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Pasta w/the crew![/caption]Dinner was full of pasta, laughs and race day strategy talk. I think we were all a bit anxious since the email earlier in the week regarding the race and road conditions stated to wear trail shoes. The course was listed as being a bit slushy due to rain earlier in the week. As of Friday evening it was raining more.
We got to our room fairly late considering we had an early morning ahead of us. We got settle in and laid out all our race gear.
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Absofreakinglutely Amazing[/caption]The weirdest part about laying out race gear was NOT having a bib to lay out with it. There was no day before race packet pick up. Packet pickup was the morning of the race. This would be interesting!
We set our alarms for 4:15am. We were meeting the rest of the crew at 5:15 in the hotel lobby, which lucky for the 3 of us was just right outside our room door! So it was probably a bit nutty for us to set the alarm so early since we wouldn't need showers and basically just had to throw on clothes but like I told M, I'd rather be up early and have time to de-stress than to be a last minute kinda gal the morning of the race. And yes, I am the biggest procrastinator any of you will ever meet but on race day I would rather be 30 minutes early and stand around than to be one second late.
The morning went well. We might or might not have groaned a little when the alarm went off but we were all up and ready to go by 5:15am. As we walked out of the hotel to the car we may or may not have groaned about the slight drizzle in the air. Good thing we all wore old shoes!?
The ride to the campground where we would catch the shuttle up the mountain was about an hour. It was going well until we made the turn up the winding little road and then the heavens opened up and rain poured! Oh.my.gosh. We were the lead car of our group of 3 going up the mountain. No taillights in front of us to receive any guidance from. I am not the best passenger in such situations. If I can't see then I know J cannot see and we were on the curviest of roads which none of us had been on before. NO fun for me. The rain got harder and harder and then the lightning started. Oh boy! Upon the final turn we notice a road sign, "Road subject to flooding." Yeehaw! This adventure just keeps on getting better.
Once we pulled into the parking lot and saw other cars, the shuttles and people I think we all felt a little relieved. Maybe it was knowing we were in the right place!? Maybe we weren't actually relieved but I know at least one of us was thinking, "What the crap are we about to do??" It was about 6am and the shuttle wasn't leaving for another 30 minutes so we sat there debating whether we should get out of the car and head to the shuttle. More lightning, heavier rain. We waited until the very last minute possible to get out of the car. J went out first to grab our big golf umbrella and a space blanket. M attempted to tiptoe out of the car but J told her to just embrace the 87 inches of rain at her feet and go. So we did. We were drenched. So maybe there wasn't 87 inches of rain on the ground but considering we were bone dry when we stepped out of the car and looked like drowned rats by the time we entered the shuttle it might as well have been 87 inches of rain.
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Shuttle ride to the start line. Buncha excited, WET runners![/caption]Lucky for us we got on the warm bus for the 30 minute slow shuttle ride up the mountain. Lindsay, Angie and Michaela all took off their shoes and dumped the water from them as well as rung out their soaked socks. I was too lazy for that and figured I would deal as best as I could. Bib pick up, potty line and bag check off went as well as any other race I have ran. It was quick and had it not been for the little bit of rain it would have been perfect. We made the short walk to the start line with the rest of the runners shortly after and had time for a couple of pre-race pics thanks to B.
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Bryan, Angie, Michaela, Lindsay, Justin and Me[/caption]I wasn't sure where to really line up or what kind of pacing was around me so I just stood there with everyone else while announcements were made and waited for the air horn to send us off. At this point (3 days later!) I don't even recall it being so damp out though my shoes were still soaking wet at the start. Thanks to Vac & Dash for being there and taking a few pictures like this...
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Where's Waldo, er um Kimert!? Can you see me??[/caption]The first 2 miles of the race were on paved roads and seemed to me to have a few uphills though my Garmin shows something entirely different but whatever. I was maintaining just around a 9-9:20 min pace at this point and feeling great. This would be the first half marathon I ran alone and without music. I got water at the first table and was on my way downhill on the gravel road.
The first 6 miles went by fairly quick and I hit the 10k point at around 53 minutes. I was on pace at that point to make my dream goal for the half. But suddenly I realized that my morning Immodium may decide to fail me. I stopped a second to take a few breaths and plead with my stomach/intestines to behave. Back to running. Back to stopping. After like 3 times stopping on the side of the road and 4 people passing asking, "Are you ok?" I was pretty sure it was just going to happen and I desperately needed to find the next bathroom. When I told the last girl that asked me if I was ok that I was indeed looking for the bathroom she looked at me like I had lost my mind. Yes, girlfriend I know we are in the woods and you don't SEE a bathroom but just you wait I am going to find one and it's going to be awesome!
