Omaha HM race report

As this weekend approached, I honestly questioned what the hell I was thinking signing up for a half marathon 11 weeks after having twins. I don't sleep anymore, I constantly forget to eat, and everything on me aches from picking up babies and sitting on the floor all day. Last week's 10K gave me confidence, but 13.1 is quite a bit further.

But at $70, there was no turning back. I honestly had one goal: beat my first half marathon time of 2:10:53 from back in 2008. That seemed doable. My awesome parents had offered to watch the boys over night, so I was beyond thrilled to be getting more than 3 hours of sleep for the first time in 11 weeks. The Husband made dinner, so I had sleep and food covered.

Pre-race

I was super late getting to the start line. I'll spare you the details of why it took me to long to get out of the house, but the words, "I didn't pump overnight and REALLY should have" were involved.

The start gun went off while I was climbing a fence, jumping active railroad tracks, and weaving around cows. Seriously. Cows in a parking lot. Only in Nebraska.

The race

The plan was to keep a 9:30 pace to allow for probably walking toward the end. I'd only done one very sketchy 10 mile training run, so I knew I was in questionable shape. The first 6 miles were all sub-9:00. I assumed there was not only walking in my future, but also potential puking and probably crying.

But I kept plugging along and eventually calculated (barring a meltdown) I could easily make my 2:10 goal. Then around mile 10, I got greedy and thought I could do sub-2. It would be close, but it was doable if I pushed.

I'll spare you the suspense, but I didn't quite make sub-2. Those last three miles were honestly the most painful and miserable steps I've ever taken. My mind was screaming at my legs and they were dying.

Final: 2:00:58
Pace: 9:13/mi

Post-race

Three words: Marines and medals. Well played, race directors. Very well played.

I gathered some food and slowly limped back to my car past the cows, beyond the railroad tracks, and over the fence. Again. While I was disappointed that I didn't make my on-the-fly New Goal, I was thrilled to have done as well as I did. One of my biggest fears about having twins is that I wouldn't be able to do things like this for quite some time. But thanks to my fantastic mom who watches the boys while I run, I'm back baby!

After a quick shower and breakfast, my parents brought the boys home where I gobbled them up with hugs and kisses. Their first slumber party was a success for everyone, and I can't wait until they can come watch me race some day. I'm pretty proud of how far the boys and I have come in the last year. From here:

(Council Bluffs 5k at 28 weeks)

To here: (And for the record, CPS, The Husband took this picture.
I didn't attempt my usual corner self-portrait with two squirmy babies.)