halfway there.....

i finished the run for life half-marathon saturday in madison, ms.  my goal was to finish in 3 hours.  i was doing 2:30/1:00 intervals and on schedule until mile 10 when i came out of the walk interval.  my calves cramped and i had to walk in the rest of the way.   i tried to pick it back up to a jog pace several times, only to cramp within 10-15 steps. with the finish line in sight, i tried for one more push but had to come to a complete stop within 50 yrds of the finish line because of the cramps. i did not feel over exhausted and still had some gas left, but the legs just would not cooperate. i hobbled across the finish line slighlty faster than a walk for an official finish time of 3:12:18.   

this was my first half-marathon, and i was really impressed with the runners' support groups cheering for their friends, family, and even perfect strangers.  their encouragement certainly makes a difference in winning the mental battles that pop up during the long run.  perhaps the most inspirational and heart-warming thing i saw saturday took about an hour to play out before i recognized what was going on. 

around the 6 mile mark, i noticed a gold colored small suv-crossover with an older lady, a younger lady and a three or four year old boy.  as i approached, the ladies began taking pictures and the little boy had a huge smile and started waiving.  about a mile down the road, i saw them again.  when i got closer, the ladies began taking more pictures and the little boy still had a huge smile and was waiving.  this happened again and again until mile 9.  between mile 9 and 10, an elderly gentlemen named jim ottinger wearing a shirt that said he was "circa 1933" and "100 marathons" came up on my left side.  i had noticed him at the starting line, but he had been behind me the entire race. he told me that he was glad he was only doing the half and didn't think he could make the full marathon.  i told him this was my first half. he said that he was 77 and ran his first marathon when he was 54.  since then, he has run 53,000 miles.    

we chatted for a few minutes, and he picked his pace up until he was about 50 yards in front of me as we came up on the two ladies and little boy.  when the gentleman was about 50 yards from them, the little boy would run with reckless abondon to this gentleman who was obviously his grandfather.  they would hold hands and walk back to his mother and grandmother who would get back in the car and drive up another half mile or so and do it again. when i saw that, the ony thing that was going through my mind was that wyatt told me the night before how he hoped i won the race and how he wished he could go.  i have no doubt he would have loved running down the road like mr. ottinger's grandson. maybe next time. 

in case you were wondering, mr. ottinger finished 4 minutes ahead of me.  even though i was off the mark, i feel a great sense of accomplishment for just finishing the race.  i am reasonably certain that i have never travelled 13 miles on foot in a day. i think my next half marathon will be the rock-n-roll new orleans in february.  for now, i will probably give the feet time to recover.