I did it! Didn’t go as well as I was hoping, but I think my hopes were a bit lofty given all that was against me:<br/><br/>1. I haven’t run in two weeks.<br/>1.5. I’ve put on five pounds in that time.<br/>2. I walk with a limp.<br/>3. I was up all night with stomach issues.<br/>4. I had stomach issues this morning.<br/><br/>I was hoping for a sub-1:30, which I’d really be happy with, but after warming up for the most painful half mile in my life, I knew today was simply going to be a struggle to finish.<br/><br/>Regardless, I lined up with the 6:45 group; 10 seconds faster than my pace, which should give me a nice buffer for the tough uphill finishing miles this race offers.<br/><br/>Things went well at the start and through the first few miles. I was ridiculously tight, but seemed to loosen up after 3 or 4 (6:30, 6:35, 6:58, 6:53). Unfortunately, shortly after that, my hip decided it’d start in with the pain (my tightness has been my hamstrings). Around 5 (7:02), I knew I was in trouble, but I went out well and still had about a minute buffer to work with.<br/><br/>By 9 (6:56, 7:10, 7:05, 7:10), the fact that I haven’t been running caught up with me; I was out of gas. I saw Caitlin, showed her my agony, and decided I wasn’t getting a DNF. Even if I trudged along (which I did), I’d finish in a respectable time at this point.<br/><br/>Nothing to note on the final few miles. The times tell the tale; I was gassed and hurting like never before. (7:26, 7:45, 7:52, 7:55)<br/><br/>Final time? 1:33:53 (result will say 1:34:0x because I stopped for 10 seconds to stretch). Officially, a half marathon personal best, but I covered the same distance in 1:33:48 during the Marine Corps Marathon last year.<br/><br/>Am I happy? Partially. Quite pleased with my [insanity?] ability to push through pain. Pleased with what’s technically a best. Unhappy with being hurt. Unhappy with only being 20 seconds faster than last year. Happy to now be taking a couple of months off. And incredibly unhappy that I had “Tonight’s Gonna Be A Good Night” stuck in my head the entire race. Not the whole song, either, but the days of the week part. I went through the days of the week to the tune of the song an easy 150 times. That was more painful than anything today.<br/><br/>My future contains lots of stretching, core work (helps w/ hip injuries and running in general), biking (swimming hurts my hip too, but I hope to get into it sooner rather than later), and maybe even some pool running? Canceling Steamtown was a very good decision… I could hardly hold my goal pace in half the distance <img src=”http://www.iammike.org/cutenews/data/emoticons/crook.gif”/> Hopefully I’m ready for some smooth sailing [3:10] in January!<br/>