CEDARS of LEBANON FROSTBITE HALF-MARATHON - RunHalf Marathon

What a day.

The start was good. No mass confusion. Everyone was polite with no pushing.

The first mile out of the park got called at 10:20. I kept thinking I needed to slow down, but I felt good so I kept the pace. We were running on the shoulder of a pretty busy 2 lane highway. The shoulder was a pretty wide one as it was also a bike path/lane. Some people felt they needed to run in the road. I couldn't understand that, with all the shoulder room that was available. I still kept a comfortable pace and was passed by several people. I knew that this was not going to be something I should worry about at all. I was here to finish and nothing else.

We turned off the highway at mile 2.5. There was an aid station here so I grabbed a cup of water. I just cannot run and drink. I choked on the water but got it down even though I was coughing for a good bit after. At this point, what ever pace people were going to keep kind of became evident and I wasn't passed anymore and I was not passing anyone. There was a younger girl in front of me. An older lady asked me if we were last. I looked back and saw one guy behind us and told her no, we were not last. The three of us kept the same pace for a good while.

Mile 4 had a decent hill. It learned here that hills really don't bother me. I looked up and saw the hill and immediately looked back down. I had to keep my eyes on the road ahead of me and not dwell on the hill. Matchbox 20's "Let's see how far we've come" came on and this part of the lyrics made me think of how far I've come. I kicked it up and killed the hill. The young girl in front of me seemed to be having a problem and turned around and ran backwards. That really seemed so odd to me. I passed her and the older lady and sang my way up. I kept a sub 11 min mile up to mile 5.

The next few miles were uneventful except for dropping my bandana so I had to stop running to pick it up. The older lady passed me again, she seemed to have more pep now. She was saying something as she passed about there is now a no passing rule. Funny thing to say as she was passing me.

As I came to the 7th mile, which I knew was going to be where the hardest part started, there was another aid station so I took another gel. I slowed here to a walk to drink my water without choking. I was disappointed that the cup was not even half full. I did't feel like I had enough to get the gel down.

The next three miles were on a gravel road. For the most part, this was not too bad except there were some pretty decent hills. The 10th mile was probably the worst of all. The gravel here was made of bigger rocks. It appeared to have been a very long time since the gravel had been laid. Most of the rocks were in the center or to the side. Every so often, gravel was pretty heavy in the "track" area. You kind of had to pick which track you needed to be in. Then the gravel was kind of buried part way and you had a tendancy to trip on them. I did this twice, you know, with flailing arms and a great fear that you were going down, but I caught myself both times. A guy that I had been leapfrogging with was walking at this point and asked me as I passed him how much longer the gravel was going to last. The next mile marker, I told him. Actually, we were almost there.

Mile 10, no mans land. This was the farthest I've been in training.

Now were were back on a flat road. Well flatter, the road appeared to have been patched several times so you really had to watch were you were going and move around to the smoothest area. That was ok. I know now I only had 3 miles to go. Funny how you can put "only" in front of 3 miles. I went through an area that was just a beautifully wooded area. Very tall barren trees with a dried leaf strewn forrest floor. The music I had playing, Sir Mixalot Baby Got Back, seemed to be echoing through the woods. So funny.

The last mile finally arrived. The older lady was still in front of me. Someone, who might have been her husband, ran back through the course to run back in with her. She seemed to be struggling at this point. I knew I could put a little something more into the last mile, so I picked it up a bit. It actually started into a pretty good downhill. Almost an ackward kind of running like when I was a kid hopping down a hill, trying ot keep your balance. I passed her as she was laughingly yelling "hey, no passing". Her husband told me it was all down hill now.

I was really going to finish this.

The finish line finally appeared. The scorer was telling me to show my number, which I did, and I ran through the finish.

I walked around the area and found some water to drink. I looked for Claudia, but she probably finished long before me and already left for home. I went inside and everyone was sitting around waiting for the awards to given out. There were several things to eat. Looks like there had been pizza but it was now gone. I found an oatmeal creme cookie, a banana and some fig newtons. I went to the bathroom to wash my face and came back out to listen to the awards. The 5th place for my age group finished in 1:55. I guess that's going to be a long term goal for me.


Years of a sedentary lifestyle.


Only 3 aide stations due to the cold weather, but less than 1/2 a cup? Come on.