TLDR: I ran a half marathon in the pouring rain, with no long distance training, and with less than a day's notice
How I found out I was running:
I knew this race was happening because I was getting emails about signing up for this race and prices are increasing, you know, the normal emails you get before a race is on. Fast forward sometime, I come home from work on Friday and check my emails. I notice an email with the subject "Lake Washington Half PRE-RACE INFO". This is the kind of email you get when you're signed up to a race and you're receiving information to a race. I was reading this and I'm just like, this cannot be right!
I look over to Jay and I'm like, "I guess I'm running a half marathon tomorrow?" We both look at each other like, what?! What am I talking about here!! Well, upon scrolling and reading the email, I see MY name with MY wave start time. Then I realized that I had signed up to this race like in 2019/2020 and just totally forgot about it because races were getting cancelled left and right and rescheduled races were getting cancelled and I couldn't keep track of what races I was doing or not.
The decision:
I'm not sure what made me think, I can do this. I've ran 9 half marathons before and I have been running. I just haven't been running long distances, meaning the longest I've ran was a 10k and the last time I ran longer than that was in March of 2020 for the Hot Chocolate 15k. A half marathon is basically a 10k two times and a little more and walkers can also do this race. So basically I could just run the 10k and walk if I really HAD to.
Packet Pickup:
That Friday afternoon, hours after I read that I'm running in this half marathon, Jay took me to get my race bib and t-shirt. The whole drive to the packet pickup, I was switching between I got this and how am I suppose to run a half marathon. In the end, it's basically like if I can just 1) finish the race and 2) not be last then I got this.
Race morning:
Woke up early to eat my usual breakfast of oatmeal and black coffee. Tried to chug some Nuun Hydration (with Caffeine) and hopefully use the toilet before my race. I got ready and woke Jay up so we could drive over. I was worried thinking, how many other people found out a day's notice they were running or maybe I'm the only one who just skipped over the email. It was a big turnout. A lot of people. It was sprinkling a bit but that was suppose to pass over. Used the port a potty and ate some dates from a booth, turned on my Nike Running App guided run for Half Marathon run, and I just wanted to get started.
Race:
The race started and I felt strong. To run double and more of a 10x, I knew I had to easy off my usual pace and go SLOW AND STEADY. Then, it started to rain at about mile 3. It was raining, then pouring, and at some point when it died down to a sprinkle, I was even like YES because it wasn't just pouring. I hated it. It was raining so much and I had given Jay my jacket because I felt like I was going to be too hot in it but it was a bad decision because it was raining, and I was cold, and sweating, and my arms were chaffing. At mile 6.5, I was feeling tired. My endurance wasn't going to last another 6.5 miles out but I tried to lay off the effort some more but at mile 7.25, I knew I was really deconditioned for this. I walked after every mile after mile 7 and at every aid station, I stopped to fuel up. My legs were tired and my body felt heavy just soaking in rain and sweat. My fingers felt cold and that I couldn't move them. I just had to finish so I can go home. I'm 4 miles away, I'm a 5k away, I'm only 1 mile away. Ugh Hills. More Hills. ANOTHER Hill?! Finally at mile 13, finish line in sight, I see Jay there to record me at the finish but I ran towards him and hugged and it felt like I had just a sudden burst of energy just to get me to run to the finish at 13.1.
Post Race:
After the race, my entire body didn't want to move anymore. I felt like I could just lay on this wet, muddy grass and just go to sleep but I knew I couldn't just do that. I chugged an entire water bottle, grabbed some post race snacks they had and we went on our way to post race lunch. I was so cold and wet, I felt miserable. I finished at 2:30 which is surprising to me because I felt in such a daze after mile 7. All I could think about was how heavy my entire being was. There aren't enough guided runs I could listen to to help lift myself to feel better. Fortunately, post race lunch was exactly what I needed. Beer and Burger! I felt refueled enough to get back home and soak in a hot bath for almost 2 hours and get my legs rolled.
After Thoughts:
This experience was one of a kind. It was an extreme and a hardship that I definitely don't want anyone to try but I think it really made me think hard about the future of my running and all the future races I'll be taking on. Even though the rain was tough, there is no helping that and you can't predict that whatever future race you sign up for isn't going to have rain fall at some point or any other weather. It felt like powerful training on my part. I wouldn't do this again but I'm thinking about my future running plans. I can't keep running the same route and run and effort, I have to change it up otherwise I won't get stronger but that definitely doesn't mean I'm running another half marathon with no training lol
