Galloway Girls - Rachel, me, Laura
Me and Will, pre-prace
Katrine (1:41!!!) and myself and Laura (2:13)
Carabba's pasta dinner & sourdough bread last night, lots of water and orange Gatorade, and then peanut butter toast and banana this morning. It was about 46 degrees, clear skies for the start of the race. After much deliberation I decided on a long sleeve dri-fit shirt, running shorts, and gloves (ditched those after about 1/2 a mile). After Katrine, Laura and I waited in a long line for the port-o-pottys (and we were in the leftmost line...however no one mentioned the second one was "out of commission" b/c someone had "gone" all over the...floor?! Who does that, seriously?), we warmed up, stretched a little and got into line. Some 4,000 runners took their mark for the half marathon, meeting those doing the 6k race. We ran past some huge houses and the whole course was shaded and beautiful. Laura ran off to use the bathroom around mile 4, but met back up a few miles later. We ran until 6 miles in, then took a one-minute break every mile. I had some Sport Beans, and then my trusty banana Hammerfuel at mile 9, and water and Powerade along the course. Around mile 8 1/2 we saw a huge horse...wearing a plaid dress. Not sure if it weirder to see a horse in a dress, or the fact that it was plaid. Not sure. It was very bizarre, and I made sure to check with Laura. Yup, she saw it too. My other favorite sight of the day was around mile 2, we saw a much older man that was poured/packed/stuffed (you choose) into the tiniest black shorts ever. He'll need the Jaws of Life to get out of those later! The course took a one-mile loop at mile 10-11, then we zig-zagged our way out of neighborhoods. At mile 12 was Jennifer, my co-worker, yelling and cheered me on. It was so great to see a familiar face. And Laura and I knew we were really almost there. (or so we hoped!) We turned a corner and into the sun we went, it was warm but nice on our faces. A bit further, a group of small kids yelled "one more turn!" around mile 12 1/2, and after that turn, was indeed, one more turn and into the finish we went. Laura and I sprinted, Katrine snapped a photo from the finish line, and we finished somewhere around 2:13 - beating my previous time of 2:16! Will came over and gave me a huge hug and "congrats" but I needed water more than anything. As I took my chip off my shoe and got my medal I was lightheaded and felt like I may faint. That passed and we crossed the street (who puts the Gatorade and fruit/bagels/beer across from the race???) and I secured some orange slices and was good to go. It was wonderful weather. Rachel, from our Galloway group, beat us - 2:08, running the Galloway method (see, it works!). But we had fun and pushed ourselves. Now...time for some pumpkin pie!! Happy Thanksgiving.
Ice bath, post-race. Nothing like getting into a cold bathtub when it's 60 degrees out. Burrrr.
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