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SRRC Race Reports

Rock & Roll Half Marathon , Virginia Beach, VA —Sun., Aug. 31, 2008
by Christy Borbidge

How I Celebrated My 30th Birthday by
Running My First Half Marathon

With much anticipation, race day finally came. All the sweat and hard work of training brought me to completing my first half marathon, something I didn't believe I'd ever do.

Adam and I got down to VA Beach on Friday around noon and headed immediately to the health and fitness expo. I enjoyed walking around and shopping for good deals and souvenirs. (I saved $40 on a new pair of New Balance shoes!) The weather was kind of overcast and questionable, so we wondered how race day would be. We had a lot of family come down to join us for this occasion, and I felt very lucky to have them there.

For our pre-race dinner, we indulged in pizza and drank beer with the family, what a great way to prepare! We briefed our family members with the best spectator plan, something I have much experience with. Afterwards, we left the family madness (mostly due to having 5 kids under age 5 in the same room), and headed to our room to get ready for the race and for a good-night's sleep. Since this race coincided with the American Music Festival, there were bands playing everywhere, and conveniently but somewhat unluckily for us one of them was performing Saturday night right outside our hotel. It was like hearing the music on a stereo right in our room! Once we had everything ready, we watched the fireworks from our window and settled down for what we hoped would be a good night's rest around 10:30pm, with the Reggae music as our lullaby. I went in and out of sleep until the band stopped at 11pm, a little later than I hoped, but still glad to fall asleep.

We woke up Sunday morning fairly rested at about 5:30am. I was pretty excited and could not believe that race day had finally come. It was a great feeling, enough to hide my nerves a bit. Among my anxieties, I was concerned about how I would do because I had not run since Monday of that week and didn't get to do my scheduled 5 miles on Thursday. I also was praying I would not have any shin or knee pain during the race since I had been battling those particular ailments on and off throughout training. I tried to forget about all of that and focus instead on having fun, staying relaxed, and having a great race.

After much contemplation, I decided to run without my water bottle/hip pack. Since I was nervous about not having enough water on the course when I needed it, I carried a water bottle I could toss if I wanted to. Great idea! For added encouragement during the race, I wore signs on my front and back that read "Today is my 30th birthday", another great idea, because it made me smile every time someone said 'Happy Birthday'—a lift that was much appreciated!

We were ready to head to the start by 6:15am (the race started at 7am). We started out walking to the start, which was at the convention center, and about half way there, I decided to pick up a slow warm-up jog to get out some nerves. I got there at about 6:30 and immediately stepped into the horrendously long bathroom line, thinking it would not hurt to see if I could get through the line before the start. While in line, I had a pre-race Powergel. I met a woman in line who was celebrating her 50th birthday, so we exchanged birthday wishes. As it turned out, it was about 6:50am and I was nowhere near the front of the line so I jumped out of line and headed to the start. Since I was in corral 18, I had a bit of a walk ahead to get where I needed to be. I jumped in my corral just before the elite runners started and there I stayed for about a half hour until it was our turn to pull out. Adam was lucky to be in the 1st corral and was well on his way by the time I started. We passed the time waiting by doing The Wave from the front corrals to the back. It seemed to take our minds off of the fact that we were standing on our feet for so long before running 13.1 miles!

Adam flashes by . . .

At 7:35am it was finally our turn. The gun fired and we were off—lots of people cheering, bands playing, and cheerleaders. The first couple miles went pretty well. I saw my family at about mile 1.5. Between mile 2 and 3 it seemed like a huge stretch without a water stop, and I felt I could have used it, considering I drank most of my water while waiting for the start. It was shortly after mile 3 when we finally came to the aid station where I drank both water and Cytomax. Along this section of the route, we could see the elite runners already returning (at around mile 10 for them). Not long after that I got to see Adam and cheer him on. It was nice to see him going strong. After the aid station, we were moving into a more deserted area and, at about mile 4 I had my first PowerGel. This stretch was kind of boring and long, but there was one band, which helped a bit. There were spectators along the way here and there, some more organized than others. Some very thoughtful folks got out their hoses and were spraying the runners as they passed by.

Not too long after, we approached the Army base where the loop around seemed like we were running in circles. They had a couple of aid stations there, cheerleaders, and a band. At about 6.5 miles, they were handing out gels and I graciously accepted. It was strawberry -banana with caffeine (I dig the caffeine boost!). There seemed to be a definite shift in the number of people walking vs. running, you could tell people were starting to tank. This was hard for me mentally because it made me want to walk more. The humidity seemed to be worse at this point and it was pretty oppressive. When I got to an aid station, I took a cup of water and poured it down my back, which felt awesome! I had been able to run most of the time and maintain an 11:00 min. pace and only stopping to walk when getting water at the aid stations. This definitely got harder. I remember, once we got out of the base, seeing mile 7 and thinking, 'Yes! I am over the hump!' and it was nice to know that I was just past half way.

