My 3rd Kentucky Derby Half Marathon

So D and I headed up to Louisville, KY on Friday morning.  Unlike past trips, this one was uneventful. The most eventful thing was that women in Smyrna, TN seem to like to show plumber’s crack.  I don’t mean Coin Slot. I mean Credit Card Swipe.  Purposely on the way home, we didn’t stop in Smyrna, TN.

Right when you cross the line from Tennessee into Kentucky, Verizon 3G and 1X service goes away. My friend J got to hear all about First World Problems for 90 miles (texting still worked).  I guess I could have talked to D, but yeah, I didn’t.   We listened to his playlist and looked at a lot of tree covered mountains.  I really am not a nature person.

We finally arrived to Louisville.  We went to the Expo twice.  We got our numbers and got out and then realized we forgot our posters.  We had to re-loop which made me re-look at a T-shirt, so I bought that (just like their evil plan wanted me too).  Then we went down to 4^th Street Live.  We went to Red Star only to find it was now an Italian Restaurant.  So we went to The Pub.  I asked for a Breckenridge Vanilla Porter.  D asked for a Belhaven Scottish Stout. Out of both, on a Friday.  We got Old Reliable… Guinness.

We finished up there and decided since Red Star was closed, tradition had been thwarted and went to a new pizza place.  Bearno’s under the bridge.  More Guinness and Bacon and Sausage Pizza.  I was concerned about the race.  Besides not having run for a week and a half, I had a cold and a sore throat.  D had a cold and a runny nose.  I decided my plan was to try my best and if my time was off, to relax and have fun.  D said that was a good plan.  We got back to the room and went to bed around 9pm.

Guinness at The Pub

Me and D at The Pub

At 11pm I woke up.  My left shoulder hurt.  I thought I was having a heart attack. I wondered if I should put on my heart rate monitor to see what it was reading.  I remembered I had carried in all my bags on that shoulder and that’s why it hurt.  What if it hurt during the race? Maybe I should put on the HRM.  I played on my phone. I went to the bathroom 3 times.  At 1am I finally decided to try sleeping again.  At 2am, I decided I wasn’t sleeping.  I wondered if I didn’t cross the finish line how D would know to go look for me in a hospital. That thought must have relaxed me because it was 615am with the alarm going off.

Having a good hair day pre-race

We got up and had breakfast of Clif Bars and Water (well, I don’t really know what D had, that’s what I had).  At 650 we walked to the race. D wondered if I put his time down wrong because he was in Corral B.  I was in F.  We walked to E and stood (no one was in E).  Then D said he wanted to go.  I looked at the Green Lantern for awhile.  The 13:10 pace group lined up ahead of me.  We listened to the National Anthem and then we stood for awhile. Then we moved and stood, moved and stood, finally moved.  About 20 minutes later we crossed the Start Line. 

Scared shitless like at every race!

I  ran not really thinking about much.  I think the course was slightly different than last year because we seemed to run on Main Street forever.  The 13:10 pace team was going at 12:30 and kept having to walk.  I stayed with them for awhile.  They passed me.  At 1.5 miles I was completely dehydrated.  My head hurt and my lips were stuck. I drank 3 glasses of water at the water stop.  We turned and ran on 18^th (I think) for awhile.  Then onto the road with the McDonald’s.

I had some Powerade and some more water.  I was thinking I was going way too fast.  I was also thinking my nose was running way too much for any good snot rockets. My sleeve was my Kleenex.  It was massively used.

Mile 1: 12:48

Mile 2: 13:07

Mile 3: 12:45

Mile 4:13:06

The 13:10 pacers had long passed me.  I turned and went up towards Mile 5.  Again, I just spaced out.  I got to Mile 6 and found 2 women to pace because I was getting tired.  Somehow I ended up passing them.

