I did it!
Thank you so much to everybody who wished me well. This was for Snookums, and my sister, and my whole family, and all my friends (especially Miss Fee, Eileen, Emily, Tricia, Max, Emma, Hoey, and Michelle), Coby at Muscle Medicine, Jeff and Allan over at Running with the Pack, Brandon of Brandon’s Marathon, everybody who gave me advice at AskMetaFilter, and everyone who cheered me on and sent me messages and said I could do it. You guys all ROCK.

Okay, so you want to hear the nitty-gritty details, right? (Full iPod log here.) I felt pretty good this morning. I got a decent night’s sleep (despite a crazy dream that I’d written a Joomla plugin to create a half-marathon object), and I had half a bowl of oatmeal in the morning. I was feeling a bit antsy. When we got to the park, my spirits fell a bit upon seeing all the hard-core runners warming up. It’s a sobering thought to look around and realize that EVERYONE ELSE YOU SEE is way fitter than you. (Turns out there were people there less fit than me, but I didn’t spot them till later.) I parted ways with the Snook early, wanting a little time to myself getting ready. I made some friends in the line for the Port-a-Potty. I stretched. I checked my supplies: iPod in one pocket, jelly babies and Powerbar Gel in the other. I self-seeded pretty far towards the back. The weather was beautiful. (Suck it, meteorologists!). And we were off!

The first couple kilometers were mostly downhill through the city. I felt much better than I did on my previous couple of runs. I don’t know if it was the inhaler I’ve been using or the enforced rest, but the run felt a lot easier than it did last week. I cruised through the first 4.5km, only walking when I hit the first water station. I was watching my pace on the iPod pretty closely, since I was obsessed with making the 75min cutoff. To my delight, I soon realized that the iPod was under-reporting my distance a little bit! (Like, when I hit the 5km mark, the iPod only thought I’d gone 4.9k.) That meant that my actual speed was better than I thought. Eventually I’d built up enough of a “buffer” that I knew I was going to make it. We doubled-back into the city and I saw Snookums at about the 7km mark. I grinned and waved and stuck my tongue out. “I’m going to make it!” I said. The next 4km were through the Domain, but I’m pretty comfortable running there. I passed Snookums again as I started my second lap. A block later, I passed the all important 11km mark at exactly 75:00. I was in a pack of girls at that point and we all cheered for each other. (I realized later that they were extremely lenient with the cutoff. I know for a fact that there were people who finished more than half an hour behind me.)

Okay, so the second lap? HELL. I was cheered by the fact that I’d met my #1 goal (one that I’d been obsessing about for six months), but the prospect of running for another 80 minutes was just crushing. Still, I knew I could walk now if I needed to. At about the 14km mark… I realized I was starting to “bonk”. My legs just felt so dead I could barely lift them. I knew there was a water station coming up, so I went for the Powerbar Gel. It probably took 10 minutes to kick in, during which I shuffled and walked as best I could. “I think I’m hitting the wall,” I said to another girl as we neared the Harbour Bridge. “Do you have sugar?” she asked. “I’m good,” I said. “Just waiting for it to digest.” Eventually I felt like I had a little more gas in the tank, but not much. When I saw Snookums at the 17km mark, I was hurting. “Only 4 more to go…” he told me. I headed into the Domain again. It was killer. The sun was hot. The field was extremely thin at that point (I’d been lapped by the race winners before I was even halfway through) but there were still a number of people that I could see behind me. I know it shouldn’t matter, but knowing that I was going to finish and that I wasn’t going to be dead last cheered me up. I walked a lot of those last hills. As I came back up near the Art Gallery, I passed a few people who were still pushing onwards in the other direction (meaning they were a good distance behind me). We all clapped and cheered each other on. I could hear the roar of the crowds at the finish line and a man’s voice on the loudspeaker. “Are they saying people’s names?!” I wondered. I pulled off my headphones as I came around the fountain in Hyde Park, smiling as Snookums took a last photo. “And here comes… Kristine Howard up to the finish line. Any relation to Johnnie?” “NO RELATION!” I yelled as I crossed the line. I did it. I was done. My time was probably around 2:35 or so, which I’m extremely happy with. A nice old guy took my timing chip off my shoe for me, and I collected my medal. Then it was over to Snookums for a much-needed hug and some water. I was surprisingly upbeat, considering how much my legs and back hurt. We made our way home.

Continue on for the photos.
The starting line as witnessed by the Snook. I was way, way behind these guys.

More than halfway through the first lap, probably about 7km or so. I was happy because I knew I was going to make the cutoff.

I always give the thumbs up in race photos. I don’t know why. And I stuck out my tongue because I was feeling so good.

Starting the second lap. The reality of running another 10km was starting to set in.

I’m about 50m from the finish line at this point, and I just want it to be OVER.

Snookums and I pose for a photo moments after collecting my medal. (I like how the old guy in the background is covering his nose. It may well be because of how STINKY I was at that point.)

Done. I made it. It was so, so hard.

I think the hardest part for me – and specifically WHY it’s good for me to do this – is clearing your mind and focusing on the here and now. (As Yoda might say, “Never her mind on where she was! What she was doing!”) As soon as I made the time cutoff, I found myself planning the thank-yous I would make in my victorious blog post. “NO! NOT. DONE. YET.” It was a continual struggle to “run the mile that I was in” and not get distracted thinking about how much was left or what I was going to do afterwards. It’s definitely the aspect I think I need to work on most in the future.

Anyway, that’s it. Six months ago I made a plan to start running and train for this sucker, and today I did it. Thanks for coming along with me for the ride.

(And you people who run the full marathon? YOU’RE INSANE.)