My First Half

Today I did my first Half Marathon in Fairfield, Connecticut. I signed up for it a few weeks ago at the urging of my friend Jeff. Little did I know this course is considered the "double black diamond" of half marathons....alas, my money was paid and the pasta ingested, so I was committed to attempting it. The first couple of miles was nice and flat. This didn't last. At about mile 3, the hills started. You rounded a corner and right in front of you was a wall of people running up what appeared to be a hill the size of Mount Everest. Super. So, up we trotted, and then allowed the momentum to fling us down the other side like a shot. It then kinda evened out a bit for a mile or two before we hit "the Hills Section." Oy vey...this section was aptly named. The middle 5ish miles of the course was up and down (mostly UP it seemed), and was quite evil. Luckily the temperature and weather was superb, otherwise I don't know how I could have coped. At around mile 7, I got this sudden burst of energy (maybe it was the energy gels I had been consuming) and decided to pick up the pace. From mile 7 thru til about mile 10 was the end of the hilly part. When I got to around mile 10, it was the last big hill (coming down the Mt Everest one at around this point), and I was feeling fine. From about mile 11, I started to feel like I was fading pretty badly. I popped an extra energy gel and willed myself to speed up. The last mile or so was a blur, but I finished strong at 2:07:01 - not a bad pace for a first half marathon, let alone one that could have had a roller coaster modeled after it! I was extremely pleased with the effort. Now, however, my right achilles tendon and lower calf is quite sore, thanks to all of those damn hills. Ah nevermind - injuries heal, and we live to run again.

The greatest part of this day was when I arrived back at Jeff's house, I had like 200 missed phone calls from home...I knew this couldn't be good. I called, and it turns out that Angela's little red spot (which we assumed was some sort of insect bite/sting) on her right eyebrow had swollen to the size of a grape. She called the doctor and was told to go to the ER immediately. Luckily (note the sarcasm here), I was 2 hours away. Mom looked after Ella and Marty took Angela to the ER - I met them there, and fortunately, Angela was told it was no big deal, and was started on some antibiotics. The swelling has already gone down quite a bit and she is quite relieved. I then made a yummy turkey loaf and a cucumber/tomato/onion salad for dinner, we took Ella for a drive to get her to sleep, and I settled in to watch Top Chef while Angela went to bed herself. I am now, completely exhausted, set to join her. Yet, somehow, I managed to type this for all 3 of you, my regular readers, to enjoy....all in all quite a busy and fulfilling day.

Can't wait til my head hits that pillow......