Mad Half Race Recap

My morning started bright and early- set my alarm for 4:30 and was up by 4:45. I had asked GMR to text me if she didn't hear from me by 5:00. but luckily I was able to get up on my own.

I made coffee, got dressed and took some self portraits.

And practiced my form

 We were on the road by 5:45 and arrived by 6:30 which left us with plenty of time to fuel, drink water and use the porta-potties. We met a reader- Hi Prudence!- which was pretty cool, I must say.

Finally it was time to line up and at this point I was ready to get the race over with!

I'm pretty sure we chicked 402

 This race was hilly!

We started off nice and slow and managed to keep an attainable pace throughout. We got passed early on by many people, but we were running smart. I noticed we ended up passing many of them in the later miles. Because we were smart running the hills in the beginning, we were able to take advantage of the last couple miles downhill.

It was a rude reminder in the beginning that every downhill we were on would eventually have to be climbed. One part was an out and back- out was downhill and the climb back was rough. I am proud to say that we powered up every single hill (mountain, haha). We stopped and walked through water stations. I've found that actually walking through water stations is more efficient because I get the necessary fluids successfully.

Around mile 9, I was feeling great. We were coming up to a water stop and I decided to take one final gu. I took it out of my back pocket and when I reached back to make sure Melissa's car key was still there- it wasn't. Shoot (I was thinking other choice words)!!! I stopped and turned around to find the key- I knew it couldn't be far and soon found it. Thank you!! Sorry for scaring you, Melissa! I didn't say anything to her when it happened- I just stopped and started retracing my steps.

Once I had the key back we continued on and cruised the downhills. It felt awesome!

The last mile was uphill, though, and it seemed to drag on. Towards the end, I kept asking Melissa where we were at distance wise (sorry!) because she was wearing her Garmin. I never thought I would see that 13 mile mark. Finally we did and sprinted the .1 to the finish! 2:16:42, a new PR for me.

This was a challenging course, but I have to say, one of my favorite races. I had so much fun running with Melissa the entire time. There were many times I was able to push on because she was right there with me. I think if I had been on my own, I would have stopped to walk. It was a test mentally as well as physically. It was so daunting looking up and seeing a sea of people ascending a 700 foot climb in front of you. I definitely plan on doing this race next year (unless there's a new little Stoner on the way, ha).