Country Music 1/2 Marathon 2010

check! done and done. 

after months of training, setting time goals, worrying about the weather - 

saturday was go time for the Country Music 1/2 Marathon. 

and, well.... it went up and down and up and down. 

as in, it had it's ups and downs and was supadupa hilly. 

jwood and meg were so nice as to drop jess and i off at the starting line. 

except, the starting line was not so much an idol line when we arrived - it was moving. unbeknown to us, the race organizers decided to start the race 15 minutes early to avoid the storms that were soon to arrive. seriously?! jess and i jumped out of the car, ran down the sidewalk, jumped a fence, jumped in line, and began the race.

prep time? stretch time? breathing? nope. nada. we were off. 

i don't really have much of a "race recap" because, frankly, i blacked during most of it. though i live here and have run most of this course before, i think the hills grew steeper over night. there were some great posters along the way.... "take a breath! you're not going to win!" was my favorite. jess and i plugged along and kept a really good pace until i lost it about mile 10. spent. i was done. i sent jess on her way and hoped that she'd kill our goal of under 2 hours. i'm not sure what happened to me. but, i knew that i needed to either slow down, or i'd be one with the cement. so, i took it easy-er the last 3 miles and focused on putting one foot in front of the other. 

and, one foot in front of the other got me to the finish

 2 minutes and 54 seconds slower than my goal, 

but a PR nonetheless. 

i finished in 2:02:54!

though a little discouraged that i didn't cross the finish line with my running buddy, i am proud of my finish time and proud of myself. 3 1/2 marathons in 5 months isn't anything to scoff about, i suppose! :)

if i could give my worthless 2 cents to the race organizers, those 2 cents would be:

1) allow fewer participants. the course was PACKED. 

2) if you're going to start the race 15 minutes early,

 let a sista know before those said 15 minutes. 

3) MORE WATER, less cytomax

4) MORE WATER STOPS. in my opinion, there weren't enough water stops. i'm no veteran runner, but the past 2 races i participated in had water at every mile. this one did not. at mile 11ish i heard, "last water stop." i almost stopped. 

5) don't make me walk thru a mile long maze before i can get to the

 "safe zone" to locate my family. kthanks. 

all in all, it was a good day. mother nature held out for us halfers. we stood around, visited, hugged, took some pics and as soon as we closed the doors to the car - the bottom fell out. i did feel sorry for those who had poured their hearts and souls into training for the marathon, only to be stopped at mile 22. heart wrenching. 

i'm so proud of all of my friends that finished! i'm still truly smitten with running and what the body and mind can accomplish. time goal or not, too many people or too few, not enough water and too much cytomax, 

running 13.1 miles is something in which to be proud. 

all smiles in the car on the way to the start line. at this point, we didn't know that people were already running. oops. 

meg & jwood played tourist while they waited. this pic was taken on the pedestrian walking bridge. 

pic of the finish line and the masses of people. 

done and done! 

big hugs after i found jdoss! 

if you could zoom in on her watch - you'd see 2:00. 

SHE DID IT! 

i'm so proud of you, jess!!

my little running neighbors, P & B!

i'm proud of you, patty! you did it! 

one of my favorite pics from the day. 

my supportive hubby and i walking arm and arm 

(him 1/2 way holding me up) back to the car. 

ICE BATH!!! burrrrrr

see ya down the road, (1/2) marathon.....