I managed to survive my half-marathon yesterday! I even managed to beat my previous year’s time by 20 minutes, so there’s that!

I spent the extra $50 for the VIP upgrade, and it was totally worth it for the simple fact that there were several heaters in the VIP area and it was misting and fairly chilly that morning. Actually I was pretty chilly for the entire race!

I wore my Brook’s Cascadia trail shoes for the race, even though it was on pavement.I also wore compression socks, lulu tights, a tank top and a long sleeve pull-over. I never took my pull-over off, because even though I was fairly sweaty, I was just too cold to deal with it.

Looking at my splits, I did pretty good at holding pace until about mile 8, then I slowed down a little. Mile 9 was rough because my right leg started hurting from my hip to my knee area, but I managed to soldier through that. Right before mile marker 10 there was an aid station that I literally had to elbow my way through the “volunteers” to even get to the table to attempt to refill my water bottle. The station was manned by a dance/cheer group or something like that and they were more interested in pouring the drinks on the ground and playing football than actually handing runners/walkers a beverage when they passed. I understand that we were some of the final runners/walkers, but we deserve the same treatment as the faster people. YOU signed up to volunteer, no one made you do it. Have a little respect! I know it’s boring but come on!

I walked mile 11 because I was trying to give my leg a break and see if it would feel better. It didn’t. So I started to try to run again and had to take several walk breaks each time, which sucked for the last two miles. Going down the steep incline in mile 13 felt like MURDER on my poor quads!

But, I managed to finish, and felt pretty good for most of the race. I got to see my friend Carla and her dogs, Coober and Greta, around the half-way point, so that was big boost in morale! I’m sure I looked like a maniac yelling out the dogs names when I turned the corner 🙂 But it was fun! I obviously wish I hadn’t forgotten about the half and prepared a little better, but I’m still fairly happy with the results and the fact that I didn’t burn myself out too quickly by going to hard in the beginning.

Now I’m ready to relax a little before figuring out my next races. I’m also shopping for compression tights/crops because my calves and shins feel just fine today, but my quads are screaming at me every time I get up and sit down!