Kyle Hepp

April 5, 2009

I did it!!!!

Yeah, baby, feeling good.

I just spent the last half an hour on the computer trying to figure out the next race I can run. I had so much fun doing this one. I mean, at the time I didn’t exactly think it was fun, but as soon as it was all over my mind instantly blacked out all the painful parts and made me want to do it all over!

I finished the Santiago Half Marathon with the respectable time (in my humble opinion) of 2:11:04. That put me at a 10minute 5 second mile. ARRRRRRRRRRGH. Now I have to do another one because I know I can break 10. I’m annoyed with myself for not having done so this time around.

I came in 194th in my category (Damas 20-34 years old) and 3338th out of every person who ran the half. Those numbers mean nothing though because I have no idea how many people, or specifically women in my category, ran.

According to my iPod this was my break down of each mile:
Mile 1: 9:48 (this first mile I was with the masses and I couldn’t run at my own pace so that was a little frustrating).
Mile 2: 9:21 (still in the pack, slowly breaking free)
Mile 3: 8:43 (downhill and felt awesome!)
Mile 4: 8:50 (same)
Mile 5: 8:44 (same)
Miles 6: 10:21 (stopped for water)
Mile 7: 9:45 (stopped for water, to say hi to S. and put on a hat)
Mile 8: 10:25 (severe uphillage action going on)
Mile 9: 11:55 (same)
Mile 10: 8:48 (a guy sprayed me with a hose and I got cooled down and reinvigorated and I think it wasn’t as severly uphill)
Mile 11: 9:39 (hip starting to hurt)
Mile 12: 10:23 (hip hurting badly, stomach hurting badly because I had to poop)
Mile 13: 14:21 (had to stop and walk so I didn’t go into a full blown asthma attack)

I feel like really the only two miles I should have sped up were Mile 6 and Mile 7. In Mile 6, a big group of marathoners must have passed right before the tidal wave of people I was running with arrived, because none of the stands had water pre-poured in the glasses. They were pouring it as people arrived and there were short lines and then people were walking, instead of running, like they did in other water break spots, through the whole area. And in Mile 7, S. was waiting for me on the corner with more water and my hat, and I stopped for probably 45-60 seconds to give him a hug and kiss. If I could’ve skipped the water breaks there I would have broken a 10 minute mile, which was my goal. I’m a little disappointed that I didn’t, but looking back at the rest of the race, all miles except for those two, I was absolutely going as fast as I could (without pooping my pants).

One lesson I learned is that I NEVER want to run another morning race. Or if I do, I should train in the mornings. But that just wouldn’t happen so I think it’s out of the question. My whole system felt out of wack. My body was as tired as could be expected while running, but the whole time I felt SO tired, as in sleepy tired. And I had a headache from not getting a good night’s rest. Plus, and this is TMI, so stop reading if you’re grossed out by bodily functions, I poop every morning, like clockwork when I wake up around 9am, and my body did not decide to change it’s schedule just because I had a race to run. So towards the end I really had to slow down because I had to poop so freaking bad that I would’ve crapped my pants. And then my lungs started feeling insanely constricted, and as much as I want to sprint the last mile all out, I knew that if I didn’t stop and walk an ambulance probably would have ended up taking my non-breathing body off the track had I not. So yeah, a 14 minute mile isn’t great, but I don’t feel like there’s anything I could have done about that. Miles 8, 9, and 10 had the worst uphill action going on, and that was really tough, but I was plugging along. I felt like I continued to exert the same steady amount of energy the whole time.

