Women's Running Half Marathon

Good Afternoon Loves!

I sit here after skipping my morning run, still in my pj's, and after eating at least 2 full breakfasts...and I'm not pissed off! I ran the Women's Running Magazine Half Marathon in St. Petersburg, FL yesterday. Clearly, I am still just doing BS runs so I figured I'd do my Sunday run in a race...you know, "as a training run" LOL. We all say we want to do that but is it possible??? Yes and no. I have to explain my weekend so you understand how I felt on Sunday during the race.

I woke up friday at 4:15 am to get showered and ready for an early flight. I flew to Tampa, FL and went directly to the expo to get my race packet. It was gorgeous there. This was a huge race. A half and a 5k. 6000 people registered. When I got to the expo I had that feeling of "oh shit, can I really run 7:15 pace? I want to do better, but I'm not trained...ugh"

So, I had planned on staying in town for a Miami v USF game but I talked to my bff's who live in West Palm Beach and decided to go visit them. So from the expo to WPB it took 4 hours. I had not had any food yet that day. I just wanted to get there. I arrived and my friend Michelle had a huge spread of apps, kabobs, lobster etc waiting. And vodka....hehe I was happy, full and feeling pretty good till midnight when we all crashed.

I woke up and we all hung out until about 1pm when I made my trip back to Tampa so I could rest before my Half in the morning.

Yes, I accidentally blew the SUNPASS lane 2x. But got a pic of it!

However, I was making good time in the car so I went straight to the Miami game in the 2nd quarter. I was exhausted and hung over. I met up with some friends, ate very late and went to bed around 11pm. But we all know how race night eve in a hotel is: 2 alarms set, wake up calls ordered, stressing about directions to the race which was 30 minutes away. Needless to say, not much sleep and still feeling wrecked.

RACE DAY MORNING
I woke up at 4:15am and showered. I made some hotel coffee..It didn't do anything. So I left early to the race. I parked in the dark and meandered the streets of  St. Petersburg looking for a Star Bucks. I found one but It didn't really touch me. Still tired. I wasn't even walking straight. I usually don't drink much and my eating and sleeping was messed up. It wouldn't have bothered me if I was just hanging out but I had to RUN too. At this point it was 70 degrees and full humidity. You know I was livid.

THE RACE

So I was seeded in the front which I wasn't loving it so I stayed back a good 5 rows. This was an all female half. I saw a 1:35 pace group. I thought perfect! So I started to run with them. After like 200 meters I couldn't handle that slower pace. So I just left and figured as long as I could enjoy myself and the scenery I'd hang at whatever that pace that was. I wasn't looking at my garmin that much but noticed every split was about 7:00 pace. I was fine with that. It kinda annoyed me because it tempted me to drop the pace a little bit and get closer to a 90 minute half. I was fine doing 6:50- 7:04 pace until about mile 8. Then I got hungry and thirsty. Like I was at home and wanted a snack. But I happen to be running. lol. So I grabbed a gu, gu chomps, gatorade, not to help my race but because I was hungry. LOL. Then around that time the sun and heat became brutal. So at every aid station I was drinking and pouring a cup of water on my head. Or accidentally gatorade, ugh..

Around mile 11 I was still at 6:59 pace but falling apart. But you all know what happens when I hit 7:00 pace. I try to knock it back into the 6's. Mile 11 and 12 were horrible. Most of it was on the windiest pier ever and then onto very old cobble stones that kept me hopping all around just looking for a flat surface.  At that point I became content with 7 pace.

Also, I have to add I knew I was top 10 from the beginning. No one ever passed me. I ran the race alone. There were many low 1:20 girls out there then me. I kept thinking how lucky I was to run whatever I felt like with no prep and beat so many other people that have busted ass for months. I show up wasted and still statistically do alright. So for the last mile or so I really tried. I think I did like 6:45 pace for most of it. I wanted to earn the right to receive all the cheers and crowd support. But the last 2 miles killed me. I have ran 13 miles once in maybe 3-4 months.

THE FINISH:

1:33:0X. I was fine with that. I didn't care that my garmin measured 13.3 miles and had my pace faster. I was happy to have been done with it. Here's my garmin. I was 9th overall. 3rd Age Group. 450 feet of elevation. I was more than pleased. In fact I was more pleased with a 93 untrained than any of my 88/89's with training. I had fun.

AWARDS:

I love race bling. I saw I placed and was stoked. I also had a flight back to NC in a few hours so I didn't have time to wait. I pestered the race people and after much ado I scored my award and hauled ass out of there.

So overall a GREAT weekend!! I am thanking my body for putting up with the abuse by taking today off. Also because I can barely shuffle around. Everything is sore. Here are some pics:

Um, sure ok!!

I wanted this medal so bad!

So hot out!

These just posted...lol:

not my happy face. At the end of the pier

This is pain.

For Brian! Horns back at ya!

Have a great week peeps.
Peace xoxo
LaBella!