Half Marathon 2012

Well, here it is, the day after my first half marathon. I am one sore puppy! I just took a very hot bath for my sore legs and lower back. It was an amazing experience! I was (a very lame) part of the RUN BAREFOOT team, not literally running barefoot, but running on behalf of Barefoot Republic Camp. There were many opportunities to train with the group of people on the team, with runs around town and dinners afterwards. I just could never make any of them with all of my other family and work obligations, so all of my training was basically on my own. On Saturday morning, Andrea drove me to the starting area and I met up with my friend Srini. He is the father of one of Maggie's best friends and an awesome runner. He showed me the ropes of how the start would go. It was amazing to be standing in the middle of West End Avenue with tens of thousands of other runners. The sun was coming up and it probably 65 degrees. The wave start was new to me. I had never done this before, so I was a little surprised to not be starting until 7:43am. But once we got started, the exhilaration was strong. Footsteps all around me, some slow, some very fast. We headed straight for the Batbuilding, down West End Avenue. We headed right down Broadway through "The District," then right toward Symphony Hall. Then right again on Demonbreun past the rising Music City Center. The hill up Demonbreun was where the exhilaration started to wear off and we got our second water station and the sweat started. There was a band in the middle of the Roundabout (or as we like to call it, The Roundabutt, because of the naked statues in the middle of the rotary) was playing "Love Shack," and the atmosphere was very party-like, which helped a lot. My list of rookie mistakes starts here: I went out too fast. The thrill.