That whole 'I'd run a half marathon over a 5k any day' thing?

Yeah, I take that back.

I ran the Swamp Stomp Half Marathon this morning, and I think I might have died halfway through the course. Or after the first 3 miles.

Because whatever part of me that made me think I could run a good half marathon after running a total of oh, 28 miles over the past MONTH is just WRONG.

It was the worst half I've ever ran, excepting the one I ran with my dad. And I swear, if I wasn't stupidly stubborn about not having a DNF, I would have quit. I probably should have quit, because now I feel like death warmed over.

Note to self: You are not invincible. And waking up at 5:22 AM to drive an hour and a half to run 13 miles the day after you fly across the country is plain ole stupid.

I ran a 1:56:33, which I know isn't horrible, but it's 9 minutes off my PR, and it's 4 minutes off of what I did a couple months ago. And geez, I just ran a whole marathon at almost the same pace. Lame. I can't believe I had (idiotic) thoughts of a PR.

I knew going into it that I didn't feel very good. My legs were sore for no reason (I've done less than nothing training-wise in the past couple of weeks), and I just felt off kilter. I tried stretching (yeah, I know...STRETCHING, something I never do), and I tried just jogging around to loosen up my legs.

But when the first mile went by in 8:22 and it felt like I was running that 5K from last week, I knew I was in trouble.

It was a cute race; only 130 or so people participated. Consequently, I still got 3rd in my 20-29 age group, and got a coffee mug as a reward. And, there was gumbo, Coke, and free massages afterwards. Even the shirt was cool.

All this was to make up for the horrible course, and the weather that made you think it was the middle of July. It was about 70 degrees with 87% humidity, and of course as soon as the race was over the rains came and alleviated all of that disgusting mess in the air. But during the race? My God, I know I'm in Louisiana, but I still didn't expect to be sweating while standing around before the race on December 15.

So, that flat course where I was going to kick some butt? Not quite.

The course was two loops, with 3 different out and backs (through a country club neighborhood) that each put you back in the main quadrant. So, through the race, you ended up within spitting distance of the finish line 6 times. Yeah, torture. I almost quit every single time. And like I said, I would have if this stuff wasn't recorded.

But, I'm still glad I went, even if I have spent the rest of the day in bed moaning about how I don't feel good. What else is vacation for, right? Even a bad race makes you feel alive, and that's about enough for me...

Splits, even though I crashed and burned:
mile 1- 8:22
mile 2- 8:35
mile 3- 8:29
mile 4- 8:38
mile 5- 8:38
mile 6- 8:44
mile 7- 8:55
mile 8- 8:57
mile 9- 9:23
mile 10- 9:35
mile 11- 9:22
mile 12- 9:39
mile 13- 8:26
mile 13.1- :45
total- 1:56:33