What followed was sore throat, stuffy nose, runny nose, frog in throat, congested feeling, cough, headache... bleh. Friday I was feeling pretty good (ish) I could hardly talk and was blowing my nose every thirty minutes and it felt hard to breathe. I decided no half marathon.
Saturday morning I woke up and felt so much better! Minimal snot and coughing and I could breathe! So naturally I signed up for the half marathon. I'm not sure my husband agreed it was a wise decision based on how my week went, but its hard to argue with a runner who has her heart set on a race.
Oh and there was a niggle in my left foot. Sort of been there since before the Ragnar Relay in Colorado. That had me a little nervous, it really hurt during my last leg of the relay and ached some at work,
Anyhoo.. packet pickup was a breeze.. it was just a bib and a bag for the bib and pins and a few coupons.
Race day weather was looking like 39 degrees at the start with minimal wind and 45 at the finish with minimal winds and partly cloudy. Can I say perfect racing weather? Yes I can!
I admit not having run in cooler weather since last spring I had a bit of a hard time deciding what to wear..shorts vs capris.. long sleeve vs short. I ultimately decided tank, skirt, compression socks, arm sleeves and a buff, and maybe gloves as I hate cold fingers. and I wore my race favorite Altra The Ones. LOVE these shoes
Buses started taking people out to the start at 630. Naturally, being excited about running a half I got on the second bus, only because the first was already full, and we got to the start at 6:50. The race didn't start until 8:15. It was cold, but at least we mostly had the porta potties to ourselves for a bit as the two buses were the only buses and were headed back for more people.
I met a gal from Oklahoma and one from Wyoming and had a great time visiting and walking to keep warm. I saw some people I knew and really it was fun to catch up and meet new people and cycle through the porta potties three times,
Ten minutes out from race time I stripped off my warm outer layer and decided no gloves or sleeves, I didn't want to have to deal with them when I got hot.
I turned on my Garmin and since it didn't seem to be finding a signal, I got my phone out to turn on a tracking app there and no service. Crap.
Race started and still neither worked. Bummer.
On the up side now I know I can at least start a race and run by feel and be pretty on! At least I think I was. The start of the race is downhill so I got passed by a lot of people who were feeling really good and went out too fast, but that's okay I like to have people to pass later.
I saw a 12 miles to go sign and was surprised at how fast it came up, my garmin was still busy searching for a signal and I didn't think my phone was tracking until sometime later it told me I had run a mile in 7:30, which bolstered my spirits to know I was running just about where I wanted to and that I would have some data to nerd out with later.
I was following a gal with a big ponytail as she seemed to have a pace similar to mine although she was about 20 yards up from me. She was great motivation.
Finally my garmin found a signal.. I was guessing about 2.5 miles into the race. I never saw another miles to go sign after 11 miles to go I think.. so I kind of felt like I had a vague idea, but still not really sure.
The miles seemed to click by fairly fast though, this is the 4th time I have done this race so I know what to expect. I was listening to a Marathon Training Academy podcast until about halfway through when I switched to my music. I always do this 5-7 sometimes 8 miles in for a boost of motivation and once again it worked.
My legs were feeling good, my breathing was doing good, not over labored but working. I was loving it all.
I passed a gal as I was running past a small group of people and one of the ladies not so discretely pointed at me and told that gal to pass me. I was so annoyed she would do it while I could see and hear that there was no way I was going to be passed back and I was not! I used it as more motivation and gave a little kick of speed.
When I was guessing I still had about three miles left I was still feeling really good, but I could tell my legs were starting to feel tired and I was feeling it, but only 3 miles left... I GOT THIS!!
Two miles left (ish) my glutes were feeling it, which I thought was funny since I am such a quad dominant runner, don't worry my quads were feeling it too.
I sped up and gave it my all for the last little bit.. I had a 6:32 pace on my Garmin, which I noted later not right then, and my final time was 1:40:0145 GAH! lol so close!
This course has my half marathon PR of 1:37:06
I do recommend this race, it has beautiful scenery, is well organized and while not gender specific shirts they are very nice and I do wear them
