Since a picture says 1000 words, this will be a bit lengthy.  I have not run a race for over two years, so bear with me. I entered this half the day before my doctor diagnosed bursitis in both of my hips and advised me to cancel. Of course I didn't. Thank goodness for anti-inflammatory drugs.  I really started training 6 months (and 45 pounds) ago for a different half but had to bail out of that one. I trained in a lot of carpy weather in March and April but it was worth it.  Running on a very low carb diet is, ummmm.... interesting, but it worked.

We got up around 4 and were on the road by 5:!5 since I had to get my timing chip and am a nervous Nellie.  There were 6 people from Worthington there and I ran into two of them.  The start area was great -- real bathrooms inside the field, nice! MrStarr opted to wait in the car while I went inside.

He did come in to take some pre-race photos.

I was towards the end of the start of the half. There were 1264 runners in the half and 450 or so in the full.

that's me in the white hat, green shirt, grey/green capri tights and white/green shoes.

I wish I had a picture of the falls, they are really pretty. Mile 6 was my slowest at 13:02. Up until then I was on track for 11:24, but knew that was outside my zone. MrStarr got lost and almost got a ticket from a police officer. One way roads, go figure! He did find me at mile 9

Ah, the finish!  I past quite a few walkers at the end, but hey, I was at the end too. 1126/1254 OA 21/25 AG

I felt great the whole time and only walked through 3 water stops. I skipped the rest of the stops, especially the one at 12.85 ??????

Photo op before pigging out on food. Ice cream bar. Cookies (3). banana. trail mix. Like I said in the daily, we went to Kohl's and I changed and cleaned up so I could shop, yes! I am in need of a new wardrobe so shop the sale racks at every chance.  Even my running clothes are too big.

All in all it was a great race with perfect weather, 55° at the start and 70° to finish. The money raised goes to the Miracle Children's Network, a worthy cause.

At home with my shirt and my medal. MrStarr & I unloaded the mulch and got that job done. I went to the garden to pick tomatoes and peppers. I tried to call to order a pizza from our favorite place, but got a machine. I found out that they are closed on Sunday nights, OH NO! I haven't had pizza for six months and this was my treat.  Casey's gas station is right there, so I settled for one slice, went to the lake and watch the windsurfers.

Well, that's about it until the Turkey Day 10K on Saturday. My goal was to run 12:00 pace, secret wish was to run 2:30 or less. Here are my results and splits (my Garmin had 13.37 and a pace of 11:37avg)

Chip time 2:35:00 (11:50 pace)

OA 1126/1254

AG 21/25

AHR 143 MHR 155

Miles

1  - 11:08

2  - 11:25

3  - 11:54

4  - 11:12

5  - 11:22

6  - 13:02

7  - 11:45

8  - 11:54

9  - 11:10

10 - 11:28

11 - 11:33

12 - 11:37

13 - 11:36

.1 - 11:15

Thanks for reading.

Very well done! Always good to beat your time goal! Next time out that time goal needs to drop to 2:15 or 2:20....

Great report and pictures, Starr.  Congrats on a good race and beating your goal.

TomS

Hi Starr,

Great photos (lots of smiles!), and great racing! Congrats on a great 'comeback' half marathon!

Jay

Starr - great pictures and great racing!  I agree that a water stop at mile 12.85 is pretty silly in a HM.  I always skip that last stop as well, because I just want to be done at that point.

 

I see from the medal that the race was called Running the Falls - just curious - where was this race?  How did you like the course? 

I forgot to mention that the race was in Sioux Falls, SD, the shopping mecca of the world for us out here on the prairie.  The Falls Park area is spectacular to see, although we never go there on our shopping trips.  I see they have a Falls Café there now so next time. I just loved the course! Just enough hills to make it interesting but not too overwhelming.  It was a mix of trails and streets. At mile 4 the marathon route converged with the half so that was really fun to see the speedsters (think MikeE and CNY) go by.  The crowd support was amazing, over 1000 volunteers!

I also forgot to mention that this was a PR of over 4 minutes from my first half.

I also forgot to mention that I was nearly going crazy trying to get around the run/walkers.  These two chicks in running skirts kept stopping right in front of me. Oh, and the lady wearing her jacket around her waist, really? People who shuffle their feet also annoy me, and I can hear it even over my ipod.  I didn’t want be complaining, but I guess if I was faster then I wouldn’t be back there with the slow-pokes. That’s my goal for next time.

YAY Starr!!! What an inspiration! Congrats on your race and all your accomplishments!

Congratulations, Starr!!  What a great accomplishment, both the race and the weight loss.  Way go, girl!  And a photo with both feet off the ground, to boot. 

Go figure--there's falls in Sioux Falls.

Excellent race, results, and report.  And both feet off the ground!  I think you do have a faster one in you yet, too.