Soaring Wings Half 2017

Well, it finally happened. I can officially say, I’M A HALF MARATHONER! 🙂 How about a little race recap??!

The morning started off without a hitch. Alarm went off at 4:30am and I was able to pop right up without feeling like I wanted to hit the snooze. I quickly got my coffee going and started to get around. Luckily, #flatAlyssa was already laid and ready to go!

I got there pretty early, around 6:05am. I’m glad I did because there were sooooo many cars trying to park already. Thankfully I had some support show up! A HUGE thanks to my friend, Di, for coming and cheering me on(and sitting there for over 3.5, or 4? hours in total!).

And a few more, pre-race pictures 🙂

My running partner, Cassie! ❤

Cassie, me, and Frances(another long run training friend!)

Me, trying to appear as though I wasn’t nervous. Did it work? 😉

Before I knew it, we were off!

As you can see, it was rather gloomy looking at the beginning of the race. It sprinkled for a few minutes before hand, but didn’t actually rain. So you know what that means… the humidity was very high… *eye roll*

Miles 1-3(10:51, 11:01, 11:11): Felt amazing! Of course with the adrenaline and all the excitement, I went out way too fast! I should have said something to my running friends, but I didn’t want to spoil the fun! Plus, the crowd support was AMAZING! So many awesome people out there supporting us!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Miles 4-6(12:12, 11:36, 12:29) Though the miles were all over the place, they felt pretty good. At this point I knew I had gone out too fast and tried to settle into a comfortable pace.

Miles 7-12 (12:46, 13:14, 12:58, 13:08, 13:16, 13:17) Were obviously a major, major struggle.  I seriously began having doubts whether or not I would be able to finish! I started to get a headache, along with my shoulders aching like crazy! I felt super dehydrated and it didn’t help when I accidentally got ALL GATORADE around mile 7. I’m used to drinking it half diluted with water, so it was very hard for me to stomach it, thus not drinking much. Around mile 10 I told Cassie, she needed to go on without me. She was starting to hurt from all the walking intervals and just needed to run it out. I was totally holding her back. But I’m so proud of her! Those last few miles she ROCKED IT!

Here I am(somewhere around mile 11? 12?), trying to smile(totally a fake smile! 😉 ) and pretend I wasn’t ready to be done, ended up being a good race picture though!

Mile 13-13.22(12:15 and .22 @10:36 pace) The last 1.22 Miles was a complete blur. I was super dehydrated and by then, then sun had come out to play! Uhhhg. But I gave every last ounce of energy I had. As I was nearing the finish line, I could see I would be close to 2:45:00(gun time), so I kicked it up a notch to insure my chip time was definitely under 2 hours and 45 minutes. After reviewing my chip time and my Garmin time, it was literally the exact same…I must be good at starting/stopping at the exact time I ran over the mats!

It wasn’t the 2:30-2:35 I was hoping for, but I am proud of that time! Especially considering the heat, humidity, HILLS!, and everything else. Plus….regardless of time, it’s a PR! (Don’t you just love racing a new distance! 😉 )

And there you have it, my very first half marathon! It was definitely a memorable experience. The training, the sweat, the race itself. I don’t think I could have asked for more! Well, cooler temperatures would have been nice….but that’s ok. It makes me a better runner when running in rough conditions!

What’s next?? Who knows! Another half? A full marathon? Only time will tell! When I have it figured out, I’ll be sure to let ya’ll know! 🙂 Until then….

HAPPY RUNNING!

 

~Alyssa Marie