Rock N Roll St. Louis Half Marathon 2011

 

Good morning! Have you all had a chance to enter my Shutterfly cards giveaway? It’s a fun one! Who doesn’t love Christmas cards?! Also while on their site be sure to check out the photo books, I love them, so much better than just printing pictures for an album.

So yesterday I went on my first post race run and it wasn’t very pretty. The top of my left foot started to hurt so I just did two easy miles and came home and did some googling. I saw a cause for this is too tight of shoelaces and it hit me that was probably the issue. I recall on Sunday when I started the race that my shoelaces were way too tight but I never stopped to adjust them. Fingers crossed that’s all it is! Ok, anyway on to the recap!

My alarm went off at 5 am for the race. I had only slept about 4.5 hours, and it was cold. All I wanted to do was stay in my warm bed! I forced myself up and dressed and ate a clif bar.

I was ready early, so I just started packing up my things until it was time to go. I knew I was going to be in a HURRY to get out of there after the race so having everything packed was a good idea. Don’t I look sleep deprived?

We headed to the lobby to wait for my skirt helpers cousin to pick us up. I nearly fell asleep on the couch waiting for her to get there! I was so grateful to have a ride to the race, I don’t know how we would have gotten there otherwise. We parked in the garage and walked the couple blocks to the start area. We jumped in a potty line and it was LONG. I figured the ones down further were shorter but since I was with other people I didn’t really say anything. After waiting a few minutes, Heather texted me and I told her about my long line. She said she was down further and there was no line! I told the girls with me and they wanted to stay put, so I decided to leave them and go find Heather. There were SO many people (21k!) it was hard to squeeze by and get to her, but I finally found her!

After a quick chat I realized it was after 7:20 so we said a quick goodbye and I headed to corral 10. The corral wasn’t crowded like I was expecting, so I worked my way up to the front and of course found someone to chat with. It was a guy running his first full…and he had never run a half, WOW! Here is the view from my corral, you can see the arch in the distance:

aannnddd all the other corrals behind me:

Finally, we sang, the gun went off, and Corral 1 was off! Of course, we didn’t start until about 11 minutes later, but it was exciting moving up to the start little by little!

Here we go! It was chilly at the start, but it felt good once I started running. My Garmin IMMEDIATELY started spazzing out going in between the tall buildings and I panicked because I wouldn’t “really’ know where I was on the course. About a half mile in, I heard people right behind me talking about Disney, so naturally, I started listening. They were talking about the marathon! I started chatting with one of the guys who as running alone, and found out he is a TNT coach (not for this race) and will be coaching a team in Disney in January and had never run that one before and wanted to know what it was like. So, I was happy to oblige. Hehe.

We talked and talked and I kind of forgot I was running! I told him to feel free to leave me at any time. He was running the full and waiting on the 4:30 paces to pass us. He told me about how much he loves TNT and I told him how I just completed my first TNT event. he was so friendly and encouraging and it really made those first miles (and hills!) fly by. I honestly wasn’t even paying much attention to my pace at that point. But I knew the 4:30 pacers hadn’t passed yet so it couldn’t be THAT bad. The race split off for the half and full around mile 8, and at about mile 7.5, the 4:30 pace group passed us and I told him to GO and thank you for running with me! I was so happy that I was already 8 miles in and just now having to really “pay attention” to the race. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos from the first 8 miles except this one form the 5k mark. Can you spot me?

I started paying attention to the beautiful neighborhoods we were going through, and I also started to notice the hills were getting BIGGER and my IT band was getting unhappier! More specifically, up towards my right hip was throbbing with every step. Ouch.

There was a long steep uphill before mile 9, and lots of spectators! Lots of fun signs to read as well. I think my favorite was one that said “Almost There…(that’s what she said)” I literally laughed out loud, too funny!

Other than my hip I actually felt pretty good! I was surprised considering this was my 3rd half in 4 weeks and I was running on expo legs and 4.5 hours of sleep. I loved the pretty leaves changing color and while it has warmed up some, it still felt good weather-wise.

I hit mile 10 and started my run/walk intervals of 4 minutes/30 seconds. I was proud I made it that far without having to implement them. The hills picked up around that point and I was ready to be done and so was my hip. When I hit mile 11, I knew I wasn’t going to get a sub 2:15 (which I was shooting for) and I will admit though not like me, I slowed up a little. I was just so exhausted and worn down and in a LOT of hip pain. Live to run another day, right?

So I make it to mile 12, and then someone yells “Only a half mile to go!” Since my garmin was screwy, I just had to take her word for it so I kicked it in. Um..mistake!! I went on and on…more people saying “only a half mile to go!” Other people running started saying “WHY do spectators keep telling us that, we have more than that to go!” CRAP. oops. I slowed again. I can’t kick that long. Then, I heard cheering. Huh? I look to the right on the other side of the median and see a truck and then bikers go by, and then…he whizzed by us….the first full marathoner. You have GOT to be kidding me! Granted, I am sure he was in corral 1 and started 11 minutes ahead of me, but STILL! We all cheered and clapped as he passed.

Did I mention the last half mile was all uphill? Cruel, Rock n Roll. Just cruel. I think they take pleasure in it because Providence ended uphill too! I mean, look at this poor guy I was behind. he thought it was cruel, too I am sure.

yes I am holding my phone and yes I tweeted and texted while running. I finally made the last turn and saw the finish line UP ahead up a hill. I gave it some gas and passed several people just so I could be DONE!  (Note guy in agony in bottom right corner. Hopefully I passed him.)

I finished in respectable 2:21. 2:21 was LAST October’s PR, with NO hills, NO expo, and NO 3 halfs in 4 weeks. I must say I am pretty proud! I literally stopped my Garmin, grabbed my meal, and pushed through the masses of people. I had to get to the airport ASAP! Of course, people are hobbling, walking slow, clogging up the chute so it was quite the ordeal for me to get out. I asked some lady to take my picture though.

Clearly I am incapable of putting my bib on straight. Anyway, I had 10 blocks to walk to get back to the hotel and it was 10:15, my flight was at 12:25. Crap. I started running. Other runners walking back to their hotels made comments like “you should have entered the full!” or “13.1 not enough torture?” My hip was killing me but I didn’t have a choice, so I just kept going. I wasn’t EXACTLY sure how to get back to the hotel but I knew it was by the arch so I just kept running. I finally made it back, up to the room and into the shower. I was SO glad I had already packed, so all I had to do was shower change and go! I called the front desk and had them call me a cab so it would be waiting. but not before a quick pic of my newest bling.

Luckily, I made it to the airport with a few minutes to spare, and all was well.  Overall, I enjoyed this race. The course was really pretty, I had good company, and a good time. I disliked the hills of course, and having more sleep and being fresh would have been nice, but overall not a bad race, St. Louis! Way to go!

QOTD: Have you ever had to hurry to catch a flight? Did you make it?