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.

Steamboat Springs Half Marathon (Race Recap)

Steamboat, CO
Sunday, June 2
Half Marathon #84
Colorado Half #24
Weather - Sunny (cold at start, warm on the course)

I had not planned on running the Steamboat half marathon. The other B picked it for her Colorado race, and as much as I wanted to run, it turned out to be a bit of a logistical nightmare. Literally minutes before registration closed on Thursday afternoon, we figured out a way to make it work.

Where I last left off, I was dying of starvation at A's bridging ceremony. L and I were not able to head up to Kremmling (where we decided to stay for the night) until about 7:30. From Denver, the drive to Steamboat is only half on interstate. The rest is on a windy 2 lane road with no cell phone service and a lot of deer. The drive was long, we were both tired, but we got to see a pretty amazing sunset.

Never heard of Kremmling, CO? Well it is a teeny tiny "town" with about 12 buildings, 3 of which are "motels." The place we stayed was nice and the desk clerk was super friendly. We were in bed by 10(ish) with a morning wake up call of 4:30 so we could drive the additional hour to meet the other B at her hotel in Steamboat Springs. We got there a bit earlier than planned, and spent some time in the lobby of B's hotel eating their food (mini donuts), applying sunscreen and using the bathroom.

B and Emma came down about 6 and we drove the 3 miles to catch the shuttle to the start. Everything was really well marked and we got on the bus only having to wait a few minutes. We were dropped off about 6:40, which meant we had almost an hour standing around until the start. It was COLD. Only thing to do was shuffle through the bathroom lines 3 times. The lines weren't long, so even THAT didn't kill time.

(PS - even though the race CLAIMS no race day pick up, we saw people picking up bibs at both the shuttle pick up AND the start line).

B freezing at the start line, but thankfully the sun is coming out (can you spot her in the argyle skirt?)

Per my normal race plan, I lined up toward the back and hoped to 1). Not die 2). Not be in pain 3). Not hate the race.

Emma took off for the front because she was going for a big PR and didn't want to weave around people. L took off shortly after the start. The unspoken plan was for me and B to run together. We managed about a mile together before I stopped to walk. Tight calves and heavy legs, how shocking. B quickly glanced back and I waved her off. That first break might have been my longest. I walked about 3 minutes, and took some pictures of the beautiful scenery.

These are taken between miles 2 and 7 of the course (if I remember correctly)

Knowing it was going to be THE LONGEST DAY OF MY LIFE if I didn't run, I tried to jog a bit. Don't let the elevation profile fool you into thinking that it is a downhill course! Yes, the first mile was a downhill, but there were some decent uphills. I walked a LOT this course. A LOT. So disappointing after how great my last race was. I definitely started out too fast, and I think that also contributes to the sore calf issue. Really need to remember this in the future. I played "catch the rabbit" and ended up passing some people.

Really, I took quite a few pictures and just didn't want to walk more than I needed to. L had made it sound like the course "wasn't that great" but I was pretty impressed with the scenery. Granted, we were running on road (which was fairly graded), but just off the road was some of the greenest grass I've ever seen. Stunning scenery, especially with the cloudless sky.

I got tons of compliments on my skirt during this race (even more when B and I were running together) and the announcer at the "loud" aid station (I think it was somewhere between 5 & 6) said he loved my striped socks and called me "Soxy." That amused me.

I really was having an off day. After the initial walking, I can't say that anything really HURT, I just felt (like usual) REALLY fatigued. My gels did not rejuvinate me. Around mile 10 we had a really steep decline, and while that turned out to be my fastest mile, that's when the pain DID set in. My knee and IT band started to ache, and the hip pain that I was having back in February came back. I walked more than I would have liked to on the last few miles of the course. Running down Lincoln Avenue was pretty much the longest chute of my life. I tried not to "kick it" too early, but felt my legs felt like lead. So relieved to be done with this one.

Trying not to die

Official Time - 2:29:14 (surprisingly 4 minutes faster than Colfax, where I ran the entire time)

Pace - 11:25

Overall Place - 623/724

Gender Place - 407/513

Division Place - 75/86

Mile 1 - 10:09

Mile 2 - 11:49

Mile 3 - 10:59

Mile 4 - 10:23

Mile 5 - 11:33

Mile 6 - 11:10

Mile 7 - 10:30

Mile 8 - 12:07

Mile 9 - 12:26

Mile 10 - 11:48

Mile 11 - 9:49 (wow. a sub 10 mile. magic.)

Mile 12 - 11:51

Mile 13 - 11:30

Mile 13.xx - 9:30

Collected my medal and found L, B and Emma without any issues.

L, Me, B

L, Me, B, Emma

Then headed back to B's hotel, where she was nice enough to let L and I shower too. FYI, all three of us girls showered and got dressed in 20 minutes. Just sayin', it is possible.
We had planed to eat at the Mahogany Ridge Brewery for lunch. Much to our dismay, we arrive there only to discover that they did not open until 4:00. Wahhhh :( We ended up going to a pub near the finish area. I had a pretty delicious burger and the only dark beer available, a Guiness.

We unfortunately had to leave right after eating so that we could go pick up the kids. Our only issues was missing the turn in Kremmling and driving an additional 10 or so miles and then an accident near Georgetown had is in pretty much dead stop traffic for over a half hour.

Thoughts:

• For the most part, I enjoyed the race. Only 5 aid stations on the half course, which I was concerned would seem like not enough. Turns out the only time I needed my own water was before the first aid station, which didn't come until after 3 miles in.
• The scenery is GORGEOUS. I wonder how the first half of the marathon course looked like.
• First year for the race to have a finisher medal, so that was nice.
• The drive is LONG. Especially since half of it is on 2 lane road. I can't imagine driving up there again just for the race, but never say never.
• My Runner's Roost friend Luke actually WON the half marathon. LIKE WON THE WHOLE THING. Wowza!!!
• I probably should NOT have run this one and actually continued my run hiatus as planned. Whatever is going on with my body is clearly not getting healed with just running here and there. I am hoping I am not further injuring anything, but it is getting VERY discouraging running and not knowing what to do to make it suck less.
• However, I am glad I did run this one, since I missed seeing the other B in Wyoming over Memorial Day. (We did also meet up in Denver one afternoon for a quick beer, so I got to see her a few times).