Bridget signed us up for Chico’s Bidwell half marathon in December, still a bit excited finishing the marathon. Our intentions for going to Chico were different: Bridget wanted to see how her IT band was going to react to the race, and I was looking for victory beers. Seven us traveled down for the race with five running. OB, who just got back from Afghanistan, was going to Napa the next day to run a marathon.
So after eating some pasta, going down for a beer at the Holiday Inn club, and seeing some crazy Holiday Inn dance moves, all seven us retired a bit early. The next day all of us were pretty calm despite it being race day. And before we knew it, the race began.
We started the run at a good pace, well below a 9 minute mile. Everything was going smooth, despite almost taking a mean digger on the pavement while trying to turn the volume down on my iPod. (My shoe hit an unexpected bubble in the path.)
But then we hit Mile 4, and then Bridget’s IT band drastically flared up. She had been fighting this injury for the past few weeks, and even though we started strong, the IT band put our race to a screeching halt. Bridget’s no wimp, so I knew it had to be pretty bad. Well… she pushed through the pain for two miles.
Bidwell is a two lap run around the park. And Bridget tried to keep going. She tried running on the grass; she tried stretching; she tried running on and off each 1/4 mile; she even tried to pick up her knees, but three steps out, her knee locked up, and she almost took a digger. And that was that. I made her stop when we reached midway. What was the point of pushing through the next six miles for this race. We’ll have plenty of more opportunities to run half marathons.
She very reluctantly agreed. I then took the next six miles without B, pushing myself to get under the two hour mark. It brought back memories of what I went through in my marathon. This humbled me, but I pushed on. With a little luck and determination, I was able to meet my goal with a minute to spare!
And so we needed to celebrate. We went to the brewery. And this made the trip all worthwhile. I’d probably run a lot more half marathons, if I could be promised that the celebration lunch will be at a brewery. Delicious meet rewarding!
