Warning: I am writing this on my ipad so beware of typos. My net book is all the way on the other side of the bed, ugh.

as some of you know, I've been struggling the past few n months with ITBS. After therapy and new shoes it finally cleared up, but now I've been dealiing with shin and calf issues. I registered for this race months ago, and even though my longest run since March was 10k I wanted to at least try.

At the expo I ran into April, talked to Mark Remy from RW, and bought a bunch of stuff. Also talked to Budd Coates from RW and grabbed his new book, which looks cool. FYI I think he finished 5th, which at age 58 and in a field of 4k runners, I think that is incredible.

went to bed last night and prayed to the race gods that my body would cooperate. Woke up early and grabbed my traditional iced coffee and a muffin, which I didn't eat due to a portopotty mishap. Met up with my local running group, we were easy to spot since we were all wearing matching yellow shirts. I also got to meet Philliefan, and if you are reading this I hope your first half went well! Talked to the 2:30 pace leader, who is also in our club and I was planning to run with her.

At 8:10 we were off! Temp was 60-70 during the race, can't beat that! I had warmers but took them off last minute, which was a good choice. The first few miles were downhill, which I think really helped with my calves, and staying with the pace group my shins were ok because I wasn't obver doing it. For a few miles we were on one side of the road passing the faster runners, which was awesome because we kept cheering on our other club members and vice versa.

i was feeling great until the halfway mark. My pace leader planned to run through the water stops so about a 1/2 mile before each (usually on a downhill) I'd speed up a bit so I could walk those. we entered Lehigh parkway, going from road to cinders and I started to flag. We did get to go back on pavement a bit, but even though I knew where the next water stop was I sped up to early. I caught up with the group right after the stop but dropped them again after a 1/4 mile. I started to walk and felt pretty dizzy. I was worried that I'd have to DNF. Instead I took it easy, then would start running slowly then pick it back up to goal pace. I did this for the rest of the course.

Finally I could see the finish. There are drums right before the stadium and a little hill you run up. April, who had already finished, and diaisymae, who ran the 5k, kindly escorted me up that little hill (thank you guys!!). Then it was on the track for a 3/4 loop, which felt glorious on my legs. I ran right to the camera with a smile and picking my legs up a bit, still waiting for that floater, hopefully I got one. Looked at my watch, 2:42! My first and best half time was RW, 2:46. it wasn't the 2:30 I was hoping for, but I am quite happy considering my derailed training. I got lots of hugs from my group, which is always awesome, and we all met up at the local brewery for lunch. My hips felt really tight towards the end there, but that was it. No other major issues. Yay!

This was a really awesome course with rolling hills and great crowd support. I can see why it sells out every year. I'll post some pics up later. Thanks for reading!

Congratulations on your PR.  I'm sorry you were fighting dizziness.  I've been there, done that and it is not fun.  I bet there is a another great PR in your future.  Great job!

Congratulations to you on your PR!   Glad your ITBS is better.  Nice that you got to meet several people from RW and got to meet our Philliefan (jealous!)  Smart of you to pull back on the effort so that you could make it to the end!

So glad the race went well for you! Congrats on the PR! Awesome that you got to see so many other forumites there!!!

I am so proud of you. I was thrilled when I saw you with Gayle at the switchback because it meant you were doing great! I'm sorry about the dizziness but it did get pretty warm.

Here's to mending and having some awesome races in the fall!!

Great job on the PR!

Congrats on the PR

Sometimes we don't get what we are hoping for.  When that happens, you have two choices.  Choice number one is to cash it in and jog it home.  Choice number two is to keep running as hard as you can and take what the day gives you.  Congrats on choosing the second.