The 2008 Columbus Half Marathon Report - Oct. 19, 2008

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Columbus Half Marathon Race Day

The 2008 Columbus Marathon and ½ Marathon is now in the record books. It was a chilly 39° at the starting line at Broad and Third Street. The gun went off at 7:30AM and the sold out field of 11,000 runners and walkers began their journeys. I was with the other walkers at the back of the pack. We slowly moved forward and crossed the starting line at about 7:40.

The first 5 miles went pretty well and I was impressed with my times. They were around the 16:45 mark. The sun began to come up and it slowly began to warm up. At around the half way mark, things began to unravel. The hip pain that I had been experiencing earlier in the summer started to rear its ugly head. By mile 8, I began to notice that my calf muscles were beginning to cramp up. I would have to stop about once or twice a mile to stretch all the way to the finish line.

The high point of the race (other than hitting the finish line) was making the turn from Schiller Park on to High Street. This was at about mile 11. At that point, I knew that I was going to make it. According to my watch, my final time was 3:54:23. The official chip time was 3:54:28. Here are my split times for the course: 1- 16:54, 2- 16:26, 3- 16:14, 4- 16:27, 5- 16:17, 6- 16:43, 7- 17:37, 8- 18:16, 9- 18:28, 10- 19:47, 11- 19:37, 12- 20:32 and 13 to finish line- 21:09.

Yesterday, I wrote that I would finish the race and that I would like to do it in less than 4 hours. Both accomplished. I also knew at that time that there would be a price to pay. My body hurts – hurts all over. Calves, thighs, hips, feet, shoulders and back muscles are all letting me know that they didn’t enjoy what I put them through. I wanted to complete this half marathon for many reasons but the most important one for me was to know that what little training I was able to do was not for nothing. I have my second half marathon under my belt and the poster frame picture I hang in my office about this race will be a constant reminder that sometimes dreams come with a struggle. As the quote in my office says….

“Endurance is not just the ability to bear a hard thing, but to turn it into glory.” William Barclay

I take this race and the struggles and know that God gets the glory for it. He alone gave me the strength to continue when my body screamed stop. My aches and pains will go away in a day or so – but I leave this training season knowing that He will always be my training partner.