Wicked Half Marathon 2015

I am always a tad bit nervous the night before a race, especially if I think I am not 100%.  Laying everything out kind of makes me a little more calm.  Hard to figure out what to wear though because it was suppose to be 31-33 at the beginning of the race.  Layers win:)

Stella requested she got a flat stella too.

It was so nice to be able to get up, take my time, use my own bathroom, and then walk over to the start.  Still got there a little too early, but next year, I will know better.  It was kind of chilly waiting, but I didn't know if stella had pooped yet, so we did quite a bit of walking to elicit that response.

When we started, I tried to stay at the back to not get in any runner's way, but I was quickly feeling like we could and needed to be going quicker.  We ended up finding a pocket of no one around mile 4 ,and other than that lady in front of us  in blue and one other lady, we were pretty much on a long run by ourselves.  I fueled around mile 4 and mile 8.  When we turned around at mile 7, we were hit with a nice cool headwind.  It wasn't horrible, but it did slow us down going up those hills.  

My friend Mel G got these next two shots.  I was SO nice to have my BRF on the course cheering me on, the other local runners running cheering me on, and of course the hubs and andrew at the end (along with one of my student!)  Yes, that is a wicked witch chasing us. She had an AWESOME costume!

They had given me Stella's medal early, so we could put it on a collar for the end.  It's hard to see with all of her hair, but it is a little tornado and the words Wicked Marathon.   I got lots of comments on her before and during the race, all positive.  One guy even yelled, FIRST PLACE DOG lol!  I tried to be very very careful that we were not in any runner's way, or keeping anyone from passing.  We mainly passed people, and she did sniff a few people on the way by, but most people LOVED seeing her out there.  There was even a dog that was cheering  on a runner with his other master on the course, that barked at us every time we passed them (they drove down the course and cheered for their runner periodically).   It was so much fun having human and dog cheerleaders, and a beautiful perfect day to run.  Cold to start out, but warming up as the day went on, and that is how I like it.  I had layers, so I could shed based on how cold or hot I was.  We stopped at 4 or so water stops and drank a few sips of water and let Stella get some water.  Everyone was so complimentary of me doing that, but she gets thirsty too so it was a given:)

Overall the course was tough but fair,  and knowing the course was actually nice for a change.  While I did have a tiny A goal of 2:10, I was able to come in under that and get a small half PR.  I do think If I had not buried us at the beginning, we would have made better time.  We did make some new friends on the course and had a pace partner till about mile 10.  

I don't think I have to worry about calories today:)  I did try a recovery drink right afterwards, and some water and a banana and so far, so good.  After a brief walk and cool down and some pictures, we grabbed a breakfast beirock from our local bakery.  Stella got a sugar cookie and andrew got a frosted bunny cookie (that he later gave to stella too).

My tummy still isn't settled but I managed to down that mini peanut butter fudge shake, and half of those onion rings as a treat.  I need to take in more water today, as I do feel really, really thirsty right now.  

Stella is ready to run again right NOW.  Me, not so much.  Trying to ice and stretch and be proactive.  SO far the only thing that is really troublesome is the sides of my feet, the inside  part around the arch and the bottom of my feet up around my toes.  I don't think it is PF, but more just where that tendon attaches to my foot that is angry.  Ankle has felt fine and so has quad, whew.   Going to be careful to make sure those all stay 100% because my A race is in two weeks!  I have the confidence now that I can do it, so Rock the Parkway, here I COME!

This will be a yearly tradition for sure.  Great race, great support and great volunteers/water stops.  I am hoping to do the full after I have completed my final heartland series next year.  The only complaint I have was that it wasn't a fully closed course, so we did have traffic coming up behind us at some points. I do know that the whole city can't shut down every single road, so it was a given this might happen. I had a car trail me for quite some time up a huge hill from about mile 10.5 till around mile 12 and that is super tough section, so I was going a little bit slower than normal.  Stella was worried about the car so she kept turning around which would throw us off a little.  Other than that, everything else was great and i HIGHLY recommend this small town, small crowd race!  We will be back next year Wicked Half Marathon!