B.A.A Half Marathon recap

I went into the week leading up to the B.A.A. Half Marathon feeling rested and ready to run. This was my second half, so I looked at the course map to get a feel of the course and see where water stations were.  I was feeling confident and ready to run, but what I was not expecting was race day jitters. Or as I like to refer to it: Unnecessary Freaking Out.  Freaking out about what the 2 hour 30 hour time limit meant and discovering that the course was hilly and then worrying that I wouldn't make the 2:30 cut off with all the hills. So as I was packing my clothes I thought: what would I say to my daughter in this situation? I would tell her to take a deep breath and calm down.  It will be OK.  

So I instead focused on packing my gear and trying not to over pack.

Packing for every possible weather event. Clearly not packing lightly.

So back to the race.  I woke up Sunday morning at 5am and could not get back to sleep. My friend Sarah and I were running this race together, so we got ready and headed to the shuttle location.  

On the way to the race.

We got the the shuttle at 6:45 to head over to the course. Once we got there, we immediately got in line for the porta potties.  I try to go as many times as necessary before leaving the house, as I'm still getting used to using them again (I haven't had to use them since college) so I'm standing in line realizing it's 8am and the line is not moving.  

Our bank of potties...

The race starts at 8:30.  I still have my jacket on and haven't made it to the bag check yet. So now I'm starting to get nervous, about the line not moving and where I'm going to leave my jacket.  We finally get to the potty, I ditch my jacket, we hop in the cue just as Wave 1 is starting...

At the start, getting ready to take off

Approaching the start. My jitters have subsided and I'm looking forward to starting the race (with 6,500 of my fellow runners).

Coming up to the start.

We cross the start line and head off.  The course was described as having rolling hills. It was hilly.  My strategy was to run as many hills as I could and then power walk the rest.  I made it to the hills of mile 6 when I decided power walking the hills would be best to keep my legs from cramping and then running on the flats.  I had been warned about the hill at mile 11, and it was in fact no joke.

The Hill at Mile 11.

What motivates me towards the end of the race when I'm tired is seeing all the the sub 2 hour runners  walking home with their medals, which means I am not far away from the finish line.  This gives me a little more energy that I'm almost at the end, as we run through the zoo at mile 12 and then we're really in the home stretch into White Stadium.

Yes, I'm very happy to see the finish line (and my friend Nicole taking this photo)

So my pre-race jitters were just that, unnecessary jitters.  I finished the race strong and my time was not far off my previous half marathon time (which was on a flat course).  

I did it!

We got our medals, stretched a bit and then walked back to the shuttles to get to the car and head back to the house.

Plenty of buses for everyone.

I had a really good time (who knew that would be something you say after running a half marathon!) and I would definitely do this again next year.  I would love to do the Distance Medley, it may have to go on my wish list for next year.  

I'm feeling pretty good about my upcoming races and my training thus far.  Tomorrow I'll be doing some laundry and packing again for Sunday's Army Ten Miler.

What races are you looking forward to?