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?

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?

What re-started my running bug...

Hurricane Sandy had other plans for my first half marathon.  This is my first half marathon (with an asterisk).

My goals for this race were as follows:
Finish
Don't finish last
Don't lose any toenails.

I like to keep it simple.