See Jane Run

Half Marathon Bling #8!

Man, Oh, Man...I knew that this race would be rough - I just didn't anticipate how much so. This race was my second half of the year - should have been my 3rd half, but the first one didn't happen and #2 was okay.

This one...oh man, I was so bummed that I couldn't get enough training in for the first one so that I could do some maintenance type miles for this one. Then I wasn't able to log many miles in the last 3 weeks mostly because I spent time recovering from Vancouver Half and then I spent most of the week before SJR suffering from headaches - boo hoo...NOT.

I know that my plans are not necessarily going to happen the way that I like, so I'm cool with that. What I don't like is when something comes up during a race and I know WHY it's happening, not so cool.

For the first 6 miles I was doing pretty good with running and walking - I felt fairly decent actually. Also, I had remembed to strap on my pouch that I had a stash of shot blocks in and was downing those during my walk breaks along with electrolytes from the aid stations. Yup...doing a decent job and enjoying the morning and then BAM...

Calf Muscle Spasm. NOOOOOOO!!!!!!

It's only mile six for cryin' out loud! So back to walking for this girl. For the next 4 miles I walked most of the time and tried to run now and then. It wasn't meant to be. I made my peace with what was happening and decided  that I would just try to save it all for the end and try to run the last mile in. That was a silly idea! Once I reached the 12 mile mark I was feeling fairly demoralized because I just couldn't get my body to go and just plain tired because I really tried to step lively and I pretty much am not a fan of walking. Walking a mile when the finish is "right around the corner" feels very, very long.

Once I made the turn to go to the path back to the finish I saw Tom was waiting for me. I tried to run a little more, but that was not really an option, my body was rebelling! However, with Tom giving me a little bit of a pep talk...I was able to run the last stretch through the finish. I was sure that it wasn't pretty, but the photos were just posted and I actually looked okay!

While I'm glad that I did this race, it is one that I will not do again. The course was fine, it went around Lake Union and there were some nice views. However, the first 4 miles were basically an out and back course and then went down and around the lake and the last 3 miles was the 5k course - again, out and back. I am not a fan of out and back courses except if it's just a 5k race...then no problem. I feel like on anything longer I'm back-tracking and that's not my favorite thing to do.

There were plenty of volunteers, but I was so far back that it was kind of hard to tell if the person was a volunteer or just another person hanging out. Special shirts would be good for those people...make them stand out a little more! The food was not that great and there were no electrolytes (that I could see) at the finish.

I guess I have been spoiled by Energy events and how they organize races. They are the BEST!

Now I'll have a few more days of rest and then we'll be getting back into training mode. This time for the BIG event this fall!! Runner's World Half & Festival here we come!

Hat Trick Baby!!!