In late 2017, around my 40th birthday, I was making my annual goal list and decided it was time to accomplish a 1/2 marathon. This was a happy spot in my life and I was ready to dedicate myself to the training that was required to safely finish running 13.1 miles.
Now that the plan was decided, I had to find the perfect first race. A race with no hills. That place is not Atlanta, where I live. So I set my sights on somewhere scenic and flat which led me to Savannah! I found a scenic race which fit the criteria and signed up. The race is the Skidaway Island Half Marathon. I found training plan on the internet, made a calendar, tweaked it for my work schedule, and began laying the groundwork for the race. If it was on the calendar, I had to run the distance.
After three months, race time came. We rented an airbnb just outside of Savannah on the beach. The day before the race at packet pick up, I noticed how fit all the people looked. I don’t look like them. Talk about feeling intimidated. Surely they were all judging me… But I had already paid for the race and I was excited anyway! We drove as much of the course as we could that day as most of it was in a gated community. We had a less than mediocre pizza in a small local beach restaurant. I attempted going to bed early but like the first day at anything new, unless you have a good drug to knock you out, you can barely sleep.
The ridiculously early morning of the race, people were bundled up. It was so cold outside. The ones who weren’t bundled were the runners, they were the crazy ones in shorts and knee high socks. Many racers were jogging around, warming up their muscles. I was not one of those people. I thought, who on earth would jog before running that far?! I determined they were crazy. Brett walked with me to the start line and kept me warm by wrapping his arms around me, clearly the sane way for keeping warm. I learned later that the people jogging beforehand knew what they were doing and weren’t crazy after all. I made sure my bladder was empty after waiting in a long line for a porta-potty. I lined up closer to the back of the crowd and waited to start! Brett took my picture. The alarm went off and I started off in a slow jog.
There were plenty of people all around me the entire race. People of all ages. Boy did it bother me that women 20 years older than me were running along seemingly effortlessly. I had to remind myself that they had likely been doing this for a while. After a few miles, I started running alongside a woman and we started talking to one another. At least as much as one can while running. We ran the rest of the race together until the last couple miles when I decided I to push myself a little harder. The finish line came up. Brett was there. I took pictures with the woman I ran with and we left. Brett brought perfume because apparently, one might have an unpleasant odor after running that distance.
A mistake of mine was that I didn’t keep moving after the race and boy did I hurt later that day. I was happy that I finished though and loved the feeling of accomplishment. All of the three goals I had prior to my race were accomplished; not having to use the restroom during the race, not stopping except to drink water, and, most importantly, finishing. That race made me love running 1/2 marathons. Running them has gotten easier and recovery is so much better after I finish. I would definetly run this race again. The island is absolutely beautiful with giant old english oak trees and Spanish moss hanging down. The homes are gorgeous and the neighborhood comes out and cheers on the runners! The scenery and atmosphere were completely worth it!
