Firecracker!!

I had what I think is my 4th and last half marathon of the year on Sunday.  I had lofty goals...I wanted to break 2:10.  I know that isn't that fast in terms of half marathoners, but for someone like me it seemed pretty lofty.

The weather was perfect- cool and no wind!  We had time change the night before, so I should have had an extra hour of sleep, but I woke up way early like I always do race days.

I made a huge racing mistake- I was a firecracker.  I started off too fast and too hard and fizzled at the end.  I was incredibly disappointed in myself.  I was able to run all of the half two weeks earlier with hardly any trouble, so I thought I was good to go on this one.  However, I kind of forgot I had a stomach bug on Monday/Tuesday and therefore went about two days of no eating less than a week before the race.  Needless to say, I ran out of energy fast. 

I started off good.  I wanted to do around 9 minute miles the first half of the race and settle into 10 minute miles the second half.  I knew I would have a cheering crowd for the race so I thought that would encourage me and push me harder.  It was fun looking out for my mom, aunt and my two girls and I couldn't wait to see the signs they worked so hard on:

I have no clue what the Fun Fast Frozen sign meant, but Bg wanted it to say that, so that is what we did.

 

The last two races I used Gu Chews during the race.  I don't know if they actually give me energy or not, but I like the way they taste and do give me a bit of a kick.  However, I forgot to buy any before the race, so I did find Gatorade brand chews.  They didn't taste as good but they were okay.  I ate one at mile 3 and then again at mile 5, but I somehow dropped them and didn't notice.  So I am going to blame that on why I ran out of energy! 

 

I ran the first 3 miles feeling pretty good.  I was under 9 minutes on each, but didn't really feel like I was going super fast.  My IT band started hurting on mile 4.  In St Louis, it hurt in short stabbing pains during the first half of my race that came and went, and finally went away around mile 7.  However, this pain was more of a dull consistent pain that never went away.  My ankle was hurting slightly and I could feel my toes doing something painful.  My breathing was okay, but I just didn't have energy and my body hurt.  I really struggled the last few miles.  I walked off and on quite a bit the last 3 miles, which I didn't have to do the previous two races.  I did have a bit more energy than I thought and was able to finish strong.  My mom got this photo of me, which looks like I was running alone, but there was actually quite a few runners around me.  I sprinted the last 100 yards or so and passed 3 people right at finish! 

 

As much as I hurt during the race, I will say that my post race felt easier than most.  My legs were sore, but not quite the same level of soreness as after the Kansas City or Branson race.  I think I definitely had mental issues during the race which may have caused some of my physical issues. 

 

My official time was 2:17:53, so about 4 minutes slower than St Louis.  Dang.  You can see where I started to struggle:

I got another cool medal:

After the race, we walked around a bit to cheer on my friends as they finished, we went out to eat and drove about an hour.  I asked my mom to drive the rest of the way home.  I finally took off my shoes, as my toes were hurting really bad and I found out why: my first bloody toes!  Warning BLOODY TOE PICS!!!

After I got my goes cleaned up, I realized that the toe covered in blood wasn't the hurt toe.  That fourth toe kind of twists and the toenail scraped the heck out of the middle toe.  So, luckily no blister or lost toenail!

I have always been sore after the race, but today I have had a lot of knee pain.  I haven't had knee pain before and this isn't in the same place as my IT band knee pain, so not sure what is causing it.

Official race state:
Time; 2:17:53
Average pace: 10:32
Overall place: 762/1454
Division: 50/137
Female: 375/907

My 2016 goals- to break 2 hours!!!!