Anyway, this morning started bright and early as my alarm went off at 5:00am. I really wasn't that tired, mostly because I was asleep by about 9:30pm, so waking up at that early hour really wasn't horrible. I stood in my pajamas debating shorts or tights for quite some time before finally settling on tights, just because I knew we would be waiting around in the dark for at least an hour, and if I started out being cold, I would never get warm. I did get a little warm a ways into the race, but I think the tights were a good decision on my part.
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| (Source) |
So, after finally getting dressed and ready for the race, I headed to the kitchen, toasted some bread, lathered on some peanut butter, and sliced a banana so that I could eat a piece of peanut butter and banana toast. I also sprinkled it with some cinnamon, and it was the perfect pre-race fuel. Toast, peanut butter, and banana has been my go-to pre-race meal for the past couple of years, and it has yet to let me down. I finished off the rest of the banana and ate one of my banana-oatmeal-almond butter muffins before Katie's parents arrived at the Clubhouse to take us over to the race. We got over there around 6:00am, but we sat in the warm car for a few minutes before heading over and getting ready for the race to start.
I think since my decision to do the race was so last-minute, I wasn't fully believing what I was about to do. I haven't run 13.1 miles in a long time, and this was the longest race since my broken toe incident, which, by the way, hasn't bothered me for at least two weeks. I'd say it's fully healed, despite the fact that I still think it looks a little fat. Anyway, we ran into a couple of people that we knew, and I started getting really excited for the race. Plus, I knew it would all be over in about two hours and I could get back in my warm bed if I so chose. We started right about on time, and I started off on the course that I ran just two years prior. It was just as fun (and hilly) as I remember it being. I feel like my hill training was pretty minimal, especially in the weeks leading up to the race, but it wasn't too bad until I looked up and saw the infamous Enfield hill at mile 12. I had to laugh when I heard the people around me saying, "That's it, that's the hill." Because, yes, that was the hill. The good thing is that once you got to the top, you only had a little over a mile to go.
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| THE hill (Source) |
I felt pretty great the entire race, but I thought that mile 10 to mile 11 was easily the hardest mile for me. I couldn't tell you why, but I felt as though it lasted forever! Other than that, I couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day to just casually get up and go run around Austin. And I have to give a shoutout to my friend and roomie, Katie, who absolutely DOMINATED her first half marathon with a time of 1:56. And she was worried about not finishing! I wish I had pictures of us to share, but they all came out pretty dark and/or blurry, so you'll have to trust me when I tell you that I looked like a rockstar pre- and post-race! I also wish I could show you a picture of all the food I ate post-race, but that was devoured long before I thought about documenting it. Oops!
So, my half marathon curse has officially been broken (the last two were plagued by injuries), AND I set a new personal record! I now have the itch to complete a full marathon in the near future, but I know that requires a lot of time, a lot of training and a whole lot of commitment. I would love to complete one (and just one), but I'm not quite sure if I have it in me. But then I have to think about the fact that the people we are running for are running a much tougher race than I am. I think it was mile 9 that featured cheerleaders all wearing yellow and holding yellow signs in honor of people who might be fighting cancer, who have beat cancer, or may have unfortunately lost their battle with cancer. It was a pretty powerful sight, and one that I don't think I will forget any time soon.
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| View from above the race (Source) |
P.S. If you were tracking my results (which I'm sure all of you were), my race number was 12878. I ran the race under Katie's friends name (Devanne), because you are unable to transfer registrations from person to person. Betcha didn't know I was running under an alias!
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