through the last little bit that is pushing beyond what I've ever done before. So that was really helpful. And then a lot of people come up with different mantras, different chants that they have when they're running. If you can, if you have something like that, again, it's just like the nutrition practice it on your training runs. See how it makes you feel. Me personally, um, I quote a Bible verse, uh, Philippians 4 13. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And um, so that's something that I chant to myself when I'm when I'm feeling burnt out when my legs are toast. I'm like, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And it really gives me a little bit of boost of energy. Um, I like to think maybe maybe my guardian angel helps me out a little bit when I'm doing that. But um, you know, I know different things work for different people. So um practice that too. Practice the mental game while you're training as well. So those are those are kind of the things that I would advise you if you're in that same boat of never having done um a half marathon or even any race, you know, whether it's a a 5k, 10k, half marathon, whatever it is, marathon, um, I think that those that that advice will kind of translate well to any race distance if it's your first time and you're unsure of things. I think those are good rules to follow for sure. So that's pretty much all I've got for this episode, guys and gals. Um but I'll just kind of end with saying this. If you're on the fence about whether or not you should sign up for a race, whatever race it is, whatever distance it is, just do it. The worst thing that can happen is you end up not going. You get, you know, my buddy just signed up for a race that he had to pull out of because he got hurt. So it is what it is. It's not the end of the world, but you're never gonna do it if you don't sign up. So that's that's the thing that I would encourage you to do is just sign up, lock yourself in for a race and try to do it. I know that you can do it if you put the time in, put the effort in, you'll make it happen, without a doubt. So believe in yourself and just keep running. That's all there is to it, man. Just keep running. All right. So, yeah, if you've liked this podcast, if you've got any value out of it, if you found it entertaining, um, please, it'd mean a lot to me if you could like, comment, subscribe. That would be super helpful for me. Um, share it. That's another big thing that the algorithms love that helps things out. So um, and the best thing is it's all free for you, right? It doesn't take anything to hit that like button. So go ahead and do all those lovely internet things that you're supposed to do. I really do appreciate it. And until next time, let's all just keep running.