All through out the race lots of runners wished me a happy birthday, which helped tremendously! At one point, one runner asked me if it was harder turning 30 or running this race, to which I promptly replied 'Running the race'. Right after that an older gentleman quickly followed my reply with 'Try running it at 70', and he seemed to be going strong enough. Miles 7 through 9 were kind of a blur. I remember various bands with great music and lots of cheerleaders. Around mile 10, the course went over a bridge that was pretty much the only hill in the whole race, and it seemed like a huge mountain by that point. I managed to run up to the crest of the hill and stopped to walk for a bit until part way through the downhill. I remember thinking, 'This is the downhill—you are supposed to enjoy the downhill, not walk it!' so I proceeded to pick up my pace and start running again. It was almost harder to walk than run because I had difficulty controlling my legs—they felt like Jell-O!

I had my last gel at the 10-mile mark for a boost of energy to carry me through the final 3 miles. Not too long after, I remember passing a section with lots of people and a great band playing a really energetic song—can't remember what it was—and that helped kick up my motivation, so much so that I had picked up my pace to 8:30—for a short time anyway. So I geared myself up for the next three miles—not so easy. These last three seemed much harder than the previous 10. I stopped to walk more often and therefore fell back in the pack with more walkers. Again, this was a tremendous mental challenge. It seemed like it was taking forever to weave our way through the streets to get closer to the boardwalk and the finish line. Just after mile 12, even though I only had a little over a mile to go, I still found myself walking—ugh.

Happy Birthday!

Once we finally got to the boardwalk for the homestretch, I managed to dig deep and run it out to the finish. I knew my heart rate was way too high but I just had to finish strong, so I tried not to look at the monitor on my wrist. I kept saying, 'Just show me the finish line!' It was in site and I kept pushing onward. I was trying to look for my family around the finish line but it was so hard because I was so tired and wanted to focus on getting to the finish line.When I finally crossed, it was an amazing feeling, but I was mostly glad to stop running. It took a while to catch my breath and for my heart rate to come down. They kept us walking through the finish area where they had water, ice cold towels, Cytomax, Popsicles (an unexpected treat!), and goodie bags of food. For a while, I was a little off balance and kind of concerned about dehydration. I felt like if I stopped walking I would definitely fall over! As I kept walking, I kept drinking water and eating my popsicle, and both seemed to do the trick. They also gave us our medals as we walked through. I eventually got through the finish area and was able to find a patch of grass to sit down and stretch before I went to meet up with the family on the beach in the reunion area. This was a great decision. I felt so much better after a good, long stretch—it was amazing. Afterwards, I hobbled out to the beach and quickly found Adam and my family who all congratulated me and wished me a happy birthday. Adam surprised me with a rose! He had already gotten to take a dip in the ocean and was there in his bathing suit.

We made our way over to the beer tent, where drinking my beer at 10:30 a.m. was not as weird as I thought it would be. Afterwards we meandered to our hotel room, which was not far—the finish line was conveniently located right in front of our hotel. Once cleaned up, we joined the family for a delicious breakfast/brunch (well past noon). Chocolate chip pancakes never tasted so good! Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to take a much needed and deserved nap. I didn't end up falling asleep but it was nice to rest for a while to aid in recovery. Besides, the race report couldn't wait. We all went out for a very nice Italian dinner at Il Giardino to celebrate my birthday. Later, we enjoyed birthday cake and a concert on the beach. Not a bad way to finish out my 30th birthday celebration.

All in all, I am proud of this accomplishment, especially on a milestone birthday. I think I will enjoy just running and not training for a while—probably until I get the bug again. I think, although they have not expressed it verbally, I have inspired a lot of my family. My mom in particular was brought to tears while telling me how proud she was of me. Sometimes I don't give myself enough credit for my accomplishments and I get tickled when I think about how you couldn't pay me to run but now I am actually paying to be able to run in a race. I have been encouraging many of my friends to "never say never" when it comes to pushing yourself towards a goal you'd never thought possible.

Thanks to all those who supported and trained with me! I couldn't have made it without you!

Results . . .

August 2008

The SRRC would love to hear about your running, racing, or crewing experiences! If you would like to submit a race report, to be posted on the SRRC website, please email srrunner@srrunners.org.