December 14, 2013
Thomas, my brother-and-law, came to pick me up bright and early at 5:45 to carpool to Kiawah. Unfortunately, I slept through all my alarms, but fortunately Thomas was there to wake me up or I probably would have slept through the race. Luckily, we made it to the race with plenty of time to spare. We took a bus to the start from a parking lot since there is not enough parking on the race itself. We met some very nice marathoners who we had a conversation with. This was slightly intimidating too- he wanted to run a very fast marathon- all I wanted to do was run a sub-2:00 half-marathon. Oh well. He was nice. As most runners are.
We got to the start. I lined up with the 9 minute mile pacer. The first two miles clocked in at an 8'30" pace. Waaayyyyy to fast. I double checked the sign- 9' mile pace. So I slooooweeed waaayyyy down. Sooooo much energy wasted. Boo. Boo. I was able to maintain my pace for the next few miles, but by mile 8 I was all done. The last 5 miles were rough.
Training for this was a bust. Sleep got chosen a lot of times over training. My long runs were better than normal, but overall training was worse. Disappointing race for sure, but the course, volunteers, and employees of the resort were awesome!! The aid stations were well stocked and well organized. The food afterwards was delicious and everything about the race was well done. No complaints. My time was disappointing, but I really enjoyed the race.
I am so excited for a fresh start in the new year. I will have a year recap and future goals post soon.
