Where do I start.... other than getting here being so freaking stressful.... at one point I seriously thought we were going to have to give up and just go home and I was becoming sick to my stomach and getting a strange dizzying headache, getting to the start wasn't quite as bad even though I had to park about a mile from the start/finish.... I would later find out just how much that would suck.

  It was cloudy, with a very big chance of rain. I was just hoping that it would just be rain and no thunderstorms. We started off and things were going well enough, it was a little packed and I am not sure how so many walkers and slow runners had managed to get to Corrals C, B and A but we were passing quite a bit.

  The crowds were pretty lively and very uplifting, and the rain was holding off.

Mile 1 - 9:05

Mile 2 - 9:02

Mile 3 - 8:56

   I wanted to take it easy, knowing I still had another half marathon Sunday morning but I found myself keeping a good pace wanting to get a sub 2 hour finish. It was still pretty crowded, but I was listening to other runners carrying on and it was amusing.

Mile 4 - 8:49

Mile 5 - 8:55

Mile 6 - 9:05

   Around this point my stomach was getting a little upset but not horrible, I was beginning to feel a little tired and blah... I expected this although not during the first race but during the second one. They had powerade instead of gatorade but I don't think that had any cause to my upset stomach, I think somewhere around mile 7 or 8 I walked a little but less than a minute...

Mile 7 - 8:51

Mile 8 - 9:17

Mile 9 - 9:08

At this point I was telling myself only 4 miles or so, we ran through the Churchhill Downs track and they were putting a few horses through their workouts. That was pretty cool to see them, I love horses. I kept telling myself to keep going, walking wasn't going to get me to the finish any sooner. At this point the rain started coming down a little harder, and harder with each mile. At mile markers 10 and 11 I walked about 30-40 seconds before starting up again, and I think I walked about 40 seconds to a minute around 12.4 miles. The last half marathon where I felt this tired was 2014's Owensboro Memorial Day Half Marathon, which was in May..... warm and sunny.

Mile 10 - 9:31

Mile 11 - 9:03

Mile 12 - 9:21

Mile 13 - 9:16

Mile 13.1 - 6:28

I kicked it hard during the final quarter mile, really hard. At this point my garmin was right on target with the race course, it started matching right around mile 7-13.1 miles so that is nice. The finish chute sucked balls, I was a little lost and we were piling in together and bottlenecking... I was able to get a banana and that was it because I just wanted out and back to my Tahoe. I was soaked, cold and tired.. thankfully I asked directions otherwise I would headed in the opposite direction of where my Tahoe was. I am also glad I brought another pair of socks, shorts and shirts/tanks for the 2nd race.

I don't like Spring half marathons, I don't really like warm weather long distance races so I am seriously questioning my sanity but this morning was 53 degrees and cloudy so the weather wasn't an issue. I am still feeling sore but I plan on doing tomorrow's race even if I felt so sore and aching.

I finished with a time of 1:58:57 with an average pace of 9:05 min/mile, not bad though I am sure I am going to be feeling it awful tomorrow and the next few days. But the plan tomorrow is to finish between 2.5 - 3 hours, just take it easy and hike the hills.

Nice race. If I had to even entertain the thought of running another HM tomorrow, I would fake an injury to get out of it.

Lol. I'm feeling that way right now and mine is still 3 weeks away!

Nice job FS! That's a kick I'd be proud of! Enjoy the trails tomorrow!

You did great, Andrea.  Bravo on toughing it in the wind and rain! Hopefully the weather is nicer for you tomorrow!

 

Believe me, the thought has crossed my mind lol....but I've told way too many people, and I don't want to come home with just one finishers medal

Thanks guys,  lol D I don't know.... if I run the other two in May then I will join. I have eaten....a lot...and drank...and slept.... and I had one beer.

Why wait?  You qualify with the double at the same level I am in right now.

Lol D, let's just wait until i actually finish this one.

LTH, no idea why. I would love to blame Friday's travel and all the construction, traffic jams, lane closings, expressway closures to the upset stomach and worn out body but that just sounds like complaining to me 

Yeah, when you register you put an estimated finish time and everybody has the letter of their corral on their bib.

Thanks sapf

Actually LTH, I do think I know why it was tough. What few weeks I did train leading up to this, I didn't focus any of thos runs on speed or paces like the ones I had during the race. I focused on trying to train my body to handle the exhaustion and fatigue to prepare it for the 2nd race......and I think I screwed that plan up.

I think you did great in this first half. You toughed it out while the little voices in your head were telling you otherwise. Thumbs up!!!

They were also singing songs, telling stories, critiqing the backsides of other runners.....the voices in my head were very busy.

 

Hey, I know those voices...

 

Nice job, Free.  They can't all be perfect races, and holy crap did you kick at the end!  Congrats.

 Aren't those voices the best lol.

Thanks, once I realized how close I was to the finish I said fuck it and kicked it as hard as I could.