Jazz Half Marathon Race Recap Part 2

 

     My alarm went off all too soon at 5:20. I did not want to wake up! I forced myself out of bed and finally got Bobby up. (He is NOT a morning person!) We got all ready to go and Karen texted me to see when we were going down. I said 6:30, and we finished pinning on our race numbers and were out the door!

We walked a block or so to the start and I was texting Karen trying to find her, and then I saw her and Kayla and of course we had to take pictures.

Oh, by the way, from here on out until after the race, these photos are courtesy of Karen’s Facebook Page, with her permission of course, because I didn’t have my camera!

Here we are right before the start! It was chilly, but since it was a smaller race (less than 3,000 people) we didn’t get there till a few minutes before the start so we didn’t have to stand there long!

Before I knew it, we were singing the National Anthem cajun style, and then the gun went off, and we were moving. It all went by so fast!

So we started running and I said goodbye to Bobby who took off ahead of me, and said have a good race to Karen and Kayla, and off I went! I felt really good starting out, and as usual, went out too fast. I just get so excited and don’t look at my Garmin until mile 1 and realized I had run a 9:45 mile. Oops! I slowed down, and didn’t remember seeing the mile two marker. oh well. My garmin beeped and it said I had run a 12:33 mile. Huh? I knew I had slowed down but not THAT much. While I was busy trying to figure it out, we hit the first water stop. I stopped, grabbed a cup, and drank…BOILING HOT WATER! GROSS, are you kidding me? I accidentally dumped it down the front of my outfit and it got on my KT tape which immediately started falling off my knee. Fabulous. I ripped it off and got rid of it.  A little into mile two….my knee started hurting. Are. you. kidding. me. I figured it would start hurting, but I was hoping I would at least have until mile 6 or 7 so I could get some decent timed miles in, but no such luck. Frustrated, I tried to ignore it and keep going even though it hurt. A lot. I watched my pace slow and I was crushed, I knew I couldn’t PR now, so why kill myself? I kept going at a steady pace but not a “kill myself pace.’ I took my first GU at mile 4, and was dying for some gatorade. I was aggravated they weren’t going to have any until mile EIGHT! When I hit the 3rd mile marker, my garmin said I was only at 2.75 ah HA! that explains it! I hadn’t run a 12:33 mile, my garmin had gotten all screwy. This threw me off for the rest of the race because every mile was at .75-.78 and so I had to do math in my head while running, not cool!

By this time we were on St. Charles avenue under huge oak trees. At least it was cool, shady, and flat. I had to look down a lot though because the roads are AWFUL. I almost rolled my ankle literally 8 steps into the race so I was watching where I was going. I passed several people in cute Halloween and Saints costumes so that kept me occupied for awhile. At about mile 4 or 5, the lead man came by going the OTHER way. boy, what I wouldn’t give to have been him at that moment! I kept going, and finally made it to Audobon Park.

We got to run on the biker and runner path, and it was really a beautiful part of the course.

miles 7-10 were the hardest for me. I really wanted gatorade, and I had only stopped at the water stops which were every two miles. I used them as “landmarks” to encourage myself saying “you get to walk when you get water in 2 more miles” etc. etc. At mile 8, I took my second GU, and FINALLY got my gatorade! Well, it wasn’t watered down, and I grabbed two cups because I knew I wouldn’t get more for two miles. Well..I drank too much, it was so sugary, and it made me sick to my stomach! I must have be
en limping badly at this point because someone actually passed me and turned and asked if I was ok. haha! I forced myself on, and made it to mile ten where I could walk again for a second while I drank. At that point, I knew I had a 5k left, and I looked at my garmin and started doing more math. oh my gosh, I could STILL PR despite the knee pain and slowing down. I couldn’t believe it! I of course got excited and got a new wind in my sails and started booking it. miles ten and eleven went by pretty fast, and before I knew it I was at 12. My knee was killing me but I kept telling myself just one more mile, I can do anything for one mile. I kicked it in and realized I had pushed the gas a little too early. I had to slow down a bit, and then I came to the last turn. I could see the finish line wwwaaayyy up there and I kicked it in.

I had complete tunnel vision. I didn’t see the people, the clock, and apparently they called my name but I didn’t even hear it.

I sprinted past about 10 people and crossed that glorious finish line!

I had done it, I PR’ed! 2:21:36 was my official time, over a three minute PR. I got my medal, and Bobby found me. He didn’t look so good, apparently he almost passed out, but he did it, he broke 2:00 with a 1:57:22!!! Apparently the people at the finish had to help him and ask if he was ok. We went and got some water and I found out Bobby had tried to eat a chili dog after he finished and that wasn’t such a good idea haha! I got him some sprite to settle his stomach and we went and sat down for a minute.

About that time, I found out Karen and Kayla had crossed, so we got up to go find them. I picked up a Blue Bell Fudge bar and Bobby got some jambalya on the way over.

We stood around for a few minutes talking about our respective races, and listened to the music and watched the awards be handed out.

After a few minutes my knee got so stiff and was hurting so bad, I said I needed to go to the hotel and take a shower. We decided to shower and check out and meet back up so we could walk down to Café Du Monde for beignets!

The walk was painful but I knew it was better for me to keep moving.

 

I forgot to mention my toes. I have been struggling lately with two on my right foot bleeding when I run long distances. Well about 6 miles into the race they started to hurt and my toes felt sticky in my sock so I knew I was bleeding. When I finished I had blood on my shoe so I knew it would be gross when I took it off and sur
e enough, same problem. I am not sure how to remedy this, any thoughts? Yes I know I need to pain my toenails.

We showered, packed up, checked out, and Karen, Kayla, and her husband (who is also Karen’s brother) met us in our lobby and we walked over to eat.

While waiting in line a guy walked up and said “excuse me, is this the line for Café Du Mond-a?” We said yes, and I tried not to laugh. I wanted to say ‘you must not be from here, because you so butchered the pronunciation!”

 

We finally got a seat and we somehow managed to get the slowest, oldest, most non-English speaking waitress there. We had quite a few laughs about it, she kept trying to pull out money for her tip without asking us!

We ate, hung out and had a good time, but then sadly it was time to go! We walked back to the hotel, said our goodbyes, and headed back to my parents house. I drove, Bobby slept.  

Overall, we had a good time with a few minor bumps. Bobby met his goal. I didn’t but still PR’ed, but since it was with a bad knee I have high hopes that I can meet my goal once I get healthy!

I hope you enjoyed reading about the race! All the money benefitted Children’s Hospital so that was neat. oh, side note. Last night we were watching the Saints beat the Steelers, and we saw a Jazz half “thank you for participating” commercial come on three times, and they showed a shot of some runners and I was one of them! it was so cool. You couldn’t miss me in the pink socks!