Last Saturday I ran my third half marathon. Yay me!
We were up at 3 am in order to catch the 4 am shuttle to the start. It was colder than we were expecting, but the temp was great for running, though not great for walking 20 minutes to the start line and waiting another 30 minutes for my wave to start.
The first half of the race I felt good, strong even. My knees and shins didn't bother me. However, the lone 6 mile long run in my training showed when I hit the second half of the race. I was able to still keep my splits up (even with a potty break at the half way mark), but I had to work harder at it. The balls of my feet were pretty sore- the unfamiliar pounding? my plantar fasciatis not being happy? not sure what exactly the issue is, but I've had problems with it before, so I need to figure out the source of the problem. I'm hoping it was just having my shoes tied too tightly (a possibility, from what I can determine).
I got my knee taped Thursday before we left and I left it on till Tuesday night. There was no pain while the tape was on, but Wednesday my knee wasn't super happy. After the race my knees and thighs and hips were stiff and a bit sore, but I brought my foam roller and did some stretching and that helped a lot.
The course itself is a good one. It's pretty flat with a few moderate hills- not too long, and not too steep. Several marching bands, some djs, Disney music on loudspeakers, various Disney characters, and cheering crowds lined the way. The placement of a drill sergeant-esque toy soldier from Toy Story at the crest of the last hill (the longest one) at mile 11.something was particularly apropo. He was talented too- he managed to keep shouting encouragement at runners while posing for photo-ops. I didn't do any of the available photo-ops along the course because there was always a line and I wasn't about to screw up my pace.
I finally got a Garmin GPS-enabled watch not too long ago, but I've only used it a couple times, and I'm still not totally comfortable using it, so despite my best efforts while crossing the start line I couldn't get it to do what I wanted and it ended up being just a bulky watch. Even so, I was able to keep track of my mile splits fairly accurately, and knew I was keeping a pretty consistent 12 minute per mile pace, which was faster than I expected, given my training pace on the treadmill. When I checked my stats after the race I saw that I actually managed to run a bit faster than 12 minutes per mile.
Miles run ------- Time -----Average Pace
3.1 36:43 11.50 min/mile
6.2 1:12:50 11.44 min/mile
9.3 1:51:33 11.59 min/mile
13.1 2:37:27 12.01 min/mile
I ran the first 6 miles without stopping, then walked about 30-45 seconds of each 12 minute mile after that, except for the last mile. The last mile I did a lot of walking/running/walking/running because I was tired and losing steam fast.
I ate 2 shot blocks every couple of miles, for a total of 8, I think. I chased them with water and powerade from the water stations. They stayed down without any problems. In the past I've eaten a larabar before the race, but they don't sit well once I get running, and I knew I'd end up puking if I ate one that morning, so I ran the race on a banana and 8 shot blocks. Not what I had planned, but it worked.
I had two belt pockets- one with my iphone so Mr M could call and see when I'd be hitting the first viewing point and so we could reconnect at the end, the other with my shotblocks, chapstick, bodyglide, and wipes in case of intestinal problems. I didn't need the wipes or the bodyglide (I lubed up very well before leaving the hotel), but better safe than sorry. Mr M and LMS were waiting to cheer me as I came out of Cinderella's castle, and then again at the finish line. LMS was a real trooper- she got up at 3:30 am and kept going the whole day.
LMS asking Daddy "when will mommy come by?" Note the less-than-thrilled-to-be-waiting-around frown on her face :)
After running through Cinderella's castle
Oh yes, and since it was a Disney race, I dressed up. Nothing too fancy, just an understated Rapunzel costume. I used this tutorial for the tank top sleeves, and then sewed my own sparkly skirt. You can buy them, but I decided to make my own, which turned out longer than the ones you can buy, which I liked. However, I don't know that I'll make another one. The sparklies are glued to the fabric and sewing through them causes adhesive to gum up the needle, which then causes the thread to break. I had to keep wiping my needle down with a cleaning solution every couple inches to keep my thread from breaking. I also followed this tutorial for a Rapunzel wig, which turned out very nice, but the reality is that I have a very hard time wearing hats, headbands, and the like because they give me headaches within minutes of putting them on. Just putting it on to see how it fit gave me a headache, so I ditched my plans to wear it in the race and gave it to LMS to wear for dress up, which made her happy. A pity to not be able to use it myself, but that's the way it goes.
