Missoula Half Marathon

The weather forecast for Missoula on race day was looking HOT!  It was supposed to be almost 100.  Luckily for me, the half marathon started at 6 am and it was in the high 50s low 60s and felt a little humid.  I knew since I would be finishing before 8 am it wouldn't be too hot during the race.

Bus pickup went smoothly, they had lots of busses, our bus driver seemed to hit every yellow light and slam on the brakes as soon as she saw it turn yellow.

We got out to the starting area about 40 minutes early and had lots of time to use the porta potties twice before the lines got really long on them. 

Pre-race photo with my good friend Billie Jo, who is also going to run the Napa Ragnar with me

Since there were 4000 runners entered in the half marathon, the start was very crowded and though I had tried to get near the front I was still quite a ways back so it seemed like forever until I crossed the starting line.  It also felt like a long time until the pack loosened up and some boy probably about 11-12 years old kept weaving in and out right in front of me with these crazy long slow loping strides and I thought to myself  "if he keeps this up, one of us is tripping"  sure enough pretty soon he cut in front of me again and his foot kicked my shin and he almost fell.   Then he had the nerve to look at me like it was my fault.  Thankfully he couldn't keep up with me and I am guessing he found someone else to cut in front of.

The first three miles went at a pretty steady 7:38 pace and felt pretty good, but my right sciatic was bothering me a little.  I had to hold back my pace a little and I felt like around mile 4ish I finally warmed up good and got into a good groove. 

I had a girl run with me for awhile, she said she felt like I had a good pace, but I could tell by her labored breathing she was not going to be able to stick with me for the whole race. 

Miles 4-9 I felt really strong and passed people that had gone out too fast.  I was still holding a pretty steady 7:40ish pace, breathing felt good, legs felt good, back was no longer bothering me.

About mile 10 my legs started to feel a little tired and by mile 11 I was questioning being able to hold onto my pace for the rest of the half.  Mile 12 was a struggle!  My legs were tired and it was starting to feel warm out.  The last mile hurt too, but at least at that point I knew it was my last mile plus .1 and I could do it.

Garmin read 1:41:12 with 13.18 miles for a pace of 7:41
officially 1:41:12  with a 7:44 pace for the 13.1
good enough for 61 out of 2300 female finishers and 11 in my age group.

so how does that stack up to my goals?

• A goal is to come in under 1:40 which would be an average pace of 7:38
• B goal is to come in around 1:41:42 like predicted with a 7:46 pace
• C goal is to come in under 1:45 which would be a 8:01 pace

Pretty good, A goal was a shoot for the moon goal and B goal was my realistic goal, so I am very happy with my time. I felt like I gave it my all and have to admit I could feel the minimal amount of speed work I did during training.

Billie Jo and I got our finisher photo then went back to the hotel to shower and find somewhere to eat some breakfast.

I got so many compliments on my red sparkly skirt from other runners and spectators.  I would wear it again. 

I also had to get a picture with my son's first grade teacher post race.

I love the race shirt, a women's fit technical shirt and you can see in the above pictures the medal is a horseshoe and is pretty good sized.

The plan for today is yoga as I am feeling a little stiff and sore. 

How was your weekend?