Rock and Roll Philadelphia 2011

It’s almost been a week since the Philly Rock and Roll Half Marathon.

It was truly AMAZING!

The day started off with my alarm blaring at 4:45am.  I met Kace at 6:00 and we were on our way.  This was her first half, and I am SO proud of her for completing it!

While looking around for my friend Vee, we spotted another friend, Lauren:

This was her first half marathon too.  Not that I ever want to feel the pain that I felt after my first half, but I wish that every half I had that same excitement as I did with the first.  That anticipation of what’s going to happen next is always exciting to me (I guess I’ll have that at the marathon though- ahh!)

The race began at 8:00am and we were still looking for Vee around 7:55.  Finally, we found her and Kace split off and went to our separate corrals.  Vee was in corral 6 and I got myself changed to her corral so that we could start together.  By the time we got up there, the corral was completely full and there was a line outside.  Luckily, people let us join in as the corrals moved up.

I was going to give you a play-by-play of the miles, but they really all seem to run together. Some memorable moments:

Mile .65 ~ Jarryd and my parents were walking up to get ready to stand at mile 5 and saw me running.  Jarryd came running towards the crowd so I could see that they were there.  It was a definite boost!

Mile 5 ~ I saw the family and Jarryd again, but I was so into the run that I almost missed them!

Miles 6 & 7 ~ I spent a lot of the time looking for K.C.’s family, but never found them.

Mile 9 ~ I stopped for a potty break (I didn’t want a repeat of the half where my bladder hurt afterwards for a whole day)

Mile 12 ~ Started grinning from ear to ear knowing that I hadn’t hit a wall

Mile 12.75 ~ I saw people that I knew on the sidelines and started screaming for them.

Mile 13 ~ Saw my family and Jarryd, who shot an awesome pic of how I was feeling…

Finish line:  I had my hands in the air screaming!!  I’m pretty sure the guy next to me (3 feet in front of me) was trying to figure out what was in my gu that wasn’t in his.  Little did he know, I don’t take Gu’s on half marathons.  So there..

Normally, after a half, I am physically and mentally exhausted.  I went into the half not knowing what to expect.  I told myself that I would walk if I had to.  I told myself that this was really becoming a “training run” for the full.  I told myself that I had to stay positive, and that I could do this.  I know that this wasn’t my first race, but I hadn’t done more than 10 miles in a training run and my shorter runs were scarce throughout the training period.

I don’t know if it was the mental thing, but I really rocked this race.  I felt comfortable the entire time.  I never felt like I needed a water stop, but I stopped at them all like I promised I would.  My official race time was 2:17ish, but I stopped for about 2 minutes for a potty break.  I honestly could have cared less what my time was though. I just wanted to stay at a steady pace and finish feeling like I could go at least 5 more miles if I had to.  I think I could’ve gone 5 more, but 13 more would have been really rough.  That’s what training is for though.. right?

It was a great race, and it really made me remember what I love about running.  Stay tuned for marathon training.  Hopefully it’ll go well!

Question of the day: Will you stop for a bathroom break during a race.  I fought with myself for a good 5 miles before I gave in, but I hate having to stop.  

This past week’s workouts: Sunday:  1/2 marathon, Monday: rest, Tuesday: 3 mile run, Wednesday: 7 mile run, taught Zumba, abs, Thursday: 4 mile run, Friday: rest, Saturday: Zumba, abs… 10 mile run planned for tomorrow.

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