See Jane Run Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Boise, ID
Saturday, June 18
Half Marathon #36
State #31/50
Weather - Mostly Sunny, Upper 50's/Low 60's

Like many of the less populated Midwestern states, Idaho doesn't have a huge selection of races to choose from. So of course when I saw that there was the See Jane Run half marathon that promotes running for chocolate and champagne, I could hardly say no!

This was going to be our FASTEST out of state marathon yet. And by fastest, I mean time gone, not speed of our running :D

As I've said, L can't miss any work, so we booked the absolute latest flight out of Denver to Boise. That meant a 9:20 departure. So we were able to stop at an Applebee's about ten minutes from the airport. You will be shocked to know I *did* order a bit differently.

Can't tell what I did different? I don't normally order a salad and I got my dessert without whipped cream. See?? I'm not a complete freak. I sometimes do stuff different...

We got to the airport in plenty of time. While we were in line to board, I noticed the lady in front of me wearing a marathon shirt. I asked her if she was racing in the morning and she was. We talked a few minutes about racing and then she asked if we were Maniacs. We said no, but we were Fanatics and of course she knew what we meant. Our flight was full but left only a few minutes late and actually landed early. I had managed to book a hotel just minutes from the start line, so even though we didn't get there until almost midnight, we could still get close to 6 hours sleep. Definitely an improvement over last week.

So a funny thing about the hotel... I no longer use credit cards, so I was expecting to put down a cash deposit. I swear the guy behind the counter looked at me like I was an alien and instead of cash he must have thought I was offering a deposit in old stamps or Euros. He stuttered a bit, asked if I planned on using any "incidentals" and when I said "no," he told me not to worry about the deposit. Does that mean cash is no longer accepted? Anyway.

Managed to get ready and into bed by 12:15. I didn't fall asleep right away, but I certainly slept better than I have in ages. I was not eager to get out of bed when the alarm went off at 6:10 though. We got dressed and headed out to the start of the race. We knew the general vicinity of the start, and luckily we ran into a few people and managed to get to the right place. We still had to pick up our chips (actually one of those ankle bracelets) and our bibs and goodie bags. We made a quick trip to the bathroom (one that flushed and had sinks!!) and then went to drop off our bags. Only... there were no volunteers. We asked at registration, got the comment that they were short on help. Ten minutes later no one came by and the volunteers still didn't seem to care. With 20 minutes to go we finally snagged a Sharpie off a vendor's table, wrote our number on the bag and left it under the table, hoping for the best. Sigh.

We headed in the general area of the start line, hoping to to use the bathroom one more time. I spotted the champagne glasses we would be getting at the end... Under strict guard of volunteers of course:

Quick stop at port-o-potty, and we decided we would just watch the 80's aerobic style warm-up:

And got in some awesome pictures at the start line:

See. Us. Run.

FYI. The See Jane Run series is very... happy and cheery and friendly and WOO HOO GIRL POWER and uplifting. I found it a bit disturbing... (Sorta kidding, the race as a whole was pretty fabulous, I'm just not that type of person/runner). Anyway.

We stood in the corral waiting to start, and we saw the lady from the airport. Wearing a Marathon Maniac shirt... The race actually started RIGHT ON TIME, which I like. I felt pretty good at the start and as is the usual practice, I no longer look at my pace when I run. I do, however, check my watch when I feel like I've been running a really long time and may have missed a mile marker. I figured I'd be in trouble when I looked for the first time at .64 miles. Sigh. Going to be a long race.

The course was FANTASTIC. After a lot of races that aren't too interesting or are just run through busy city streets, it was great to run in a park and through fancy neighborhoods.

Somewhere around Mile 1

I was pacing pretty decent the first few miles, but was already dreading the aid stations being so far apart (every two miles). I was feeling pretty tired pretty early. But not in a "I can't run" sense, just my right quad seemed a bit tight and I just felt... exhausted. Good news is that I haven't had any ankle pain and I'm not sick for the first time in ages. Just... tired. Anyway, I did sub-ten splits for the first three miles. Then it started to go downhill.

Around mile 3

Around mile 5

Somewhere around mile 3 we left the beautiful park we had been running through and entered this "open" space area. We were still on a path, but it just started making me tired. My pace slowed considerably. I made it until mile 5 before I took my first unplanned walk breaks. Bleh. Discouraging. I haven't had a sub 2:10 half marathon since NYC, and I was really hoping this one would be it. Not my day... also not a race I want to walk, so I talk myself out of the pity party and start jogging.

There was a straight area of the course where I could see about a half mile in front of me. I picked out a few "rabbits" I planned on chasing for the remainder of the race.

Before we even hit mile 7 I was feeling better. My legs felt better and I wasn't struggling as much. Still running slower than I wanted, but didn't feel as bad. And we got back to a much better looking part of Boise! We got to run through some pretty nice neighborhoods.

Mile 7-8

We stayed in the neighborhoods until just past mile 8. One of my slowest aid stations because I was trying to down a GU while holding a cup of water in one hand a cup of Gatorade in the other. Not as easy as you might think...

We did a turn around under a road and then we were back on a path. Only this path sucked. About 1.5 miles were on this torn up asphalt. I hate running on that type of surface. I know I was running slower because I was being careful. Even walked a bit just before mile 9. Grr.

Finally around mile 10 we got back on the paved path and we were running back by the Boise river. Also running pretty fast and high (like it had been in Wyoming and Nebraska).

Boise, ID

I had only caught one of my rabbits, and because I walk the aid stations, it was a back and forth game with the other two. I was determined NOT to let the last part of this race suck. I forced myself to keep moving and to move a bit faster. I started passing some of the people that I had been chasing. I started feeling better and decided to kick into high gear the last mile. I beat most of the people I had been following (except two ladies in Canyonlands shirts), which is better than nothing. And I beat my mid-race goal of 2:15. Yay!

Official Time - 2:13:56
Official Pace - 10:14
Overall - 177/531
Division - 42/122
Garmin Time - 2:13:56
Garmin Distance - 13.14 miles
Garmin Pace - 10:11
Mile 1- 9:34
Mile 2 - 9:52
Mile 3 - 9:39
Mile 4 - 10:24
Mile 5 - 10:18
Mile 6 - 10:44
Mile 7 - 10:26
Mile 8 - 10:22
Mile 9 - 10:51
Mile 10 - 10:05
Mile 11 - 10:13
Mile 12 - 10:25
Mile 13 - 9:38
Mile 13.1 - 9:20

Finisher!

I found L immediately and we walked around to see the goodies. There wasn't really any food we were interested in, but we made our way over to the Running Skirts booth to say hi. This was probably the first race EVER where I haven't seen someone in a running skirt. I couldn't believe it! We then got our picture taken at the Degree booth - AND printed while we waited!

We headed over to the unmanned bag drop and found our bag - SCORE! We got our glasses, drank our champagne, and headed back to the hotel:

Downtown Boise

We had a few minutes to spare so we changed into our swimsuits and then headed to the hot tub where we soaked for 10-15 minutes. Super quick shower and we were in the lobby at 11:40 to catch our shuttle to the airport. We were delayed a few minutes by the parade:

But at least we got to see something in Boise!

Arrived at the airport in plenty of time to grab a burger, and our on-time flight left at 1:35.

Now that I am home, can you believe that NOTHING WENT WRONG????