Prairie Dog Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Westminster, CO
Saturday, September 21
Half Marathon #94
Colorado Half #33
Weather - Sunny and mild

I had zero plans to run the inaugural Prairie Dog half marathon. Then, the day before, Hope decided to join L in racing. Hope very generously race day registered me so I could join in the fun. And fun it sure was...

L got home from work at 7 and we drove up to the race start, conveniently located only about ten minutes from the house. The course is pretty much the same as the Redline Westminster I ran in April and the Mother's Day race in May. We met up with my mom, who was going to watch the kids for us. First thing was meeting up with Hope to get my bib, and then, the kid's race!

A and I before the start of the kid's race

The kid's race is not very long, maybe 100 yards, but A smoked ALL THE OTHER KIDS. She looked so great out there, I wish I had some better pictures of it.

Apparently, this is what WINNING looks like :D

By the time the kid's race got done and we got in the bathroom line, there were only a few minutes until the start of the race. Knowing I'd rather start late than have to find a bathroom on course, we all cycled through the line, which meant that we started the race about 5 minutes late.

L was planning on running with Terry, Hope's husband, and of course Hope and I were running together. Even with our late start, we started passing people at the first mile. My calves were a bit tight in the beginning, but I loosened up within a few miles. The goal for the day was to just get some miles in and take it easy. Hope has been battling a hip injury, so our pace was extra slow and we walked a bit more often. But we had a great time. Apparently, even when I'm not in a Disney race I do weird things when I see a camera:

Courtesy of 3W's Facebook page - at the turnaround

I have run on this trail a billion times, so the scenery is nothing new, but I figured I would throw a shot in anyway... this is somewhere around mile 7 or 8?

Love that I can now take panorama pictures with ios7!!

L got this pic of us about .1 from the finish line. I look so HAPPY!!

There was a jaunt up a decent sized hill, and then we were done. There were tons of pastries at the finish, I had the equivalent of probably two muffins. Delicious.

Bib #1805

Official Time - 2:45:29

Overall Place - 217/245

Gender Place - 126/149

Division Place - 59/67

Garmin Time - 2:45:30

Garmin Distance - 13.21 miles

Mile 1 - 11:09

Mile 2 - 11:50

Mile 3 - 11:55

Mile 4 - 11:54

Mile 5 - 12:20

Mile 6 - 11:41

Mile 7 - 12:39

Mile 8 - 13:37

Mile 9 - 12:56

Mile 10 - 13:05

Mile 11 - 13:07

Mile 12 - 12:29

Mile 13 - 14:18

Mile 13.21 - 11:52 

Look how cute the medal is!

No, I did not win, unless you count winning at looking awesome!

 Thoughts

• Even though this race was an inaugural, the group puts on a ton of other events. Everything went very smoothly.
• HOWEVER, there were NO WHERE NEAR enough bathrooms!! In addition to the half, there were the kid's events and shorter distances. And only 5 port-o-potties... should have had at least 2-3 more.
• TONS of aid stations. They were all themed, all very well stocked with FRS and water. I don't care for the Powerbar gels, but they were at at least 2 of the aid stations (which we hit twice).
• Unisex long sleeve shirt. However, the small size actually fits me. I may or may not wear it, it is kind of cute.
• LOVE the medal!!
• May or may not run this again. I have a hard time paying for a race that is on a trail I run all the time.