Old Plank Sunset Half Marathon
It honestly feels crazy to be able to say that I have done 3 half marathons……and this last one was the best one which is why I’m so excited to share my experience.
A friend had asked me if I wanted to run a half marathon with her this year (after vowing I would never do another) and of course I said yes. To be fair, I was thinking it was going to be more fun since we run about the same pace and having someone to train with gives a little extra motivation as well. I get a call from her (just about half way through my training) and she tells me that she isn’t going to run the race with me. Although of course I was disappointed, her excuse was completely valid and I decided I would run it anyway because the medal was cool and I had signed up, made a plan, etc. I thought to myself “I’ve already done two, what’s one more?”.
My training plan was only 8 weeks long. Previous years I had done 14 weeks and then 12 weeks and those were far too long for me. I would get to the point where I actually hated running and was so tired of it that I was really lacking motivation towards the end. I still got some of that towards the end of the 8 week training plan, but not nearly as bad as the longer plans. Above is a picture of the training plan that I followed. I didn’t follow this exactly just because of my busy summer schedule and the fact that this was just for fun, but it was good to have a guideline and mileage to shoot for each week.
The race that we had chosen was the Old Plank Sunset Half Marathon. It went from Plymouth, WI to Kohler, WI on the Old Plank Trail. The nice thing about this race was that it was at 6pm in the evening so I was able to have a full day of food and water before the race. The Old Plank Trail is a paved trail and has a little bit of elevation change with some rolling hills, but nothing too crazy.
I was super lucky to have a friend that lives right in Plymouth so I could stay with her for the weekend. We spent most of the day prior to the race in Sheboygan, WI. We went to the local farmer’s market, walked in and out of various shops downtown, and then stopped and got lunch at a fun coffee shop. Our last stop was at a local art museum to cool off for a bit (it was getting rather warm) before heading back to her house to relax before race time.
It started to storm a couple of hours before the race, but all signs showed no rain during the race. With storms in the distance (and definitely heading our way), we were off! I had a 2 hour long podcast going in my headphones, and something to look forward to at multiple road crossings. My friend drove to every crossing she could to meet me with my bag of extra gels and electrolytes. She was an absolute rockstar. It totally makes a difference when you have someone you know cheering you on. That was one thing that really set this race apart from the previous two, along with learning how to utilize mid-run fuel (I don’t know how I managed without it before). The race was going by so fast. Before I knew it I was at mile 9 and noticing the beautiful sunset which was complete with a rainbow. The last 3 miles the sky had turned a mix of purple, orange, and pink with huge cracks of thunder and constant heat lightening around it.. I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little scared for my life but with less than 2 miles to go all I could really think about was getting done with this race. My body was really starting to hurt and just when I was starting to struggle, I see my friend in the distance and catch up to her and she tells me I am almost there! My brain “THANK GOODNESS I AM DYING”. Sure enough around the corner (the longest corner ever) there was the finish line.
The first thing I noticed after I crossed the finish line was the absolute joy I felt for about 10 seconds until the physical pain set in……my knees and hip flexors were in rough shape lol. Might have been because the course was all pavement, but either way I hobbled over to the post-race tent and had some lovely snacks including pickles (Milwaukee’s Best of course), cookies, pretzels, and drinks too. Overall, I am proud that I did it. Although my body was paying for it the next couple of days, I still had fun 😊. I have been on record saying yet again that I will not be doing another half marathon. But I’ve been seeing those National Park half marathon ads on my Facebook feed lately that do look like a lot of fun…….those darn algorithms y’all.
