Girl Friends Half Marathon 10-16-11

Girl Friends Half Marathon October 16, 2011 Recap.

I have to start with the night before…….

The Girl Friends Dinner

A bunch of us got together for dinner at Cheryl’s house and Kim’s husband cooked dinner for all of us. It was amazing and fun. I got a chance to hang out with my running buddies Robin, Cheryl, Kim, Kate and Stephaney. AND I got to meet two ladies Tami and her Mom Pat.  We ate BBQ Chicken, grilled Salmon, pasta, salad, and fruit. For munchies there were peanut butter stuffed pretzels, animal cookies, M & M’s, candied pecans, candy corns, nuts and the best ever pretzel/Rollo/pecan goody. YUMMY!!!!!

Wake-up

I had (thought I did) everything laid out…. Shoes with timing chip strapped on, socks, panties, bra, shirt with race bid attached, hydration belt pack except for the accelerade drink bottles. I was ready to go (so I thought) I ate my oatmeal and banana, drank some water and headed out the door to meet the gals before the race. While looking for a place to park I went over in my head again making sure I had everything I needed. Guess what I forgot………. My Garmin!!! Panic raced through my blood……I drove home and got it, thankfully I didn’t live to far away. How could I forget my Garmin, oh boy.

Pre-race

Met up with the ladies, took a few photos, and waited and waited and waited in the potty line. Missed seeing Heather C. :o(

First and second mile

SUCKED!!!!!! Robin, Stephaney and I were dogging walkers. Zig zaging trying our hardest to get around all of them. It was horrible. The start had paces marked 5- 6, 7-8, 9-10, 11-12, 12+, and then the walkers.  I am still angered about that bobbing and weaving those first 2 miles about killed me.

Mile 3

I was toast after all the dodging. I had to take a couple short walk breaks to recover.

Mile 4 to 7

I was getting into my long run pace, enjoying seeing fellow friends running, talking with Robin and looking at all the cool t-shirts.

Mile 8   Oh mile 8

I felt a little light headed so I grabbed for my Tri-Berry Gu. (This WAS my go to Gu for long runs, not sure about that now.) Ate the GU and drank some water. It took a while to go down. By mile 8.5 I could tell it was not sitting in my stomach well. I mention to Robin that I may need to walk a bit. So we walked for a few. Started running again and all I could feel was that GU sloshing. I kept thinking….”Please stay down I do not want to puke while doing this race.”

Mile 9

Robin mentioned that she needed to find a porta potty, I thought, Yep good idea. No porta potty in sight :o(  Bushes were looking really good.

Mile 10

Porta potty!!! Yea!! I was feeling the same, icky stomach that was just sloshing away and knew that a potty break was not going to help me.  I left Robin to wait in line, so away I went away knowing that Robin would catch up to me, and she did.  I was cursing as I started up Grand Blvd, Really a hill at 10.6 miles!!!! Made it to the top which was also mile 11.

Mile 11

Woohoo!!! I made it to the top of the hill. There was a young boy about 7 or 8 holding a sign that said something like…. Way to go Hotties!! I just laughed and realized how crappy I still felt, but I could run another 2.1 miles. Did some more walking, I seriously thought I was going to blow chunks any minute.

Then I see our next adventure…. A hill. I thought I can do this!!!!!! And away we went.

Mile 12

Mile 12 marker was mid-hill and Robin was cruising up the hill away from me. I was ready to start walking, then I heard yelling and lots of cow bell and I do mean LOTS of cow bell. As I get to the top There is my friend Kelly screaming and ringing a cow bell, Steve (her boyfriend and friend of mine too) and a friend Lisa was there too cheering me on. I really want to stop and hang out, but Kelly told me to GO!!!. I really needed that….cheering for me.

Mile 13

My fuel tank was empty, I kept telling myself to finish strong and then I could puke. Robin told me the same thing push through and puke later. So as I was rounding the block to the finish line there I saw my Mom and my niece Saraha standing there waiting for me, I almost started crying. I gave them a quick hug each and told them I would be back. Off I went to the finish line.

Mile 13.1

I finished and I got a PR. 2 hours 46 minutes and 40 seconds Chip time!!!!! WooHoo.


As I was catching my breath and thinking about this awesome accomplishment. I got a text from my husband saying "Congratulations!"  I was very happy to hear from him.

Nope I never did puke, couldn’t eat anything till the evening, but I did not hurl I finished my second half marathon.

Whats next???? Hmmmmm, Hopefully Hood to Coast!!