Race Report: Strugis Falls Half Marathon

Sorry it is a few days late!

Pre-Race:

I really didn’t want to run this race. I wasn’t all that prepared for it, running wise (I’ve been doing a lot of biking and other cross training lately), although I was prepared mentally, since this will be my third half marathon in less than a year.

My family was here the night before and we had a late dinner and hung out after, so it was hard to drag my butt to bed at a decent time. Finally, I got to sleep and then at 4am massive thunderstorms decided to ruin my beauty sleep!

I crawled out of bed around 6am to double check the weather and get ready for the race at 7am, I dragged Britney out as well since she was running the 5K. My dad dropped us off and we were ready to roll!

The Race:

Britney and I ran together the first mile before the 5K runners split off and I was on my own for the remaining 12 miles. Like I said before, I didn’t really want to run the race so by the time Britney and I split, I was just resigned to my fate.

So, along I went, jogging away in my new bra, which, thankfully kept the girls away from my face. Overall, the run was pretty boring, but kick this around…at the 7 mile mark, I looked down and saw that I was averaging 10 minute miles! That was faster than I thought I’d be…keep in mind, it’s me. Until 3 months ago, I ran 10 minute miles in a 5K, not a 10K or a half. After the first half, I started to feel it and started walking a little more than I did the first half, so my average slipped.

Strangely enough, I can’t remember what I thought about the entire run. I’m sure I thought about what the hell I’m doing running a freaking half marathon. I’m sure I thought about, how the hell I’m gonna run twice this distance next year at some point. I’m sure I thought about food, specifically ice cream and I’m sure I thought about work. But anyway…somewhere along the way, I hit the 12 mile mark and was super excited to finish this sucka up.

The end:

I hit the race finish at 2:12:04, which was neat, but unfortunately the course was shortened due to more flooding in lovely Iowa. The course ended up being 12.5 miles instead of 13.1. A small side note, had I kept up that pace for a mere .6 miles longer, I would have PR’d by 4 more minutes. Oh well, considering I hadn’t run more than 4 miles in over a month, I’m pretty happy with this result!

Other Random Notes:

• The weekend was filled with outsidedness, as it was the Sturgis Falls celebration, a weekend full of concerts, food, activities and other sweet things in the downtown area. Also included: the Tour de Sturgis, a 20 mile bike ride Britney and I rode on Saturday morning.
  
• Today I found out that the fork of my Felt is getting recalled, and I’m supposed to stop riding it until they can replace the fork. This will happen in the next few weeks. While this normally wouldn’t be a problem…Racine is coming up in 3 weeks!! I’d be shocked if it was fixed before then.
  
• I got both my bras that I ordered last week. I ordered an Enell bra from one website and the “Last Resort” bra from another. The funny thing: the “Last Resort” bra IS the Enell bra…so basically I got two Enell bras. Which is ok because it worked! I ordered a size smaller, which was the key thing.
  
• BB and I will be heading home for the holiday weekend and we’re super excited to chill with the family.
  
• Recovery is over tomorrow (I did go swimming and lift today). I’ll be going for a run tomorrow afternoon…I promise!

I hope everyone is having an awesome week!