Princeton Half Marathon Recap (11/3): A race do-over

Last year, this  race was supposed to be my first half marathon.  Initially the race was postponed until the spring and then cancelled.

We still collected our medals after the race was cancelled.

When the email came to register again I thought, ok I get to do this over. Having already done 2 half marathons this year (the Long Branch Half in May and the B.A.A. Half last month), I definitely felt more prepared than I did last year, and knowing what to expect was definitely helpful. Typically I don't look at the course too much ahead of time (because it is what it is) but I'd heard from a lot of people how hilly the course was so I decided to make note of where the hills where to better prepare myself for the race. I was feeling pretty good going into race day, I had my clothes laid out from the night before and set 3 alarms since it was Daylight Savings Time.

layers, layers, layers.

I should have gotten another hour of sleep.  Instead of was a ball of stress trying to make sure I didn't oversleep.  I got up that morning and started to get dressed and decided on some last minute wardrobe changes. The final race day instructions said to be in town and in the parking garage by 6:30am at the latest (the race was scheduled to start at 7:30) since the roads were going to be closed for the race. I got to the garage at 6:15am because I wanted to make sure I could park, which in hindsight was too early because there was no bag check.  So I sat in my car trying to keep warm. At 7am cars were still pulling into the garage, so I totally could have left later. I settled on the number of layers I was going to wear (a short sleeved shirt and long sleeve shirt plus my hat) and headed over to the start line at 7:10.

Yup, I'm cold and ready to go.

I don't know the best way to describe the mood at the start.  Stoic. Quiet.  I was trying to keep my legs warm, but after a while I just couldn't feel them anymore because I was cold.  Which works out to my advantage because then I can't feel how much they hurt at the beginning of the race before I settle in.

At the start.

And then we were off.  I was feeling good, around mile 3 my legs started to warm up a little bit and we hit the off road portion of the race.

Off road portion. Photo from Princeton Half website

As you can see there isn't a lot of room to pass, from here we ran into the woods where the following happened.  There was a guy running with a backpack who kept pulling leaves off the trees. Behind me I could hear a lady yelling.  Then it became clear she was yelling song lyrics and cheering herself on. Loudly. At mile 6 two ladies passed me and then high-fived each other. (p.s. who does that?) But then something awesome happened at Mile 7 when a group of spectators chanted "Green Skirt! Green Skirt! Green Skirt!" which made me feel pretty good and definitely put a smile on my face.  My sparkle skirt got lots of love along the way.

I re-focused back on my race and looked at my watch to see I was running sub 11 minute miles, as long as I kept going, I was going to beat my previous time. The course was seriously hilly.  A lot hillier than Boston and felt like they were going on forever, uphill. By the time we got back into town at Mile 12 and into the home stretch, I really didn't have anything left to dig deep and pick up the pace to the finish.  A couple of people passed me in that final stretch including Yelling Lady (YL), I was focused only on the clock I could see in the distance...2:28 and I crossed the line with a time of 2:28:11.  YL turns to me and says, "I can't believe I caught you".  I'm certain this photo was taken right after that moment:

What does my face say?

I just didn't know what to say to her, so I just smiled at her and went to find my family.  That was about all the energy I could muster in that moment. I'm choosing to take her comment as "wow, thanks for being such a good motivator!" (because if I don't this comment is just odd.)

This year's bling!

This half experience was definitely different than the previous 2.  The big news is: I shaved 6 minutes off my time from Boston 3 weeks before for a new PR!  

Do you have a memorable race?  How do you block out other runners around you?

4th Annual Alexander's Run 5K Recap

I'm catching up on race recaps after 3 races in 3 weeks, the first one up is this 5k that is very dear to me.   Alexander was a happy, healthy 19 1/2 month old when he passed away unexpectedly in December 2008 to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood.  As a friend of Alexander and his parents Dan and Michelle and brother Daniel, I want to help bring awareness to Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood (SUDC) to figure out what can be done to stop this from happening. I wish Alexander and all the other children lost to SUDC were still here, that their moms and dads could hold them again, that they could meet their siblings.
I wish they were still here.
I think of Alexander often.  I also think about how amazing and strong his parents are to take this unimaginable tragedy and found a way to help others.  I wish they and other parents and families didn't have to be so strong.

Alexander's Run supports both the Sudden Unexplained Death in Childhood Program and the Alexander Michael Dodson Memorial Scholarship Fund.  The first two years of the race, I volunteered  and this was the second year I ran the race with my family.  It was a beautiful morning for a run, and since this race is local, I know the course pretty well.

Walking over to packet pick-up.

So I walked over to packet pickup to also figure out how many layers of clothing I should wear on the run (I get cold pretty easily). I decided a tank top & long sleeve shirt would be good and wearing a vest until the actual race, I would stay warm. Coming off the Army 10 Miler the weekend before, I had in mind that I wanted to finish this 5k sub 30, as I was feeling good about my pace from the weekend before and thought I could push my pace more for the 5k.  I haven't mastered the sprint vs. the long run so I decided I would see how I felt.

Headed to the starting line, kiddo was nice and toasty

Since we were running with kiddo in the jogging stroller, I figured we would take turns running the race with her (we usually do this on our runs together).  We get to the starting line and final preparations get underway.  Before the start, Alexander's dad does a balloon release for Alexander and  gives us the final race instructions.

Sending Alexander love.

And we're off!

We're in the back right corner of this photo that my friend took

My husband ran with kiddo in the jogging stroller, at first they were ahead of me, and then I caught up to them on the flat at a half mile into the run.  This was totally different than last year's Run when I woke up with a bad cold and couldn't catch them at all.

Approaching the Battle Monument

I was feeling really good and my pace and I was running sub 10 minute miles, which I really had not done before.  So I thought I could totally make it under sub 30.  After the turn at Mile 2 I saw my husband approaching the turn and decided I should finish the race with him. So I stopped to let him catch up.  Last year he finished the race and then came back on the course to finish the race with me and let me push kiddo across the finish line.  I thought I should do the same for him this year. He said I should keep going and they would catch up. 

Sub 10 minute miles

So I ended up with a time of 30:07 and a 9:41 pace and in 8th place.  I was quite happy with that. Alexander's Run also has a Family 1 mile Fun Run/Walk that kiddo was really wanted to do.  In the week leading up to the race, she kept saying she wanted to run the race by herself, which I was happy to let her do.  So after the 5k we lined up and I ran the Fun Run with her.  She did a really good job and ran about a half mile until she got a little scared by all the people cheering so I had to carry her for a little bit.  I asked her if she wanted to keep running and she said she wanted to go play.  She was happy, I was happy to see her having a good time,  she got to do it with me and she got her first medal. 

Happy Runner Girl.

We will continue to support Alexander's Run in any way we can. I hope more runners come out next year and the race continues to grow.  Do you have a local race you support?