“Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing.

The day started out perfect. Kids in the car, coffee in hand, still dark outside and we're on the road to the race. My first half marathon since before my boys were born and I was ready and excited. I felt good, I trained pretty well and based on a 15k a few weeks earlier I had hopes of a time that while it wouldn't be a BC PR (before children personal record) it would be a respectable time that I could use to get back into the swing of things.

We made it to drop off location with no traffic, even a bonus bathroom stop. Things were good. I said my goodbyes to my family and headed over with my extra banana ready to go. I was meeting a friend who picked up my number and that went without a hitch. The cool thing about the Long Branch Half is that you start at the Monmouth Raceway so there is plenty of room to get to the start line and of course wait in a very long portajohn line. My line friends were friendly, it was sort of warming up and I was excited to run. It was going to be long but the course was flat and my 12 mile run went okay and I felt great after the 6 miles I did the week before.

As the race started every heat would be started with the sounds of the trumpet like we were a horse race. Bruce Springsteen Born to Run was on (so Jersey) and we were off. And that is where the "perfect" race just about ended. At my last 15k I had purchased this convenient little pouch to attach to my pants to carry my phone, keys, etc. I hadn't actually used it carry my phone because I like to actually hold my phone but the cold day meant I had gloves on so I figured it could go in the pouch until I took the gloves off. About 5 minutes into the race I took my gloves off and reached for the phone. It wasn't there. And that is where the perfect race definitely ended. I stopped and ran backwards frantically looking for my phone hundreds of racers going by me in the opposite direction. I ran until there was no one else coming except for a police car and I need to turn around and start the race. In a moment of good fortune a nice runner mentioned someone asked him if he lost a phone, in all likelihood meaning that someone found a phone. I used his phone to text my phone so if a runner had it they could get it to my husband. And with that I was off...but no longer was I with my pace group, No longer was I able to use the bonus of being in a race to get my pace up a notch. Instead I was in the very back of the very big pack.

As much as I was disappointed by this my disappointment didn't have a chance to take hold because frankly the back of the pack is straight up inspiring. People who if you saw them on the street you would not consider to be "runners" were most definitely running...and running hard. Runners who were running on behalf of others and running on behalf of themselves. So much good inspiration. In case I forgot to be thankful I ran past two women who had shirts on that had "That was so last year" on the back. When I passed them it said "Beat cancer" on the front. Awesome! Literally awesome!

So I just kept trudging along and passing people. I had hopes of possibly catching someone I knew running but all of that fell to side when my tummy troubles started around mile 4. I don't know what was going on and part of me thinks it was stress and it wouldn't have happened had I not lost my phone but either way I had two really long stops at very nice portajohns. Any attempt at my time was gone and instead of passing new people I just kept passing the same people over and over.

The two most beautiful things about the Long Branch Half are that you spend most of your time in residential areas so there are always spectators. Mostly people in their PJs drinking coffee but they are there cheering you on. There's one particular fantastic neighborhood that puts encouraging words out there. Things like "Run Forest Run" and "Worst Parade Ever" and "Because 26.3 would just be crazy." I love it and look forward to it during the race. The second most wonderful thing about the race is that it ends on the beach. The last 1.5 miles you are running with the ocean to your right and it is uplifting. I made the turn to run along the ocean and I was so thankful to be almost finished.

Without my phone I don't know what my mile breakdowns were but I felt like they got faster. I ended more than 1 minute per mile slower on average than I had hoped but despite all that nonsense I finished the race. My goal was to in fact finish the race. When I started training I was recovering from a minor knee injury, mid training I strained my calf and I had a 46 day running streak as well that didn't exactly help the training. (Thank you Iron PT for keeping me running!) It got me out of my rut where I thought a 5k was long. All of those goals were reached. The time goal will still be there.

After I crossed the finish line I started looking for lost and found and I found a fellow running "friend" who I had never actually met but online in the greatest online running group ever! (Thank you Sub-30 Club) She was the lucky recipient of a mini breakdown on my part and she also lent me her phone. By some miracle, or just thanks to really nice runners, my phone ended up in the hands of my husband. Crisis adverted.

Eventually I found my family, changed my shoes and got a coffee. My race was over. It was not the race I had planned or hoped for. It was about 15 minutes slower than the slowest I was hoping run it and 25 minutes slower than what I had thought I might be able to pull off. Those numbers though seemed to be the least important ones. I passed about 450 people (many of them 2 or 3 times) to get from the very back of the pack. I ran all 13.1 miles (and actually more if you count the back tracking) and despite all of the extenuating circumstances I kept my goal of only walking during the water stops (darn you race photographer for positioning yourself at the top of the only "hill" in the race forcing me to run).

I will tell you that while you will find inspiration all over a race, that group at the end of the race are by far the most inspiring group of folks on the course. They are warriors. It was an honor to run with them, and certainly an adventure.