The following email came from a former student teacher of mine.  She just ran her first ever half-marathon.  My own Lincoln Marathon experience was character building, at best.  But hearing stories like this remind me what it is like to “experience” the race. Thanks Angela.  Enjoy:

Well, you might not really care about all of these details, but I can’t stop talking about the half-marathon and how much fun I had this last weekend.  The thing I took away from all of this training and race is this: your body can do amazing things if you make your mind believe it.  You guys should know I wasn’t a runner before September, and I’m still not competitive, but the Lincoln half was so fun and a must-try for anyone who likes to run!  Sorry for the extra long e-mail!!!

Day before: I was feeling pretty anxious about the weather and humidity.  Humidity is my kryptonite and really affects how far/fast I am able to run.  Picking up my packet was insane, and I felt like this was all finally real.

Day of: Woke up at 4:30 am to a thunderstorm. Great.  Went back to sleep but woke up at 5:50 with my alarm.  It was overcast with thunder and lightning in the distance.  I thought about saying that I wasn’t going to do it if it was lightning.  Then I just got myself up, ate my breakfast and got ready.  The time went by really fast.  I left the hotel at 6:30 (Embassy Suites, woo hoo!) and walked down to campus.  As soon as I got to campus, something in me relaxed, even though I was all alone.  There were so many other people, and I felt like I was home.  I walked by the Business building, where I had worked for a long time.  I joined the masses on the way to line up.  I decided to run behind the 10 minute mile pacers.  While waiting, I chatted up a few people, (one girl with awesome Wonder Woman socks) and actually saw 2 people I knew from my local running club!

Race time: The gun went off, but I knew with wave starts it would be a while before I got going.  I already felt the nerves start.  Once I got to the starting line 30 minutes later, though, I just began breathing.  I saw my friends right off the bat and they yelled like lunatics.

Easy breezy through the first 7 miles.  The course was lined with spectators the whole way.  There was a guy in a tuxedo handing out water, a guy with his hose out in the yard to spray runners, tons of people clapping and cheering, blasting music, etc.  This year they put names on the bibs and so people could call out my name when they wanted to.  I spent a lot of time thanking every LPD officer who was blocking traffic, weaving around to give kids high fives, and thanking people for cheering and volunteering.  It was fantastic.

My friends were awesome and managed to see me 5 times along the course.  They had a variety of hilarious signs, (Worst Parade Ever, It was hard work staying up late to make these signs too, Run Angela Run with arrows pointing the wrong way.) and just knowing they were out there kept me going.  At one point my friend Heather smacked me on the ass and yelled, “Good job, get going.” Every runner around me giggled at the stuff they yelled and at their reactions every time they saw me.  They would be calmly clapping and then would turn into maniacs.  I have great friends. At one point I asked them for chapstick, (one of the two things I asked them to have for me) saw the look of panic on their faces, and just smiled.  Neither one of them had it.  Once I passed, Annie yelled, “No chapstick! EPIC FAIL!!” All the spectators around her laughed so hard.  It was no big deal, but they had it out for me the next time I saw them.

There were two hills that messed with my mind.  The hardest part for me was seeing other people walking, and knowing how easy it would be to walk, but I pushed on.  I stopped at every water station because I can’t run and drink, but otherwise just kept going.

MILE 10: For some reason at mile 10 I hit a mental road block.  I felt like bawling for no reason at all. I wasn’t hurt, I was breathing fine, nothing was wrong with me.  I wanted to stop, and I walked for about 45 seconds.  I told myself it was mental, there was nothing wrong with me, and I could keep going. I just made myself start up again.  Once I saw the sign for mile 11, my mental toughness was back, and said to myself, “Two miles… You got this.”

Apparently I turned on the afterburners and sped up a little.  I passed the people the girls had flagged as the people warning them I was coming.  I tried to encourage people who I saw stopping to walk. I yelled random things that didn’t mean anything, but I hope it helped someone. (“You got this, this is where we finish strong, it’s all mental.” They probably hated me.)

Mile 12. Almost to Memorial Stadium. I felt tired, but not spent. The amount of people there was insane.  I turned the final corner, ran into the tunnel, looked around me and got chills. I literally said, “Oh, wow.” The finish line was on the 50 yard line of Memorial Stadium.  I gave it all I had to the finish, and just looked around, taking it all in.

I finished in 2 hours and 17 minutes, under my goal of 2.5 hours.  Let me tell you those orange slices, gatorade, banana and water were the best things I had ever tasted. I met up with my friends and felt like it had all been a dream.  A crazy, amazingly good dream, but a dream nonetheless.  What a rush, I was on a high for about an hour until I took the best shower of my life and a nap.

Crazily enough, I’m ready to run again.    Hope you guys enjoyed my stories!

-Angela