There weren’t a ton of spectators, and those that were there were fairly quiet. At a few points I actually yelled out “VAMOOOOOOOOOS!!!!” at the top of my lungs to try and motivate myself and the people around me. A few rowdy groups stood on corners and yelled out, but other than that, most people just stood along the sidelines and watched. And there were long stretches were there wasn’t anybody around. Around mile 3 or 4, there were absolutely no spectators but one awesome volunteer was trying to make up for it. She was one of the folks who went out and waved a bright orange flag so nobody got steered off course. But this woman was yelling out at everyone who passed, “Vamos hijos mios, SI SE PUEDE!!!!” I loved her. But not as much as I loved the two families who were out spraying people with a hose. I wanted to kiss them! It was hot as hades and the temperature of my pale white skin was so high you could’ve fried on egg my forehead. On an uphill mile with no shade and almost no spectators this ancient little old man was standing out in his front yard with the hose spraying anyone who ran over to him. I did and it completely breathed new life into me. If I could, I’d go back and give him a big kiss! Instead I just grinned and said, “Se paso!” And then about a half a mile later there was another family doing the same thing and the little kids were in charge of spraying so I told them, “Les quiero mucho!!!” I wasn’t lying.

And in another random observation, there seemed to be a disproportionate amount of Brazilians running. I saw a few people who looked like gringos, never even saw the Kenyans (who took first and second place) but man did I see a TON of people from Brazil — and they all wore something with the Brazilian flag on it so you could easily tell them apart. What I loved about them was that as they passed each other they’d all cheer each other on, and I’m assuming that not ALL these people knew each other from beforehand. I tried to get up the guts to cheer fellow gringas on, but maybe because we weren’t all wrapped in the American flag, I wasn’t sure if they were actually from the U.S. or Europe or just blond Chileans, so I didn’t. And there weren’t very many of them, that I saw, either. Females were few and far in between. Actually at the pre-marathon site where we had to go pick up our chips and t-shirts there were about 4 or 5 giant booths for men to pick up their t-shirts and then there was one small half both for women to get theirs.

At the very end of the race, I thought my actual time was 2:30 and I was so incredibly disappointed. I kept doing the math over and over on my iPod disbelievingly. 2:30 was what the clock said when I ran under it, which is why I was confused. And when S. came to pick me up I believe my exact words were, said through tears and sniffling, were, “I SUCK and I am NEVER going to run again.” It wasn’t the specific time I was disappointed in, just the fact that I thought I ran soooooo much slower than I had been training. I thought that when it came to crunch time I had let myself down. And I’m also the sorest sore loser you’ll ever meet. My senior year of high school my cheerleading team lost by 3 points after nailing our routine, to a team who dropped a stunt, and yes, I am STILL bitter about that. I should have been a State Champion, damn it! I fully realize that things like state championships and half marathon times, in the grand scheme of things, don’t mean jack shit, but I’m just a competitor. I like to do my best and be rewarded for that.

And a big kudos to S., who dropped me off in the morning, then drove to meet me at about the halfway point where we was waiting with water, a hat, my other running shoes and crackers, and a big hug and kiss, just in case I needed any of those things. He was planning on waiting for me again at the point where the race ran by my house, and then again at the finish. But we were big time failures when it came to meeting near my house. I actually got out of the crowd and ran on the sidewalk because I wanted to make sure not to miss him, and he had went out into the middle of the road, to stand next to a policeman to make sure that he would see me in the middle of the crowd. Needless to say, we did not connect. And he stayed out there waiting and waiting, wondering if I had died somewhere along the way. When the ambulances passed him picking up the stragglers he started getting really worried. He thought it was impossible that I had passed without him seeing me. And in the mean time I had been waiting for a half an hour at the arranged meeting point at the finish line, getting angrier and angrier, not at him, but just because I was so tired and thirsty and had no way to get home, no money and no cell phone. He says for the next one he’s going to get out a huge flag and scream and yell so I see him. And then he prefaced that by adding, “But in order to so, I’d have to start drinking rum at 7 in the morning.”

Anyways, I’ve been rambling and I’m still really too tired to think straight, so it’s best I end this post now. I’m going to celebrate with a big glass of champagne. Hope you all had a great weekend!

PS. Don’t forget to congratulate Emily who also finished the half marathon!