Half Marathon in the Hills (and Rain!)

So, yesterday was the Run for the Hills Half Marathon that the run clinic ladies (+ one husband) were participating in. It was an inaugural race in a very nice hilly state park far-ish away from the city. We stayed over night at coach's house to not have to make a long drive in the very early AM and so that we could get a good night's sleep before the race.

I wasn't as worried about this race as I was about the triathlons that I did this summer. I think there are two reasons for this: 1-I have done a half marathon before (though without hills) and we had done more than 13.1 miles in our training runs and 2- unlike in the swim of a triathlon, where you can't exactly stop and take a break without worrying about drowning, you can stop and walk if you are tired and need to in a running race. So, the fear of dying was not really there. :)

The morning of the race, as we were looking through our goodie bags for our race bibs, we realized that it was not chip timed. I don't know why this made me annoyed, but I was curious as to how they were going to time us...and I know it doesn't actually matter, but part of me was like, if its not chip timed, why don't we just go on our own run...and not pay anything...but either way there was no turning back, and we caravaned out to the course.

The weather was quite gloomy- gray, lots of clouds...not really the ideal weather for a scenic run, but at least it wasn't raining when we got there just yet. There was, however, plenty of rain in the forecast. Our group all got together and did a short warm up jog before the race. It was kind of chilly, so I was glad to start moving. We took a port-a-potty stop just before the race. These may have been the scariest port-a-potties I have ever been in...they looked like giant refrigerators on the outside, and they were dark on the inside. I almost got stuck inside! Yikes!

We all headed over to the start line and learned about what their master plan for timing was...they had assigned us bib numbers alphabetically, and were starting us in waves of 25, every minute. Now, I was bib 92, and my running buddies were all in the 100-125. So since I wasn't really planning on winning, and figured I'd just be timing myself with my watch anyway, it would be no big deal to start 1 minute later and then just subtract 1 minute off of my final time. So, our wave came, and we were off.

The first leg I felt like we were going pretty fast- a little faster than I was comfortable with considering that we had 13.1 miles to go! But I kept in our little group of four, and we moved along, passing a handful of the slower people in our wave, and getting passed by the crazy fast people of the next wave. We hit a few steep-ish downhills, but nothing too terrible on the uphill. When we hit the first mile marker, we saw that we were around on track for our 9 ish minute mile goal, and continued onward. When we hit mile 2 however, it had been only about 5 minutes since the last mile marker, and we were a little confused...but decided that there was nothing to do but just ignore it. The first part of the race was the first segment of the large loop that the 10k race was following. We had two little interludes off to the side before picking that loop back up at the end of the race. The first interlude was a straight shot out and back. We saw the mile marker three and figured it was mostly right. When we got to the turnaround, it was exactly that- a water station blockading off the remainder of that part of the trail, so, we stopped and turned straight around. weird. When we got near the end of that strip, we saw our other pair of friends doing the race and waved. Its nice to be doing a race where you see people you know!

The second interlude was a little loop that we had to do 2x. as we headed out on the loop, we passed mile marker 6, and eventually mile marker 7. we did the loop again with no 8 or 9 in sight. We were also told that the middle 6 or so miles were less hilly. This was just not true. So, we never really got a break from hills the entire race. Though to be fair, these hills were nothing compared to the last triathlon I did, so I was counting my blessings really. As we finally came to the end of the 2nd loop, we saw a sign that said, 'to miles 11,12,13' so we were like, ok, now the mile markers will be more accurate, and we can gauge where we are...but boy were we wrong... eventually we passed 9, but I was certain we had gone at least 10- that loop had to be around 2 miles judging by how long it took us to go around it! But, if we really had 4 miles to go, I had to start conserving energy! At this point, it had been drizzling on and off and started to rain a little more consistently. It actually felt a little nice and refreshing. But I couldn't help but think, what is up with me and races in the rain!

Not long after mile marker 9, maybe 3-4 minutes, we saw mile 10, then another 3-4 minutes passed before we saw mile 11. What?! Do these people have any idea how important accuracy in mile markers is? How are we supposed to gauge the proper energy exertion to finish the race if these mile markers meant nothing? At the next aide station, I decided to ask. "how far to the end" I shouted? "Oh, you're almost there!" they replied, encouragingly. "We are the last aid station!" Well, I hoped that that meant < 2 miles, because the aid stations had been plentiful, but at this point, I wasn't counting on anything. It was almost like no one knew what was going on! I guess that's one issue with an inaugural race!

Finally we hit mile 12, and mile 12, everyone later agreed, seemed to go on forEVER. Its one thing to see mile 9 when you KNOW you have gone at least 10, but if mile 12 came early, that's just a cruel joke. I looked at my watch, and thought, I can run for 10 more min, I can do it.  I saw that (if that was at all close to mile 12) I was within range of beating my under two hour goal, so I just kept chugging along. At this point, I was all alone- the 3 others I had started with had dropped back for various reasons, but I was determined not to slow down. It was a little eerie running all alone- the race was so small that there were some points with no other runners in sight. But I pushed the idea of "if something happens to me out here i'm all alone" out of my head, and plowed through. Finally, I saw spectators...and asked them- "are we almost there?" It was so frustrating not having any idea how far we had run. "1/2 mile more!" they told me...ok, I can do this, less than 5 minutes to go! There were spectators spread out throughout this stretch of the race, that were cheering and encouraging. "you look great, almost there!" i finally saw the finish line, and picked up my pace, determined to finish strong! I got through and stopped my watch- 1:55:34! (though the real time said 1:55:59, but whatever, I'll take either!) I had done it in under 2 hours! with hills and rain and all!

I walked off a little and the next 3 friends that I had started with finished up within the next few minutes. We went back to our cars to get warmer clothing (the rain may have been refreshing while we were running, but while we were standing around waiting, it was chilly and unpleasant). I got the worlds worst charley horse while trying to take off my sneakers to put on fleece pants, so that sucked. In addition, my left ankle was really hurting- maybe my shoes were too tight? We went to get some food -they had the usual bananas as well as oranges and bagel sticks and cream cheese- yum. They were a little tough to eat bc they were cold but they were totally delicous.

We sat shivering in the rain, calculating when we thought our other friends were going to finish, and willing them to run faster so we could go get warm sooner :) Finally, they got there, and we hung around with them for a little while and listened for the awards, just in case ;) They began announcing the awards, and our coach got first in her age group! Then, I got 2nd in my age group! So exciting! I have never placed in anything athletic before (even in our badminton golden years, my doubles partner and i missed the 3rd place in the county by one!) so I was totally excited! I just hoped that the girl who got 1st beat me by more than the 1 minute late I started (I checked later, she did!). After the awards were over, we headed over to ihop to get some warm beverages, and refuel. It felt so good to eat and hang out with everyone, now that this half marathon weight was lifted off of our shoulders! all in all a good race- many of them had just completed their first half marathon- way to go guys! :)

The drive home was long, and I just had a headache and wanted to take a nap. I was wiped out- I don't think I drank enough, and being outside in the cold rainy weather for that long couldn't have helped. I finally got my wish, and napped until it was time to celebrate a friend's birthday with grass fed burgers and molly's cupcakes (yum!).

Overall, this was a good race. I had my doubts when I learned there would be hills (and rain) but it was actually lovely scenery, and I am really satisfied with how I did. The only huge complaint I had was the mile markers. I sure hope they get their acts together before they run this race again next year!

The group of run clinic ladies after the race! Some of us look happier than others ;)