I was having a drink with my cousin Ian when I asked him about a half marathon I knew he had coming up.
Ian: “I can’t run it. My knee’s jacked. Brittani [his GF at the time] might not run it since I can’t do it with her.”
Me: “Psssh. I’ll do it.”
Ian: “It’s in two days.”
Me: “Ok”
That’s how I came to run the Platte River Half Marathon. I had no idea what to expect from my body. I can typically run a half marathon at any time unless I’ve just done a long run but I hadn’t run at all in the previous two weeks due to travelling in Europe. I figured I’d be fine since I was going to run with Brittani the entire time and her goal was to just finish in the 3 hour time limit. Not a problem.
The race itself was actually pretty uneventful. The weather was absolutely perfect–right around 60 degrees the entire time. I had no issues endurance-wise and, surprisingly, my legs didn’t hurt at all. My ankles hurt a little when we’d walk through the aid stations but not when running. However, my legs were pretty wrecked for two days following the race. I attribute this to the race being on pavement the entire time. It’s amazing how much more damage concrete does to your legs compared to the trails.
Brittani did amazingly well considering this was the first time she’d run farther than 8 miles. We took it slow and walked through the aid stations. We finished in 2:37. Overall a great running day.
