So I’ve now officially completed two half marathons and they were both completely different. 

I don’t have any pictures, besides this one:

The night before is always fun. Carbo-loading and nerve-racking preparations. :)

So this half was a lot harder than my last one (Huntington Beach ,California Surf City Half Marathon February 2011). Blame it on the hills, blame it on the altitude, blame it on getting a parasite two weeks before the run and being stuck in bed. Either way I finished in 2:29. I thought it was a little bit less, but the bottle-necking at the start line was ridiculous. 

The night before we met up with a bunch of fellow Peace Corps volunteers for some delicious pizza. Then we headed home to the hostel for a quiet night watching Horrible Bosses. We woke up early the next morning and searched for bananas before heading off into a microbus to find the start line. We ended up having to walk due to blocked roads, but we were there in no time. Before I knew it the announcer was screaming about starting and a blast of confetti doused fellow runners. There was no staggered start corrals so pretty much everyone just rushed to the start. This caused some serious bottle-necking until the first turn in the course where it finally started to clear up. I made it a point not to stop the first 7 miles. I felt as if I could have kept going (at a significantly slower jogging pace), but then we were met by a giant hill. We had been running steadily up and down small inclines, but this hill was the mother of hills. I tried my hardest to run and walk up the hill. I found mini goals to run to and rewarded myself with small walking breaks. The hill definitely was the major stopping point to the entire race. After that, it was hard to get myself going again. 

At mile 10.1, when I knew all that was left was a mere 5K (the worst part of the race), I decided I was not going to stop anymore. But, I was so drained and exhausted that it was a lot harder said than done. But, sure enough I finally hit the 20K mark (only 1K to go) and tried my hardest to pick up the pace and try to sprint towards the finish line. I’m sure my sprint seemed like a fast jog to bystanders, but to me I felt I was using every ounce of effort possible. Finally I crossed and I was all smiles again. Only to be surprised by one of those foil blankets (which I promptly threw off because it was way too hot) and a medal! Which was a great surprise because I was told there would be no medals for finishers. 

I waited for my sitemate to finish and downed a bottle of nasty powerade before having to walk all the way back. I was so exhausted to have to walk back that it took us twice as long as normal to get back. Then, we all celebrated with victorious beers and eggplant sandwiches. Only to have to board a cameoneta (bus) and travel five hours to the Peace Corps office. Needless to say, my butt is sore…

I’m proud of myself. I’m slightly disappointed in my time. But, my goal was to be under 2:30, which I did succeed in. We’re looking at another half in May in Coban, but from what I hear it’s all hills and really hot. So, we shall see! 

:)

Happy running.