I completed a Half Marathon! (Race Report)

Let me start by saying that I have never done something like this all by myself. I am not a loner. Nope. I do have friends. I really do. But I'm the one who left them behind. I wanted to bring them, I really did. They wanted to go, they really did. But they couldn't leave until around 5:30ish and that was too late for me so I opted for a solo meditation weekend.
I started out this trip by traveling to Loveland, CO the day before the race and slept in a lovely hotel and had a nice dinner at Chick Fil A. Before all you fellow runners start griping on me for eating like crud the day before a race, I had a grilled chicken sandwhich, a side salad and some orange juice. Also I had a nice spaghetti lunch, prepared especially by me for me, that afternoon.

Weather: 50 degrees and rising. Probably 65 by the time I finished. No clouds. Simply beautiful.
Race start: 8:30
Elevation: 4,999 feet (1,000 less than what I'm used to training at so that was sweet on my lungs).
Scenery: A lake, open space, farmland, some wooded areas.
Running terrain: concrete, gravel, dirt, and road. (My favorite was the dirt-easiest on the knees)

We parked at the medical center. We then proceeded to walk about a half mile (a good nice warmup) to the race start. I lined up near the back like the slow runners should. :) With this being my first half marathon, and the first time I've run 13 miles, I didn't know what to expect as far as my body is concerned, therefore I let my HR monitor be my pace guide. I had an average HR of about 80% with a Max of 95% towards the end of the race. I swear if I didn't use that thing, I would have killed myself by mile 8 from over exertion.

Miles 1-5 were really easy on me. The course was relatively flat with a little hills here and there.
Miles 6-8 were all uphill. By uphill, I don't mean some huge 10% incline. I'm guessing it was between 3 and 4 %? And we were running against traffic in a rural area. There was an aid station at mile 7 where I opted to use my Hammer Gel as I could tell my energy was starting to deplete. Miles 8-9 were flat with some declines. I felt great the whole way and passed a few runners. Luckily they never caught up to me again.
Mile 10 was difficult because there was a steeper hill. Steeper than the one before. But luckily it didn't last long. I took this opportunity to turn on my IPOD. I opted to keep my ipod off until I needed an extra boost and the blaring music gave me just that.
I was hapapy to reach mile 11 because I was in need of a drink. Also I was having PMS related cramps. After walking through the aid station to rehydrate me, I was ready to head off.
Miles 11 -13 were just plain fun for me. I got to pass a lot of runners turned walkers who probably started the race too fast. I felt physically well and was looking forward to getting to the finish line.
I sprinted the last .10 miles to the finish and along the way passed 1 more runner.

My goal was to not finish last and to come in under 2:30. I accomplished both. My final time ended up being 2:24. I think 11:04 minutes/mile. Not too bad considering I paced myself well. I listened to my body and did not push myself past my limits like I could have done.
They provided a pancake breakfast and since is was a point to point course, they shuttled us back to our cars.

Honestly I don't know why anyone would want to get high on drugs when running is such a natural high. I was on cloud 9. Heck I'm still on cloud 9!

Here are some crappy pictures since nobody was with me to take any. In hindsight I wish I would have grabbed a fellow runner to take a pic. I'm posting these anyway because this was my first race and I just want to always remember it.

I took this in my hotel room before the race because I wanted to remember my outfit. I know, I should have shut off the light.



This picture was taken from my car and gives you a little visual of part of the course we ran on.

I finished! My arms are still flexed to show that even though I just completed 13 miles, I finished strong. (ok you can think that's corny. I do too. But it was fun anyway).

Ah finally...I get to sit down in the car and relax.....