Dover Heritage Half Marathon

While we were in Delaware last week, I ran in the Dover Heritage Half Marathon. Running a half marathon has been a goal of mine for quite some time, and I'm so happy to have the first one under my belt. The experience was awesome! The race began and ended at the Air Mobility Command Museum, and the entire course was run on Dover Air Force Base. Before beginning the race, we had to pass through a gate onto the military base. There were two military officers at the gate who inspected each person with a hand held metal detector. We were also warned that if we veered off course we may find ourselves face down on the ground and surrounded by security forces. Everybody laughed when the race director said this- but we knew that he was being serious. After waiting about twenty minutes for everyone to pass through the gate, we were given the "all clear", and the race began.




The course was out-and-back- which means we ran six and a half miles one way and then turned around and came back the same way. Since this was my first half marathon, I didn't know what to expect. I didn't want go out at full speed and then overdo it and give out halfway through. My plan was to run at a slow, consistent pace of about 10 minutes per mile- which would put me finishing somewhere between 2:10 and 2:20. I thought this was attainable because I had been training pretty hard for this race, and I was in pretty good shape. The race began, and I took off. I got to the turn-around with no problem at all. My time was actually better than what I had planned, and I was feeling confident. I passed the 15K mark and I got really happy because I was now running further than I had ever run in a race. And then I hit the last three miles... and it got bad. The problem was not the cardio- I wasn't out of breath at all. The problem was my legs. They were so sore. I had worked really hard to get in shape so that I wouldn't run out of breath, but I didn't think about my legs getting tired. The last couple of miles were very difficult for me, but I kept going. After what seemed like forever, I finally spotted the finish line. I saw Brian, Barb, Poppy, and the kids standing there cheering for me, and that gave me the energy to finish strong. As it turned out, I still did pretty well. I met my time goal with a finish at 2:10:18. Of the 91 people who finished the half marathon, I was number 59. That's not terrible for a first attempt. Even though I could barely walk for two days after the race, I still thought that it was a lot of fun. I fully intend to run more half marathons this upcoming fall and spring. I am also planning to add weight training to my training routine so that my legs won't give out next time.