Well, it's been a little over 30 hours since the race finished, and boy am I glad it's done. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to be able to complete a tough half marathon, especially with over 40 pounds of gear on me. The run was just as hard as I thought it would be, but in a different sense. I thought that my legs would be the ones most pissed off at me for what I was doing to them, but instead it was my shoulders that hurt the most. My shoulders were the ones that made the run the hardest. After 2 hours and 8 1/2 miles, when I finally reached the summit, I had to take a little breather and let my shoulders rest. I stripped off my camelback and my weight vest just to give my shoulders a little rest. I rested for just about 10 min before grabbing my stuff and throwing it all back on. This time though, I was able to get my Camelback's straps into a better position to start vs when I started the race. I was about 20 min into the race when I had to slow down and fix the straps. They just kept slipping off of my shoulders and I was constantly having to readjust them. So I had to fix it while on the go the first time, but when I suited back up, I made all the connections properly and tight so I wouldn't have to worry about the straps again. The weather was perfect, sunny but not too hot. Still with every watering station, I was grabbing a cup of water and just dumping it onto my head. This time around, I even took some of the banana's and oranges they were offering. Other than the finish, the best part of the race was the other runners who were encouraging me in the run. Some would just pass and give me the thumbs up, or the "nice job". Others would ask what it was I was doing and how much I was carrying with me. A few looked at me like I was crazy, but nobody had a negative word to say about what it was I was doing. While I didn't quite reach my goal of a 3 hour Robie time, I'm still very happy with the 3:06 that I achieved and the fact that I did complete the course without any injury.
Like I said, my shoulders took the worse of the beating, and last night and today I was definately feeling it. My calves are a little sore, and going down the stairs for the first time this morning, I felt like a rusty robot. But after doing some stretching today, I feel pretty good. Still a little sore, but not bad considering what I just went through. Tomorrow, will be a little better, and maybe by Tuesday I'll get on the rower and take it for a spin. I will be taking it easy on my shoulders though for a few more days.
I was interviewed by Ch 6, and they had a great news clip about what I did. Channel 2 also interviewed me before the race, but the coverage wasn't nearly as detailed as Ch 6. But Ch2 still beats Ch7 and Ch 12 who didn't even return my press release. Ch 2 didn't really talk much about the 2 charities that I'm trying to support, only the fact that I did what I did.
Channel 2's vid:
http://www.kboi2.com/news/local/119972964.html?tab=video
Channel 6's vid:
http://kivitv.com/story/14460715/namp-firefighter-runs-race-to-robie-with 40-pound-weight-vest-for-charity
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