The Willimantic Classic- 13.1 Miles of Fun and Accomplishment

Not to spoil the ending for you, but I DID IT! I'm an official Half Marathoner! I'd be lying if I said I didn't go into Saturday's race as a big ball of nerves. I knew I could do the distance (I had done it twice before, plus a 14 miler) but still. I've never been in race conditions before. How would it all go down?! 

The Willimantic Classic was, in one word, awesome. It was a small town race, which has its drawbacks, but I absolutely loved it. Before signing up for my first half, I had researched some and decided Willimantic was right for me. It was close to where I live, not too many runners, and people had described the course as "pretty flat." Well, 2/3 isn't so bad. But more on that later. 

I had laid out my Flat Runner the night before, snapped the obligatory pics, and set my 3 alarms for the next morning. We stayed at a hotel about 30 minutes from the race the night before, so I wanted to make sure I was up early enough to A) Get ready B) Eat something and have time to digest and C) Let us leave early enough to get our registration packets and walk around a little. Turns out, I didn't need the other two alarms, I had enough energy to get up and at'em at 6am, but some others in my group (cough, fiancé) needed a little extra snoozing. 

So, we finally made it out the door and headed to Willimantic, CT. I don't think my legs were still the entire journey. I was bouncing up and down, but it was a good nervous. 

It just got REAL! 

Fast forward to maybe 10 minutes before the start when they announced that the half marathoners would be starting from the "Corner of Main Street and Jillson Square". Ummm...excuse me?! Where the heck was that?! My sister and I figured out if we follow the huge group of people though, we'll be okay. So, instead of starting from behind the gate, we started at the street corner. I thought that was somewhat odd. Especially for timing sake. But, I guess they had it all figured out because the people in charge of the race weren't worried about it. 

And then, at 8:30 and 30ish seconds (we had to let the 5k runners clear)- WE WERE OFF! 

My sister and I decided that we would cross the finish line together, no matter what. Which I think is a pretty damn good goal for a first half marathon and for (virtual) training buddies. Our first 3 miles carried us through forest preserves and over trails, which was strange for me having never ran over trails before. Definitely something I wish I would have known. I was so worried about spraining an ankle! 

I felt strong though, and I wanted to push the pace. My sister's ankle started bothering her though (she had a pretty bad sprain at the beginning of our training) and she needed to slow down. So, I pulled ahead just a little bit and every so often would slow down for her. I don't know if that ended up helping me or hurting me, but I liked being able to run with her when we did. 

So, let's talk about miles 1-6ish for a minute...HOLY HILLS, BATMAN! Now, I honestly don't know the definition of "rolling hills" or if there even if a set definition. But I can tell you that these damn things didn't feel "rolling." They felt like climbing Mount Everest. Okay, maybe not that extreme. I live on Cape Cod. I don't think you can find a flat stretch of road here, so I was pretty used to running with hills. But, still. There were A LOT of them. And I mean A LOT. I managed to get through them, but my quads paid the price just a little bit. 

Miles 6-7 were awesome! They brought us back toward the Main Square in town and there were a ton of spectators! Including my fiancé! We actually got to high-five each other as I crossed the mile marker for 7. He got some great pics too! 

My only pic of the day, the iconic Frog Bridge in Willimantic

Heading down the Frog Bridge, nice and steady

Smiles for days after seeing my fiancé

Miles 8-10 were sort of a blur. I honestly don't remember them. I do remember thinking "Only 2 5k's left! Come on legs!" But that's about it. I still felt good even as we hit mile 10, which was an AMAZING feeling for me! 

With 1 more 5k left (miles 11-13) I felt strong and started to surge ahead of my sister again, who's ankle was really bothering her. She might have cried a little bit and it might have slowed her down just slightly, but that girl still PUSHED. She was amazing. So around mile 12 I slowed my pace for real, so I could be there for my sister through the last mile. We were almost there! We weren't going to quit now. 

Mile 12.5 had one more hill in store for us (thanks.) and then we both felt the energy of the crowd, heard the music in the distance and we went for it! We picked up the pace and basically sprinted the last .6 miles and damn did it feel GOOD! 

I crossed the finish line with one of my best friends in a time of 2:22:50. We beat our goal of a 2:30 time. Okay, we CRUSHED our goal and we crossed the finish line with smiles on our faces. 

Crossing the finish line, smiles for miles! 

My Bling! 

Sisterly Bling. We definitely had matching outfits.

So there it is. I'm an official half marathoner, I killed my goal time, and I crossed the finish line proudly with my sister. I don't think I've ever smiled so much in my entire life. And maybe I got a little misty too. The sense of accomplishment was huge on Saturday. It still is. I'll stop and think "wow, I can't believe I did that." 16 weeks of hard training and we did it! 

Can't wait for the next one! 

-Happy Running!