Garmin Half marathon recap Part Two

Race day started bright and early at 5 am.  Up to fuel and go get my packet since we missed packet pick up.  Thank goodness for day of race pick up!  God bless mom, she was up when my alarm went off and headed to the race with me.  Our hotel was only 1.5 miles away so it was a quick trip over.  Unfortunately, it hit me that I had left my shotblocks at the hotel so mom headed back to get them for me.  That is what I get for not laying out a flat michelle but at 1 am, i just wanted to pass out.  Mom got back and got parked and went ahead and walked back to the hotel to shower and drink her coffee.  I hung out with other runners I knew from manhattan.  It was really nice to not have any goals and just enjoy the race.  I had 0 amount of nerves so only had to hit up the porta potties once:)

I have a love hate relationship with this race.  While the course is nice and scenic,  we almost always have bad weather at some point on the course.  Also, there are NO corrals or wave starts and over 2 K runners, so the beginning is kind of a cluster.  I had NO time goals, so tried to load up in the start area near the 2:20 pace group.  We didn't even hear a national anthem or anything, just go and we ALL started.  The first mile or so was spent dodging slower people who had mistakenly loaded in too far ahead.  Even though I had NO time goals, I some how caught up to the 2:10 pacer really quickly. I thought I would hang out, but it just felt too slow (weird right?).  I then saw the 2:05 pacer.  I never caught up to them, but kept them in my sights till about mile 8 when we headed into the forest.  I was able to enjoy the course signs, say thank you to many volunteers ,and enjoy the mostly rain free race.  That only lasted until mile 10 or so.  We started feeling a few rain drops here and there.  I just hoped we could get done before the bottom dropped out.  I almost got my wish.  The rain started in earnest around mile 11 and the wind around mile 12.  I think we had some small hail from mile 12 till the end, and the wind started whipping like crazy as I crossed the finish line!!!!  Something went into my mouth as we were approaching the finish line.  I have no clue what it was, but I pray, they didn't get pictures of me frantically trying to spit it out/get it out of my mouth!

I finished in 2:08:18.  That is almost 5 minutes off of my previous course time!  I will take it!  We didn't linger thanks to the monsoon, but headed back to the car and back to the hotel.  Got to love early start races and close hotel rooms!!!  Was able to take a shower and eat before hitting the road.  

Mom and I made a few pit stops for coffee and a little shopping.  Unfortunately for me, I took the van keys with me back to KS so mom is heading back to TN tomorrow to deliver, keys so the boys can come back.  We are going to eat early, have a drink, and pass out shortly:)  I would love at least 12 hours of sleep at this point and she is going to need it for her trip back.  More thoughts when I am a bit more lucid!  To all of those running Boston monday RLH and have fun!