My first half: All that training paid off

Elizabeth Templin McCamic

Over the weekend, I participated in Charlotte RaceFest. It was my first half marathon and I had a lot of fun. It was really cool to see all the work I put in during months of training pay off.

Here's a recap from race day:

Saturday morning I woke up feeling pretty nervous in part because I wasn't sure the race was actually going happen due to bad weather. But by the time I got to the starting line, the rain had stopped and the weather was actually my preferred running conditions: cool, breezy and cloudy.

I spent the first couple of miles just trying to get free of the crowd. I placed myself toward the back of the pack because I didn't want to get in anyone's way, but I think if I do it again I'd start a bit closer to the front because I found wading through all those people made it hard to find my normal pace.

By mile three I had found my pace and was cruising. The light rain that had started just before we got moving had stopped and I'd taken off my light rain jacket.

Miles 4-6 were really steady running for me. This section of the race is down Providence Road and kind of feels like it goes on forever, though I was feeling really comfortable and not at all tired yet.

One thing that really surprised me was how energized I felt just being part of the crowd of runners. I'd heard about race-day energy but hadn't banked on it making much of a difference for me; however, on race day, I couldn't help but feel really excited and cheerful as I made my way through the race course. It also helped to have folks standing along the road cheering for the runners passing by. Even a few of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg police officers who were managing traffic shouted encouraging words as I ran by.

Just after I passed mile 6, I heard a huge clap of thunder and we had our second down pour of the morning. I started the climb up Sharon View Road. I am really proud to report that I made it up the hill without stopping or slowing down too much. In fact, I made it through the whole race without walking, which was my main goal besides finishing the race.

By the time I got to mile 8, the rain had stopped. I turned onto Valencia Terrace and knew that my family would be waiting to cheer me on as I crossed Fairview Road. As I crested a hill just before Fairview, I could see my Dad's bright orange Tennessee jacket in the distance. As I got closer, my family started cheering and I got a little choked up, not because I was hurting or sad but because the whole experience, the culmination of all my hard work during training was overwhelming and I felt so lucky to have such a great group of supporters cheering me to my goal.

I pulled myself together and climbed the short, but steep hill, further down Valencia. At mile 10, my husband was waiting for me. He actually hopped onto the course and ran the next couple of miles with me, which was really fun. Miles 10-12 went by really quickly, my legs having found a second wind.

The last mile was tough. There was a small climb in the last half mile or so that I ran up very, very slowly. My legs were hurting at this point, especially on the outer part of my left leg. Once I had the finish line in sight, I decided to just sprint to the end. Someone in the crowd started shouting, "wait to finish strong!" as I ran past.

It felt awesome not to be running anymore.

I spent the rest of the weekend stretching and resting my legs. I still have a hard time believing that the race is actually behind me, that I really did it.

I am so grateful to have been able to run the race on Saturday, that the weather was nice and that I managed to avoid injuries that would have kept me from running. I am also grateful to all the folks who volunteered, organized and cheered for runners Saturday and to all of the CMPD officers who kept traffic under control. It was a joy to run the course without worrying about traffic and a fun way to see the neighborhoods around SouthPark.

Thanks to all of you for your words of encouragement along the way. I couldn't have made it without the accountability I found in this blog and without your advice and support.

I don't have plans to run another half marathon any time soon, but I don't think this will be my last race. It's too much fun.