Diva's Half-Marathon Recap

So I decided it is time to post this because all of the other bloggers have their race recaps up from last weekend, so I should finish mine from the 28th of April.

I ran the Diva's Half-Marathon in North Myrtle Beach.  I went up to Myrtle Beach on Saturday afternoon (the race was on Sunday).  Saturday I went to go get my packet at the expo.  The expo was mediocre.   It was well organized, but it was small.  I guess I am just spoiled by the Bridge Run expo in my hometown so other expos seem like a disappointment.  I got my packet, walked around for a few minutes, but then I left to go visit a couple of stores at the outlets and then go get some pasta.

So they had a bit of a shirt problem.  The shirts were supposed to be women's sizes, but they ended up being more like kids sizes.  I got a small because I was worried about how small the women's sizes would be, and it barely covers my belly button and it is quite tight.  Luckily, they had a system to get the shirts replaced and I should be getting mine in a few weeks.

My bib.

I woke up race morning late so we rushed to the start line (not a good way to start a race morning).  I did not have time to stretch so I felt that at mile 4.  The entire race was tight which I think was primarily because of me forgetting the night before, and then not having enough time race morning.  I learned that stretching during a race takes up a lot of valuable minutes.  No good.  I also woke up not feeling much better from the nasty cold I had been suffering all week.  I tried to keep a positive attitude on race morning, but between being late and sick, I wasn't expecting much out of the race.

Miles 1-6 were okay.  It was just running.  Nothing too exciting.  The course wasn't too exciting and I knew I had a long race ahead of me.

Miles 7-9 were where things got tough.  I really felt the effects of not properly stretching and I also had some nutrition issues.

Mile 10 was rough.  I was definitely starting to get sore.  That was not good.  I also became extremely unmotivated and was just searching for my parents just to get some sort of motivation.  I definitely started to feel the effects of being sick- I could barely breath through my nose and my energy was zapped.  I think I need to work on my nutrition strategy some too.  Any suggestions?

I don't really remember where that was, but I am pretty sure that was a fake smile.

Miles 11-13 felt sooooo long.  There was nothing I could seem to do to make them go by faster.

Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, I finished in 2:18:56.  I was disappointed in my time after spending so much time and effort to prepare for it only to be sick on race day, but at the end of the day I am still proud that I finished my second half-marathon.  I have a lot of races ahead of me.  I am super excited about Kiawah.  

Overall, I would recommend this race to someone who lives close and just wants to do a run on a flat and fast course, but there wasn't really anything too exciting.  One thing that I loved about this race was the enthusiastic spectators.  There were a lot of people with really funny signs that made me laugh even through my mile 10 crash.  One thing that I didn't like so much is that the 5K runners and walkers shared the course for part of it, and at the time I was hitting the part of the course that we shared, there were a lot of 5K walkers and half-marathon runners in a relatively small area.

I better go to sleep so I can wake up to run a 5K tomorrow.  I don't really have any expectations for it.  It is mostly just a race to gauge where my current 5K time is to set a goal for the fall, but I do love races- big and small, long and short.  They are what keeps me running- even the ones that I didn't do well in give me motivation to do better in the next race.

Bridge Run Recap

Let's just start of by saying this was not the best race I have ever run, but a lot of good came out of it.

I ended up finishing in just over 56 minutes.  6 minutes off of my goal time, but that is okay.  I was not pleased by the time, but the race itself was fantastic.  The weather was great- not too hot and not too cold, and most importantly it was not windy.  (I have run the bridge some years where the wind made it impossible).  

My warm-up was great, but I noticed that my legs were a little sore (whoops- that is what I get for trying to race a race in the middle of half-marathon training).

I am terrible at taking race pics (I typically don't carry my phone in races) so here is one from The Chart Group.  As you can see, there are a lot of people who run the bridge run (a little under 40,000 finishers).

I did the first two miles at my race pace goal, and everything was fine and dandy until I started up the bridge.  This is where I knew that I was in trouble.  I have been doing a little bit of hill work (aka once a week I run the bridge), but all of my other training is on flat land (there is not another hill in Charleston besides the bridge).  The third mile up the bridge was hard and slow, but I made it up running and I was happy about that.  It was also difficult because in a race with 40,000 other people, and only two lanes going up the bridge, it was a bit congested which made the mile even slower.  I was so excited to reach the top of the bridge because it meant downhill running, however my quads were not as excited as my lungs were.  Miles 5 and 6 were so-so.  I was tired, but I pushed through them (thank you long runs during half-marathon training).

A lot of good did come out of this race.  First of all, it was a good workout with the hills and the speed (but not speed going up the hills :).  Secondly, it got me really motivated.  My half training was becoming really tiring and boring, but the race got me excited about running again- I had gone too long without a race :).  Those two things are more important than my finishing time because my ultimate goal is the half-marathon!

One more thing, only 20 days until my half-marathon!!! This is crazy