Mile 5:13:16

Mile 6: 13:48

10K: 82:03 (PR by 5 seconds)

After I crossed the 10K mat I walked for 2 minutes. I had some oranges and was so happy that I was either running faster so I got food or they supplied more food for the slower people (I think this was the case).  I started running again, but now was insanely tired.  And my 4^th toe on my left foot started hurting.  At Mile 7 I had some almonds that I had in my pants (nuts in my pants…lol).  I decided that wasn’t a good idea so I put them back.  I turned and was running next to Churchill Downs.  I don’t know if it was psychosomatic or what, but my hip started hurting because we had turned off asphalt and turned onto cement (or is it concrete?).  Mile 8 was into Churchill Downs. We ran under the stands and then right as we were about to run under the field, horses came flying over the field. That was an awesome sight.  Then I ran down the hill, and I thought my hip was going to come off.  I decided I would have to walk because the pain was excruciating.  I got to the infield and it was all asphalt.  I decided to run 30 seconds.  I felt fine so I ran the rest of the way through the infield, looking at the horses.  Back to the cement to go under the field and Mother of God!  More walking.  Came out and all concrete (I’ll just use them interchangeably).  I tried to run and my toe and my hip…Again, let’s just walk to the Marathon Split.

Mile 7: 13:44

Mile 8:14:11

Mile 9: 15:23

Ok, I decided I didn’t know what was up so to have fun and look at T-shirts.  The Marathoners rejoined us.  KDF did a good job (to me) this year and had cones up to keep the HM and Full separate.  It looked like they really listened to people and took advice.  I ran next to a pirate for awhile.

This was the Pirate I ran next to. I don't know who the woman is.

My butt/hip felt fine, but my toe was killing with every bend.  Still I tried not to notice it (with ever  flinch of pain).  I came across the College Beer Drinking Team and had some Busch Light with them.  Then I had some Powerade at the table ahead. 

Mile 10: 15:32. 

The idea of having fun left my head.  The thought that I even entertained running 26.2 seemed shattered.  I tried to keep going.  I wanted to cut off my toe.  A song I routinely hear in Mile 11 came on.  I got upset.  I was stupid to keep this up.  I had to switch arm sleeves because the right one was full of snot.  You have less than a 5K. Keep moving.

Mile 11: 16:10

I realized I wasn’t making it under 3 hours. I was a complete and utter failure.  People qualify for Boston in less time than it takes me to run 13.1 miles.  Who runs a mile in 16 minutes?  What is wrong with you?  You suck.  Keep moving.  You get a beer when you are done.  People who suck don’t even run 13.1 miles.  You are doing it with something wrong with your foot.  Keep moving.

Mile 12: 15:15.

I came out from under the tunnel and turned back on Main.  Lots of people. I had realized I had tuned out a lot of people and didn’t know if there was good fan support or not.  So selfish of you not to realize people want to see you succeed.  I was watching a man ahead of me struggle. He had a Christopher Reeves Foundation Shirt on.  He had 2 canes, and he was clearly struggling.  His arms were wavering and his legs were buckling with every step. He was crying.  2 men who had finished and had their medals jumped the race gates and became human crutches.  I was still behind him, and it was powerful to watch.  Just then the Green Lantern passed me.  I decided I couldn’t let him beat me (the Green Lantern).  I actually don’t know if I caught up to him, but I got to the final turn without it being Mile 13.

Mile 13: 15:22

I ran down the last part of the race. This man is running next to me with a video camera in my face. I was so confused. Then I realized he is taping his wife on the other side of me.  I decided to run as hard as I could and if I puked oh well.  They called my name as I was finishing.  I crossed the line.

Mile .18: 1:58

Total: 3:06:20

I got across and they gave me a foil blanket.  And then I got a medal.  Then I heard my name and saw D.  He had Powerade for me.   

Flying!

I wanted to kill my feet.  I was so mad about my time.  I asked him how his time was.  He had PR’d one minute faster than his last one.  It sounds wrong and weird. This made me happy.  He had been training so much faster.  I knew he has been sick too. So I could blame being sick. (I know the complete lack of training probably had something to do with it as well).  We got our pics taken.  We went and got a free beer and sat for awhile so I could relax my foot.  The people by us were nice.  I think the guy was ill, as he left the table looking quite pale and came back even paler.

I drank about half

My Medal

The Sheer Look of Disappointment

Back to the room for a nap.  Then we went drinking and watched Hockey.  

The Maturity of Us and the Future of Education

Dark Star Porter at BBC

I was making fun of people who pose like this, because I hate this pose. But Damn! Look at that calf muscle!

D and the Colonel

Love this place

Blink and you might miss it! Another fun place