I did the Gettysburg Battlefield half marathon yesterday. I have done a handful of halfs (not Gettysburg)....getting slower with each one bc I put less training into each one. 2 years ago I had an appendicitis the Tuesday before the run. Last year was my first year of walking on the run....and I ended up limping the last 2 miles. The longest I had run in training last year was 6. So this year I put a lot more into the training and was past 9 miles in the program, and feeling like I could have gone the full 13.1 probably around 2:15:whatever if that was the race day.......then a sharp pain in my calf which caused me to basically stop training for two weeks until the day of.
I tell you guys all of this to set up where my mind is for the actual race......fearful of my injury; concerned about my lost weeks of training. The race started and the calf felt great. It was a beautiful day for a run. Running on the battlefield was awe inspiring. Before the first mile marker, you're already hitting important monuments. But then I see the first mile marker. It says Mile #3. And I remember the course map had us going into downtown Gettysburg before coming back into the actual battlefield. But everybody is going the same direction...I figure the map was out dated (it was...it still said 2017 on it) and somebody just goofed setting up the mile markers.
Well, every mile marker is 2 miles off. I'm still feeling OK. The 70+ year olds passing me aren't a confidence boost....but whatever. Then the hills start to wear on me. That was the other fear....the course is super hilly. Around mile 10 I'm probably "running" slower than somebody could fast walk....but I'm still running. I'm kinda hoping my calf gives out bc I know I can do 3 more miles, but I know it'll take me more than 30 more minutes to do them, and I'm not so sure I want to do this for another half hour. I'm also kinda hoping it isn't just somebody putting the wrong mile markers in the ground out of order, and that they just don't know how to measure.
I should also mention I'm using my Nike running app to play music but also track my distance and give me some advice and stories and things along the way.....but the one I chose is only for 10 miles (they don't have a half marathon up yet). So after the 10 miles I still get my music, but no true way of knowing how far is left other than the bad mile markers. A few minutes later I hear music other than my headphones and realize I'm very near where I started.....but I can't even be at mile 12 yet.
I wasn't. I was at 11.45. And there was the finish line. And there was my finisher medal. And my wife and kid, very impressed that I was just over the 2 hour mark. I knew I hadn't done the whole race, but I also knew nobody else did either. And I knew my legs were done. I could have gone the whole 13.1, but as soon as I stopped my legs locked up for the next 4 or 5 hours. I was OK with it.
Turns out, they had a guy on a bike to lead the real runners....and he made a wrong turn about a minute into the run. Everybody just followed that, and it was too late by the time the organizers realized it and had a plan in place. I guess they figured out a way to add 2 miles in the middle, but the person in 1st place had already passed that point before they could get it set up.
So I did an 11.45 miler yesterday
