Half-Marathon Recap

The race is over! I finished uninjured and happy! Even though I went in knowing I wasn't trying to acheive a PR...my mind wasn't completely convinced. So afterwards, at home, looking at the race results, I couldn't help but feel a tinge of disappointment. It was just a tinge.

However, I ran the race in 1 HOUR AND 39 MINUTES. I RANKED 10TH IN MY CATEGORY. For some reason there were no total ranking results.

THIS WAS A CHALLENGING COURSE.

 It was super hilly. I mean, it was nothing but hills! I mean I have to incorporate some type of hill work into my training now! It's interesting, but it wasn't my legs that were burning. It was my lungs! I'm so happy I'll be starting Fartlek again.

My pace was 7.33, which I'm completely content with. At 6.1 miles I was at 46 minutes and at 10 miles I was at 1 hour and 18 minutes. I put effort into this race. My first marathon was completely flat. I held back because I just wanted to finish. I didn't hold much back this time around. It felt good though. I'm already thinking about a shorter race to run in December.

The only annoying part was that there was no one waiting for me at the finish line! I really gave it my all at the finish and sprinted. I expected my family to be there...but they were confused and were standing at a different finish line. To their credit it was a confusing event. 

There was a 10K, the half marathon, full marathon, marathon relay, and a kid's race. All running at the same time. I was confused a bit while running because they kept yelling out instructions and I was trying to focus.

Oh well, it couldn't be perfect, could it?

Race Preparation

It was so cold and dark! I got up at 430 am. I expected my phone to automatically update Daylight Savings, but it didn't. No, I don't have a smartphone. Why? Well, planned obsolescence. But I digress.

Anyway,

• I woke up
• Checked my ipod
• Checked Chema's ipod touch
• Turned on the computer
• Woke up my mother and asked her
• Turned on the TV...

I just wanted to make sure it was 330 am. It was. So I manually put the time back on my phone and stayed in bed (wide awake) until 4 am. At that time I got up and ate breakfast, put in my contacts, got dressed, then warmed up and stretched.

Chema, my younger brother, and older sister, came to see me run. My mom couldn't come unfortunately because of her injury. 

So in this first picture you can see how dark it is at 6am.

This is the start and finish line for the half and full marathon.

Here's where we could check our race results. However, when I crossed the finish line I was more concerned with finding my support team.

There I am! I was so excited. Even though this was a smaller race the energy was great.

Now you can really see how cold it is! I had on 2 layers and another one in the car for the finish! I was too incredibly happy that I had those gloves.

Cheesing with my sister.

And here I am cheesing with the teenager.

This is me right before the start. At this point there were only 10 minutes before the race!

More people getting ready for the race.

Not a huge showing but it was decent.

Not sure why the bird was there but he was scaring the little kids.

The spectators! Actuallly, there weren't very many people supporting the runners. They pretty much stayed at the start and finish lines. But I was more focused on those hills anyway!

Five minutes before the race!

Almost three minutes before the race!

There I go! If my face is any indication (the little of it you can see) I was in paradise!

They had those cool little foil wrappers at the end that I've always wanted to drape around me. I felt so professional! However, they don't keep you warm...at all. The food offered was bananas, bagels, pizza, and beer. Since I'm vegan I gave the pizza to my brother and gobbled a banana and 1/4 of a bagel.

A few hours later I had another snack then lentils with potatoes for lunch.

Thoughts

I had such a great time. I really do recommend races. It is so uplifting. It's a big accomplishment. Like I said, I'm already planning my next race.

The only negatives were that no one was at the finish line to snap a photo. Also I had a wardrobe mishap. My cool new running pants chafed. They have zippers at the ankles and they cut me on my right ankle. 

Luckily, I didn't even notice until we were driving back home. I guess I was on too much of a high. So yea, I either need to wear longer socks or get some different pants.

Something silly: I mentioned before how I felt a tinge of disappointment for not running faster. So, to make me feel better Chema "googled" the women who finished ahead of me. For some reason it made me feel better knowing these women are professional runners. All of them had run the race more than once and were on running teams. I patted myself on the back for a job well done.

Other than that, I have no complaints. My second half marathon is over and I can't wait to run another. 

I will definitely focus on running a PR! (After my marathon of course)