I was quite apprehensive about the food issue - I really started to regret the decision to fly and stay in a hotel instead of driving the trailer down, but it worked out for the most part. Thursday I got glutened at lunch by accident, so I wasn't feeling great, but I did my pasta carb loading Thursday night before we left. I hadn't found a source of gluten free pasta that looked reliable, and supposedly it's ok to carb load more than a day in advance. Friday morning we flew to Florida and had lunch at Chipotle after we arrived, where I got glutened again :( Dinner was at Outback since they're fairly knowledgeable and aware of food allergies and are quite gluten free friendly. No issues there, thank goodness.
Two days in a row of getting glutened had me very worried about how my intestines and stomach were going to do during the race. The nausea was bad enough that I almost puked while eating a banana for breakfast as I dressed. I managed to keep it down and empty my intestines before we left the hotel, so I counted myself fairly lucky. My intestines were still a bit painful, but not gotta-run-to-the-potty-painful, so it was manageable. I sipped some water before the race, which wasn't the smartest thing since I have a nervous bladder before races. Despite two potty stops on the way to the start line I had to go again by the time my wave started. I knew there would be porta potties along the way, but I didn't actually find some that didn't have long lines till the halfway point. I didn't want to spend time waiting in line since I was doing so good keeping a consistent pace.
I was quite apprehensive about the food issue - I really started to regret the decision to fly and stay in a hotel instead of driving the trailer down, but it worked out for the most part. Thursday I got glutened at lunch by accident, so I wasn't feeling great, but I did my pasta carb loading Thursday night before we left. I hadn't found a source of gluten free pasta that looked reliable, and supposedly it's ok to carb load more than a day in advance. Friday morning we flew to Florida and had lunch at Chipotle after we arrived, where I got glutened again :( Dinner was at Outback since they're fairly knowledgeable and aware of food allergies and are quite gluten free friendly. No issues there, thank goodness.
Two days in a row of getting glutened had me very worried about how my intestines and stomach were going to do during the race. The nausea was bad enough that I almost puked while eating a banana for breakfast as I dressed. I managed to keep it down and empty my intestines before we left the hotel, so I counted myself fairly lucky. My intestines were still a bit painful, but not gotta-run-to-the-potty-painful, so it was manageable. I sipped some water before the race, which wasn't the smartest thing since I have a nervous bladder before races. Despite two potty stops on the way to the start line I had to go again by the time my wave started. I knew there would be porta potties along the way, but I didn't actually find some that didn't have long lines till the halfway point. I didn't want to spend time waiting in line since I was doing so good keeping a consistent pace.
Mr M's brother and me- this was his first half marathon
Me and my cheering section. LMS is wearing the jacket I brought to wear before the race. Since it was so cold we put it on her when I took it off.
My last half marathon, almost 3.5 years ago, was 2:29:46. It was a fast course, so I'm pretty happy about only being 7:41 minutes slower this time around, especially given my under-training, knee injury, and getting glutened the day before. And 2:37:27 is waaay faster than the 3 hours I was conservatively hoping for :) I'm encouraged to go and sign up for a few more half marathons this year.
The time on the clock is the clock time. Since I didn't start in the first wave, it's not my true finishing time.
After the race, we spent time at the parks, thanks to discounted tickets for military personnel, and did lots of walking.
Saturday- 6.15 miles walked (after the half marathon!)
Sunday- 6.14 miles walked
Monday- 5.32 miles walked
Tuesday- 7.28 miles walked
Total mileage for the weekend: 24.89 miles walked plus 13.1 miles ran equals 37.99 miles, which is almost a marathon and a half! (that would be 39.3 miles)
Saturday- 6.15 miles walked (after the half marathon!)
Sunday- 6.14 miles walked
Monday- 5.32 miles walked
Tuesday- 7.28 miles walked
Total mileage for the weekend: 24.89 miles walked plus 13.1 miles ran equals 37.99 miles, which is almost a marathon and a half! (that would be 39.3 miles)
My half marathons:
1st- Disneyland Half (Sept 2007) 2:59:18
2nd- Top of Utah Half (Aug 2008) 2:29:46
3rd- Disney World Half (Jan 2012) 2:37:27
