So… I violated my #1 rule of race reporting: Always write up the report within a day or two of running. This race was the first Saturday in December, and seeing that it’s February… Yeah, I’ve been slacking. Thankfully I have an iMac on order that is WAY faster than this 5 year old MacBook I’m using now. So I should be able to whip out a blog post quickly after the new ‘puter comes in!
I didn’t intend to run the half marathon after how Virginia Beach went. I was sorta done with trying to run 13.1 miles fast. But then I thought, I could run with friends and just enjoy myself! So instead of doing the 5K like I did last year, I signed up to run the half with T and K, my old running buddies 🙂 They have a new coworker S who ran with us also. J decided to do the 5K, so we dropped off the boys at childwatch inside the Warren G. White YMCA.
If I remember right, the half marathon started at 8:15 and the 5K at 8:30. So J walked us ladies out to the start, and we were off! My friends thought I would ditch them, but I said no way, I signed up to run with you! However, trying to keep 4 people of varying paces together is a challenge. K & I naturally started pulling ahead, from the 1st mile. S & T ran together, and I said it may be better this way, rather than trying to keep track of 3 other people, we run in buddies teams of 2.
Miles 1-3: Pretty uneventful, other than having to take a potty break. I saw a Port o’ John in someone’s yard (construction) around mile 3, and I knew it was empty so I took advantage. Nothing is more irritating while racing than waiting in line to pee. I caught up with Kim, and we saw T & S on an out-and-back portion.
Miles 4-7: I took my first GU at mile 4. We were running 11-12 min/mile, so I wasn’t too tired. I had a bit of an upset stomach (just a bit), but I had taken an Immodium before the race–just in case. Thankfully, the feeling passed. I enjoyed the scenery running through the Graylyn Park, then Reynolda Village, then the campus of Wake Forest University. We saw our co-workers R and B trucking along during another out-an-back, then saw T & S again too, which was nice. Everyone seemed to be in great spirits, and it wasn’t too cold since the sun was shining. Here’s a pic I snapped of us at the halfway point (then texted it to J! lol! Definitely not a typical race for me)
I took my 2nd GU at mile 7, and figured I’d do another one at mile 10 or 11. I still had plenty of energy and legs felt fine. I was starting to wish I had just ran it all-out, but I think sometimes I break from being competitive is nice too 😉 So I vowed to train hard in 2016 and come back ready to race!
I realized K hadn’t taken any energy until mile 7, but I didn’t think much of it. She’s done a handful of half marathons so I figured she had her fuel plan figured out. I asked her what her PR was, and she said 2:28. I did some quick runNerd calculations, and I said “I think we can beat your PR today, if we just keep up this pace!” So it became my mission to get K a new PR.
Miles 8-12: We bopped along, having great conversation and averaging 11 min/mile at this point. We dipped under 11 several times, so I felt very confident about K’s new PR. It made me feel really good to think I was helping her (in some small way) to run her best time. There was a table set up near the end of the park with Oreos, so I helped myself to a few and figured I’d save the GU for another race 😉
Mile 13-13.3: Home stretch! Excitement in the air! We could hear the finish line and we were still on pace to come in sub-2:28. I didn’t realize we had more than 0.1 to go, but I kinda figured it out based on hearing the crowd noise in the distance. K began to lose steam quickly, and I could tell she was hitting the wall. It was all she could do not to walk, and I felt so bad for her. She was trying so hard, but her legs wouldn’t cooperate… But, we finally made it over the finish line!
I realized as we crossed the line that I was very concerned about K collapsing and…. there were my boys at the finish with J. J was irritated with me that I didn’t grab Asher, but I was worried about K. I did one of those “who needs me more” quick decisions, and grabbed Asher, then tried to catch up with K. She was hurting, but happy to finish. (We missed her PR by less than 3 minutes… sadness. Next time!)
Here’s the route:
K & I walked the route back a bit with Asher, to cheer in T & S.
They looked to be in great spirits when they crossed! Here’s the whole group afterwards:
J did a great job with the 5K, though he didn’t like the hills. Here he is finishing strong!
The boys ended up having a great time at child watch! Gabe got his face painted 😉
Overall, it was a great time (minus my tooth chipping on the way home… after seeing my dentist at the Start line, go figure!) and we are all excited to run it again!
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