Half on the 4th (Race Recap)

Colorado Springs, CO
Thursday, July 4
Half Marathon #88
Colorado Half #28
Weather - Sunny and HOT

Seeing a "local" half marathon added for the 4th of July meant we would be running the inaugural Half on the 4th in Colorado Springs. This was yet another race that I had signed up for MONTHS ago, and I vaguely remember it costing in the $35-$45 range, so pretty affordable. My dad offered to drive us down so that he could do a ride on his bike down south AND because he really wanted Dunkin' Donuts. He picked us up at our house at 4:40 (WTH is wrong with me to get up that early on my day OFF?) and then we picked up Hope down the street for the 80ish mile drive down south.

The only email we really got about the race suggested arriving early because there wasn't going to be a ton of available parking. They were right. We got there over an hour to the start and we had to park decently far away. I had to use the bathroom before even picking up our bibs. Pick up was a bit disorganized as you just got your bib and shirt but not a bag (of advertisements) unless you asked for it. Anyway, we headed back to the car to drop our stuff off and get everything ready.

20 minutes before race is supposed to start and I head back to get in the bathroom lines. Race had more participants than I expected and 5 port-o-potties for over 400 runners was really not enough. Of course the RD comes through the line saying "don't worry, we will delay the start and not start without you."

IT IS CHIP TIMED. WE CAN WAIT. Ugh. I knew it was going to be a scorcher and every minute counts, especially since the race didn't start until 7.

The sound system was really poor so we couldn't hear any of the announcements and we did start late, almost 10 minutes. According to the website, the course was going to be a "gradual" downhill on the way out and a "gradual" uphill on the way back. Well. To ME it felt like a gradual uphill both ways.

With aid stations at every single mile (spoiler, they skipped the one at mile 6/7 and only had one at the turnaround) I had been hoping to run between every aid station. I manged to do that for the first 2 miles. Even starting insanely slow, I started cramping (mainly in my left calf) about 1.5 miles in. I hobbled to the aid station at mile 2, but then the walking started. Hope is such a good sport to stay with me, but as we had discussed, her goal was to take it easy during the race since she has back to back runs to do this weekend.

Once we hit the shaded section of the course and my legs started to loosen up a little, I was optimistic that it could be an ok race. However, everything just felt REALLY hard. I had done that horrible barre video two mornings earlier and I think that just trashed my legs. I felt like I was running uphill the whole time and I was just TIRED. I kept stopping to walk and I was thirsty. It was already getting really hot. We saw L when we were somewhere around mile 5.5-6 and were VERY sad that there was no aid station at mile 6.

At the turnaround, a woman told me that she reads my blog, that was fun. I haven't had any blog readers come up to me in a while.

I hated the second half of this race. It really felt like it was never going to end. I did not want to run, I didn't want to be outside. I was just not happy. Everything hurt, it was hot, I was so sweaty and thirsty feeling. My iPhone was taking super foggy pictures because of the heat/moisture in the air:

Still running without a watch, I knew we were going INSANELY slow, but I didn't know HOW slow. Imagine my surprise when we crossed the line at easily one of my slowest half marathons EVER at over 2:50. Womp.

Bib #342
Official Time - 2:51:33
Overall Place - 299/345
Gender Place - 177/213
Division Place - 23/26
MMR - 2:51:34
MMR Distance - 13.46 miles
MMR Pace - 12:45 (womp)
Mile 1 - 11:29
Mile 2 - 11:49
Mile 3 - 13:15
Mile 4 - 12:59
Mile 5 - 11:31
Mile 6 - 12:29
Mile 7 - 12:27
Mile 8 - 12:15
Mile 9 - 13:06
Mile 10 - 13:20
Mile 11 - 13:15
Mile 12 - 13:21
Mile 13 - 13:23
Mile 13.46 - 6:27 (12:26 pace)

This was just the WORST race since that horrible Mother's Day race last month. I don't know what my deal was. But, at least we all looked really cute and festive?

My favorite thing about the picture of the three of us is that I can actually SEE the weight loss! Can you??

We chatted with a friend of ours on the way back to the car, and then we headed to Dunkin' Donuts. I had an absolutely delicious butter pecan iced coffee and a key lime filled donut.

 

Thoughts:

• For an inaugural race, it wasn't too bad. There definitely could have been more potties at the beginning. It was nice having so many aid stations. Gatorade were at all but 2 stations, but ZERO fuel, so bring your own!
• It was 80 degrees when we finished. I always say that races in the summer should start at 6, and of course this was no exception. Especially for the slow pokes, it is just TOO HOT to be out there trying to run in such hot temperatures. Soul crushing, for SURE.
• Back to the same ol' have no clue WTF is wrong with my legs. So tired and fatigued ALL THE TIME. I'm guessing this is permanent, because after 2 years of it being a problem it is gradually getting worse and worse and there is no solution in sight for it.
• I fueled for this race with coffee, an apple and a banana. Two gels on the course and I sorta felt hungry the whole time. Going to DD after was a great idea, and then of course we followed that up with Smashburger. Delicious.
• Next week is my last half marathon until mid-August. I don't think I am going to fill the space in between with anything else. I will still say that I don't think the amount of races I do has anything to do with my fatigue, but I don't have the energy or money to put into racing right now.
• I really WANT to be excited about SOMETHING right now and I'm just not. Nothing sounds fun to run and/or train for. As Heather says, I'm very woe-is-me and bummed right now. Trying to find things to do while A is gone is kinda crappy. Normally I would use this time to go running but I just don't feel like that either.