Before I ran my first half-marathon I heard many people give opinions on what they viewed to be crucial things to be able to finish well. So I tried some of them and was lucky enough to find a friend that was able to stay at my pace.
I started the half marathon and for anyone doing a rundisney half-marathon when you are in the last corral, it is going to be while before you actually start the event. The event started at 5:30, that is when the first corral started. I was in the last corral, but I was there early so I was near the middle front area. I started at 6:20 almost an hour after the first corral started. As I was jogging (anyone that knows me that my typical run is about a jog speed unless I am doing sprints) I happened to see another runner, running alone about the same speed a me. She also glanced at me and both of us decided that we should talk and we decided that we could pace with one another. So we stuck together for the entire race and finished together. This is where my first tip comes in, have that is running about your pace or slightly better to stick with during the run.
We stuck together and we both finished and were not swept up by the pacer crew. We also did not crawl over the finish line. We pushed ourselves but we both knew to walk when we could not run and we walked fast, almost a jogging pace. We kept each other focused on finishing and finishing well.
I was told to drink powerade or a drink like this every other water spot. Now I am not much of a sports drink person but I definitely felt the difference that drink had. We did not drink a lot of it just about half a cup or so and we drank water at each water station. That was another tip to drink water at each station and not think you are ok at the beginning and skip them. At about mile 6-7 we could feel the blood sugar crashing and luckily for both of us we had CliffShotBlocks so we ate those with water from the water station we were going through and we felt the help. Around mile 9 Disney had Cliff Power Gels, they were alright but they tasted kinda gross and were not as good as the shot blocks which were chews.
We finished and my time was 3:37, my goal was 3:30 but there were some things outside of our control that slowed us down. There were a couple of times we were stopped because pedestrians or cars had to get out. A couple of times the crowd came to a slow. Then after we finished the hard part came.
We had to each walk back to our hotels, that ended up being another mile, add in the mile more than a mile walk to the starting line and to the corrals. By the time my day ended I had walked over 20 miles according to my fitbit.
Everyone told my I would be super sore, unable to walk after that, but guess what, I walked yesterday afternoon a couple of places. I woke up this morning and I did not hurt and tomorrow I will be back to my regular workout.
Fitness and Faith 