Pilgrim Pacer 1/2 Marathon Recap.

Packet Pick-up Friday night.

Race day began at 0700 hours.  No such problem. We were staying about 4 miles away from the race, so we got dressed and out the door. I had everything laid out the night before, except my earphones. Last minute I realized that they were MIA. After much freaking out and crying calm searching, they were located. :)

In the car I had 1/2 of a banana and 1/2 of a Clif Bar. I didn't want to overload my stomach, but looking back, I wish I would have eaten the full banana and full bar. I definitely felt under-fueled of this race.

Parking was 1.5 miles away from the start/finish, so they were running trolleys every 15 minutes to and from the parking lot to the start area. I didn't want to be stuck waiting for a trolley and miss the start! We got a trolley at about 0802 and got to the start at 0807. It was 66 degrees and the sun was already way up in the sky. It was breezy- 15mph with gusts up to 25mph. Waiting for the start was easy since we weren't cold.
I was so nervous, my stomach was in knots!

There were no corrals, just everyone crowded to the front for the gun. The 1/2 and Full marathoners started together at 0830, the 5k and 10k runners started together at 9:30.
Tabitha and I said a quick prayer together for an injury free race and we were off!

By process of the jostle, I ended up towards the front of the pack, so I immediately pulled to the right and tried to let the faster runners get around. It stayed pretty congested for the first 1/2 mile, but then started to spread out. It wasn't a problem for me, but I don't know if some of the competitive runners might have found it frustrating. 

The course was an out-and-back and the first 1.5-2 miles were all downhill. I tried to take advantage of the hill, but still run moderately. I decided not to turn on my music until mile 3, so I just took in the scenery and enjoyed the view for the first 3 miles. It was PRETTY! I was getting passed a lot, but a lot of people were also already taking walking breaks, which I found surprising.

At mile 3 I checked my GPS and saw that I'd run the first 5k portion in under 30 minutes. I was happy with that but knew it was also faster than I had planned. I turned on my music and just kept running. I wasn't checking my GPS, I didn't really want to know how far along I was. I think it was between mile 3 and 4 that the first 1/2 marathon runner zoomed past me headed back to the finish. Wow. 

Between mile 4 and mile 5, I saw a familiar face- I almost ran into the back of my sister! She was having a bad race and not feeling good. She urged me to go ahead so I pushed on. I figured she would catch up in a couple of miles. Her miles are consistently 2-3 minutes faster than mine, so she was really suffering.

There was an aid station every mile starting at 1.5ish. The stations had water, a sporks drink, GUs and some of them had bananas and oranges. When I hit mile 5, I started to feel a bit affected by the heat. It was over 70 and I was running into the sun. I grabbed a water at mile 5.

There were rolling hills, and a couple steep ones as we approached the turn around. A lot of people were walking up the inclines. I told myself I couldn't walk so I powered up the hills. Whew. When I reached the turn around I felt great. It was really a good feeling to know I was 1/2 done! :)
Between mile 6.5 and 7.5 I passed Tabitha as she approached the turn around- she was doing better but still struggling. I grabbed a GU at mile 7, but never took it. I just carried it with me in case I needed it. I took either a water or sports drink at all of the aid stations after the turnaround.
At Mile 8 I was struggling a bit. I was starting to feel empty- my poor fueling the two days prior to the race really caught up with me. I reminded myself of how awesome I had just felt at the turn around and how close I was to being done. I stopped paying attention to where I was miles wise and just started to try and pass people if I could. I didn't speed up, just kept going and passed quite a few people.
At Mile 11 I started to really struggle mentally. It was HOT and I was feeling dehydrated and a bit weak. I knew I was going to hit the last 1.5 miles of HILL and I knew I needed to save steam to get up those hills.
The last aid station was congested so I didn't stop for anything but told myself to gear up- only 1.5 miles left!!! I had done a lot of my training on hills, but nothing could fully prepare me for that last brutal mile - all uphill! It also rained on us briefly.  

I happened to glance at the time and realized that I was not going to hit my 2:30 goal. I wasn't far off- just a few minutes, but it was discouraging to think that I was going so slow. I had thought surely I had a sub 2:30 in me, and here I was breaking up on the last hill. I kept pushing even though I was disappointed in myself-- but not for long!!

The last hill was a struggle and I broke down to a walk....I would walk and then run a few yards, walk and then run a few yards. I wanted to run the whole thing and I am proud of myself that I held out until mile 12 to walk at all!!  I may have trained on hills, but this hill ate me for dinner!!
When I finally crested the hill, I could hear the crowd at the finish and I kicked it. I came through the trees and could see the finish! I started sprinting out towards the finish!
When I saw the time I couldn't believe my eyes! I  finished with an official time of 2:28:25!!!

After I got my medal I turned back around and headed back to the top of the hill to wait for Tabitha. When she crested the hill I whooped and hollered and ran her through the finish. She kicked it for the last little bit and finished with a time 2:38:01!!! I'm so proud of her!!

I just wanted to take in the entire experience and remember every minute!!

Overall it was an AMAZING experience! I trained hard for this race and it was awesome to see my hard work pay off. The race was great and I can't wait to run another one.