All of Her Things

Over the weekend, I ran my first race outside the US and my first half-marathon in two years.

My Journey

About three years ago, before my first Philly Half-Marathon, I hurt my hip, and running for me hasn’t been the same since. That race took place in November 2022, and I hurt my hip in early October. I trained too hard, and I relied heavily on running to escape my everyday stressors. I pushed through physical therapy, and needed a massage to release body tension every week. I ran that race with a stiff hip, but I finished and was happy with my time, as it was my first half-marathon.

Eventually, my hip problem improved, but honestly, I noticed I was running significantly slower. It took me some time to accept running a bit slower, but as long as I could still run, I was happy.

Time for another race

I don’t think I’ve ever heard of the Copenhagen Half-Marathon (sorry I don’t know every race out there) until late last summer when the algorithm suggested I learn about it, but I immediately knew I wanted to sign up. For over a year, I’d struggled with my mental health and had been working on feeling human again. For some reason, I thought, “this is the thing that will do it. I’ll feel like myself if I train for something.”

On October 22^nd, 2024, around 9:45, I sat on my hotel bed in London, nervously waiting in an online queue to register. Somehow, I managed to get in. I was able to register both myself and my husband, Sebastian. 

Training

In Fall/Winter 2024 into 2025, I didn’t run much. One of my goals was to strengthen my body, mainly out of fear that my hip would fall apart. By spring, I started to run more consistently. I found I was running even slower than before, and it was okay especially since I run in a pretty hilly area in Germany. I ran 3-4 times a week, slowly increasing my mileage. I lifted weights 1-2 times per week, and when my body felt healthy enough, I went climbing once a week. Most days, I would run in the early morning out of convenience and that’s when my body feels best for a run. I always prefer a light snack before running, like an apple with peanut butter. Eventually, I added a small smoothie with banana and some berries to take a massive amount of vitamins, hide the taste, and avoid swallowing a bunch of pills. Why did I start doing this? WELL, there was a period in May when I felt my absolute weakest for several reasons, and I always felt tired and sluggish no matter how much sleep I got. I ended up getting blood tests and learned I was lacking quite a few essential vitamins. I also found out I have something called Lipoprotein A. From Google: It is a blood fat that is a genetic risk factor for atherosclerosis, heart attack, stroke, and heart valve problems.

Don’t worry, I got it checked, and the cardiologist says I’m in good health.

With everything going on with me internally, I pushed thoughts of pace out of my mind while training. My goal was to finish, and that was it. I started to feel healthier mid-summer, and as I kept my routine, I was confident I’d finish the race, not fast, but strong.

Two weeks before the race, I started to feel relieved to get this over with. Routine is very important for my mental health, but it was really hard to plan anything extra because I wanted to stick with my routine as much as possible.

Copenhagen Half-Marathon 2025

My husband and I flew to Copenhagen on Friday, September 12. I stayed well-hydrated throughout our days as tourists and on race day, I was able to stick with a similar pre-run snack. My body felt pretty good, and my legs were fairly loose. Dare I say, I felt ready to run? More ready than I’ve felt for any other run. I didn’t sleep poorly. I felt hydrated and didn’t want to overdo it, but you know what? I didn’t account for the fact that I’d be standing in the rain for 45 minutes before the race. 

Here’s what happened: Each group had a designated start time. We were supposed to go to the starting line 15 minutes before our scheduled time. My start time was 10:15, but I didn’t really move until after 11:00. I actually thought it was funny that the pro runners had finished the race before I even started. Temperature-wise, it was a good day to run, about 65°F / 18°C. Even in the rain, it was still a good day to run, but standing there that long wasn’t helpful.

My body started to stiffen a bit, but once I started running, I felt good. Training on all these hills helped with my pace since Copenhagen is so flat. I was doing pretty well until about kilometer 13 (about 8 miles).

I was crumbling. I was exhausted. I was weirdly dehydrated. I was so lightheaded and my vision began to blur. I thought I was going to pass out. I brought three energy gels, expecting to use only two, but I ended up taking the third. I only managed to escape that “passing out” state, allowing me to slow jog the rest of the race.

Seb stood at the finish line waiting for me, and I’m happy he was there because I think I was about to black out. My legs were shaking, my head was spinning, and I wasn’t sure if I needed to puke, eat, or lie down.

I finished the race, but I didn’t finish strong.

Thoughts

I’m not entirely sure what happened. I think it’s a mix of things. Maybe the start time of the race affected me. Maybe I needed to hydrate more before the race. Maybe I needed to eat more. Maybe it was standing in the rain. Maybe I just didn’t want to run that day.

I want to try again eventually, but not next year. I’d prefer to do a few shorter races that take less of my time because I’m ready to do other activities. I am signed up for the 8k during Philly Marathon weekend, so I’m looking forward to that.

I’m not happy with the way this race went, but funny enough, my time was better than I expected because of the landscape difference, and I’ll give myself some credit: I worked hard. The issue is that I KNOW I could have done better, and the next half I do will be to prove that to myself, so I want to feel ready and refreshed.

I hope the next time I plan to do a half-marathon, I won’t be training just to feel like a human. I’d rather start from zero and get stronger from there than be in the negatives to reach zero. I think it’ll happen.

I am proud of myself, and I’m feeling confident just knowing I finished.

All the best,

Dani