Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Four Bridges Half Marathon Race Report

Doing a second half marathon in 3 weeks seems crazy, doesn't it? But I promised my mom that we would participate together so we both signed up. A great bonus was that my brother also registered the day before the event so it was going to be the three of us participating together! Whoo hoo. Family stresses and crazy dynamics be damned!

I got to the run early because I had 17 miles on the training plan and I wanted to get the additional 4 miles in before the race. I ran 4 miles early at a pretty slow pace (10:45-11 min/miles). That was all good.

I had a 45 minute wait until the start of the race so I called my brother and mom to gauge their ETA. We hooked up about 10 minutes later. Mom was really nervous.

I was originally assigned to wave 2 based on my estimated finish time (2:10) but I switched to wave 3 so I could start with mom (2:15+). Bro started in our wave too. He was very irritable for some reason. Whatever.

The horn blew and we were off. The biggest thing we coached my mom on was for her to slow down during the first 5 miles. She kept trying to speed up and we were telling her that the first 3 miles were downhill and she would blow it if she sped away. It was like trying to keep my dogs from chasing a squirrel. I on the other had was trying to keep a slow steady pace. I did sprint up the hills because I enjoy it--but then I waited at the top of the hill for mom and bro.

I felt great all the way to mile 7 (which for me was really mile 11). By mile 8/12 my right IT Band was KILLING ME! I couldn't believe it! I hobbled on through miles 9/13 , 10/14 and 11/15. I saw my husband and RR#2 at mile 12/16. O M was i in pain!

At mile 12.5/16.5 my mom and brother started arguing on the bike trail and my mom, now really angry, took off on a sprint, leaving us (her support team) in the dust.

Bro and I almost caught up to her (we stood with our mouths open staring at each other for a few seconds) by the finish. We were about 2 seconds back.

Finish line photo of all three of us will be posted soon. But you can see it here

Find Bib #217

Finishing time was 2:27 -- but for all 17 miles it took me 3:09

3 comments:

  1. First off, I just think it is freaking awesome that your mom would even be running half marathons Then to hear that she left you two in the dust at mile 12.5 - That just cracked me up!!

    Congrats to all of you on your finishes. I hope your IT band is better by now.

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  2. Sorry about your IT band pain. How is it now? Love the picture of the three of you. You all look very happy (despite that it sounds like you weren't happy with each other at the end of the race, lol!)

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