I did it!

So the morning of the Boulder Half Marathon, I had what we should probably be referring to as a minor melt down. My confidence was completely shot, if you couldn't tell from my previous post, and I had my self convinced that I would not be able to finish. To make it worse, the few people that are able to talk me off of such a ledge fell in to one of the following categories: 1)refuses to run unless it is an emergency and even then it better be a good one; 2) exploring the world; and 3)6am on a Sunday is a time period that has never been personally witnessed.
Luckily for me I had Tyson. He gave me a pep talk as he made my breakfast of champions (2 eggs, scrambled, cheddar cheese melted on top, glass of Naked Juice Green Machine), gave me a confidence nudge as I was crying on the couch, distracted me on the drive up to Boulder, and the most amazing thing of all, ran the whole thing with me, even though he hadn't trained for it, or planned on it. To top that all off, he was my personal photographer throughout the race, so I have something to show everyone that falls into the above categories!

The first 4 miles or so were pretty solid, I felt like I was pacing myself well and had found a couple that was going right around my pace in front of me that I could chase! It was right around this point that I got a phone call from an international number I wasn't familiar with (Yes, I was carrying my phone, and I answered it!) It was my mom calling from Israel! She wanted to see if I was done yet. The answer of course was no, the race hadn't even started a full hour ago yet, so I told her to callback later,"Give me an hour" I said. Little did I know she was setting a timer. But it was nice to hear from her, it was that little voice I needed to keep me moving.



Mile 5 is when things started getting a little rough. The way the trail is laid out, there are a bunch of sharp turns, so you can't actually see the turn around point until it is right in front of you. That last mile and half was the longest 7,920 feet I'd seen to this point. But once I got to the turn around it was much easier for me to play the mind game with myself, after all I had already gone farther than the distance I still had to go!

As we got to the hills Tyson gave me advice on how to get over them without wearing myself out, he ran track and cross country while in undergrad, so he seemed like a reliable source for the information! At this point I was feeling pretty good, we'd' made our way through most of the sharp turns and I could see the Boulder Reservoir in the distance where I would eventually find the finish line.

Exactly one hour after the previous call, and shortly after I passed the 11 mile mark, I felt my phone vibrating in my hand and could hear Fitz and the Trantrums wailing "Oh what a lovely day" over the Lady Gaga I had playing on my iPod, it was mom.
Mom: "Are you done yet?"
Becca:"No, I'm not done yet, I have 2 miles left!"
Mom: "Ok, so I should call you in like 15 minutes?"
Becca: "Mom, I have run 11 miles so far, it's going to take a little longer to go the last 2!"
Mom: "So 20 minutes?"
Becca: "Fine, 20 minutes!"

I think she was a little anxious since she was on the other side of the world, that or she was getting my ESP on a 2 hour delay, from my melt down earlier in the morning letting her know I needed my mom!

At this point in the run you are so close you can taste it, but your body is seriously considering throwing a revolution (the type that will not be televised). My breathing was pretty steady, but my quads were calling in for air-strikes and my knees had made arraignments with NATO to take over if this thing was going to go for much longer. Meanwhile, Tyson, seemingly walking next to me but keeping perfect pace, was studying for the Medical Boards on his cell phone (which threw a few of our fellow runner for a loop)!



At the very end, Tyson ran ahead to get a few last minute photos of my run and to catch me at the finish line. He caught me instead on the phone with my mom.
Mom: "Are you done yet?"
Becca: "Mom, you are KILLING me here, this is a 13.1 mile race, it is going to take me some time!"
Mom: "Ok well you're Dad and I are going to go to dinner, we will call you later though!"
Becca: "GREAT Mom, talk to you later!"

As I made the final turn before crossing the finish line I saw my sister, waiting for me like she said she would!



I am so glad to be done with the Boulder Half, but Tyson is working on convincing me to do the Colfax Half in May.

I think I'll do it!