I did a little shuffle until around mile 7.4 when I finally located a lovely bathroom with a bidet. Such a nice treat for a rainy day, it was right off the gravel road and I was never so thankful. It was not the ideal time and it was seriously going to hamper my goal finish time at this point but I had to let the demons out. I went in, did my business and got out but at that point I had lost some serious time. Around 5 minutes, if I recall and I could hear people passing by the whole time. Crap. Crap!
As soon as I came out of the woods I was back at a decent pace. The 8 mile marker was ahead and I knew not far was the next aid station. I would take a water and Gatorade at this point, made small talk with the volunteers and looked up to see my husband coming down the hill. My exact words, "Shit. He caught up to me." lol I had definitely lost some serious time in the woods. I shared my ordeal with him when he asked me what was up I said, "Do bears shit in the woods?? Well, your wife does. Lost some serious time but let's do this!" We ran together the next few minutes before it was time for his next walk break but since I had lost time already I went on without him. The next few miles flew! I had caught up with many of those that I was playing leap frog with earlier in the race. This gave me a bit of hope that maybe I would at least get close to my last half PR time (2:10) especially if the course continue to be as fast as it had been.
However, we had been warned that miles 10-11 were a bit slushy. And that was accurate. While I was able to still maintain a 9-9:30ish pace it was tough to make some of the turns because that seemed to be where the slush was and when I would come up on that I slowed a bit and walked because the last thing I wanted to do was fall. Seems those around me were concerned of the same because they too slowed down.
At mile 12 we made a right turn onto a little more maintained road. However it seemed the course either turned flat or went uphill because it was then that things felt different and my pace slowed. I started feeling hotspots on my feet that I imagined would be horrible blisters by the time I made it the next 2 miles to the finish. I tried really hard to ignore the burning on my feet and just push but it was totally getting to my head. I saw people ahead of me walking so I slowed to walk too. I knew by then based on the time my Garmin showed that a PR was out and I would do good to come within even a minute of that time so I just walked when I felt like it and I kinda felt like it a lot.
A younger couple passed me once as we were going up a hill and I was frustrated with myself for walking. I decided to just suck it up and run the rest of the way in. I was disappointed that instead of PRing or being within a few minutes of my PR that I would actually be 6 minutes slower. Not at all what I had hoped for for this race. I came in at 2:16 and could hear all my friends who had finished before me yelling for me, "GO Kim!!" I may have waved or fist pumped the air or something to acknowledge them but I can't recall. I just wanted to be done and take my shoes off.
I collected my medal, which was still in the little plastic baggie and grabbed a bottle of water.
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13.1 miles of terrifying descent[/caption]I waddled my way over to the creek where the girls were cooling off and waited for J and the others to finish. I collected my race tee which was very cool, btw.
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Front of shirt- 13.1 miles of Pure Hill[/caption][caption id="attachment_1486" align="aligncenter" width="300"]
back of shirt[/caption]I then stripped my shoes to see the damage on my feet and found a spot to soak them in the water. This was the best option for all of us while we waited for our shuttle (which took forever) back to the campground where we had parked the car.
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Me and Michelle cooling down post race.[/caption]Race highlights -
I'm not even sure I should call these highlights but positives for me.
~ I ran my 5th half marathon and finished! This coming after an injury I have been recovering from for the last 7 weeks (5 more weeks of PT to go!).
~ I ran an entire 13.1 miles without music or anyone to talk to which is a first for me.
~ The weather ended up being pretty great considering the mornings events.
~ ALL of the rest of my running crew PR'd which is super exciting. It was a blast traveling to NC with them and running this race. So so so thankful for this amazing and supportive group of friends. They may be tired of all my poop talk though. ;)
~ The course was beautiful. It's so peaceful running through the woods and just taking in all that has been created for us.
Low points from the race -
~ The storms before left us soaked which put a slight damper on the start of the race for me. I am not a fan of running in wet shoes/socks.
~ Darn that Immodium for failing me. Next time I stick to taking my usual 3 instead of just 2.
~ No food at the finish line. Just water. I think everyone would have benefited from even a sip of Gatorade or half a bagel/banana, something.
~ NO professional photography. Kinda a bummer to not have a finish line photo.
~ Receiving a medal in a baggie. Would've been nice to have it handed to me or hung around my neck, but I do realize it was a small race though I'm sure it would've required another volunteer and those can be hard to come by (THANK YOU to those that did volunteer and put this race together).
~ I never expected so many parts of my body to hurt! I'm thankful for the little bit of downhill running I did before the race. My training wasn't what I had hoped with my hip injury so that may have come into play with the pain but even 3 days later my calves are still sore. Everything hurt from my traps to my calves.
~Being soaking wet before even running means my BodyGlide failed me too by at least mile 7. I had some nice chaffing!
Will I do this race again!?!? YES!!! It was a lot of fun and next time I want to get a kickin' PR!
Whew that was long and probably boring to some of you but hopefully it's a good enough recap to encourage those of you close that didn't run this year sign up for it next year!
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