It took like forever for me to get calmed down after the 5k so the night was short. It was almost drudgery getting up but my body knows what to do so out of bed it was. Emily stayed the night in the brand new Hotel Rose and she was greeted by Lucy, our 7 lb. guard dog. Ems was in bed before we got home but I still had to turn on the light and show her my new hardware. She was slightly annoyed I could tell LOL.
Anywho, Jim was running the 5k and Emily and I ran the Half this morning with a start time of 8am. We arrived in great time and scored a prime parking spot. Off to packet pickup and we were greeted by great swag! So far, we felt good with this first race. Things were very well organized so far and the volunteers were wonderful. This was only the packet pickup!
Back to the car we went to get bibbed and chipped up. That was out first look at the shirt. AWESOME!!!!! We even received a drawstring bag with goodies inside. We were stoked!
Time to gather at the start and boom...we were off.
OMG! My legs were like L E A D from the 5k last night and I was starting to think this would be a very long day. This in the first mile, people! Fortunately, this was going to be a training run anyway (meaning slow pace) because as of this morning our first marathon training session was happening back in the Quad Cities. It's all good, I told the coach about the HM. Slow pace it was.
By mile 3 my legs were loosened up and awake and Emily was feeling good too. Whew! Again, we noticed that the volunteers an police force controlling the race course were AWESOME!
The miles clicked away and Emily and I visited ALOT which was fun. This race started in town but ventured out into the rural areas around Galesburg. It was warm in the beginning of that portion but towards the end the sun was to our back and the breeze in our face.
I also need to mention that there was just one runner behind us but that didn't matter at all to us. I also want to mention that I did NOT check my Garmin once during the entire race. Ask Emily, that was HUGE!
At every water stop, there was water, GU Brew AND Gu! I have never ever run a HM that had that much GU! Needless to say that since we were the tail end, we were packing away the Gu any place we could stuff it. Did I mention that the volunteers were awesome?
As we meandered back into town and at about mile 11 we were ready for this party to end. It was at mile 13 that Jim met up with us taking our photos and running with us for the end. You know what he was sporting around his neck? Bling!!!! We had no idea that the 5k runners received bling! e was a very happy boy.
Since we were towards the last of the finishers, we had the finish line all to ourselves except one thing. Every volunteer wearing their bright green shirts were all there!!! Never ever have we seen this before. At some HM's they were even starting to dismantle the finish line. Not here! The announcer was hilarious and Emily and I milked it for all it was worth. We were having so much fun!!
We received our medals and headed over to the food and food there was. each runner received an great food box from Buffalo Wild Wings including a very tasty chicken wrap, Sun chips and Powerade. It was so scrumptious and welcomed.
I wanted to make sure I found the race director to congratulate him on a wonderful racing experience. The only thing that they could do next year would be to add another water stop in the rural area where it is open with minimal shade. but that is it! Everything was perfect and YES...we are running this again nest year.
The post race grub!
The fabulous tech shirt and bling!
The bag and goodies inside (tilt your head LOL)
To my local running friends, PLEASE keep this race in mind for next year. you will not be disappointed.
Running stats: 13.1 mi; 2:56:44 (training run folks); 13:25 av pace (our true training pace), 1200 calories torched
It has been a great running weekend!
Toodles!
AWESOME!!
ReplyDeleteI concur. It was a good run. I love that i wasn't dead at the end of it. Gives me hope, you know? Especially after the last couple...
ReplyDeleteOh Emily, I know. This is two HM's in a row that you finished happy. Keep the mojo going! BTW, where are your Race Reports? Hmmmmm? :-)
DeleteSure you do two RR and suddenly you found your High Horse? Where is YOUR QCM RR for 2011, Mmmmmmmmm? :)
ReplyDeleteEmily, shhhh...don't interrupt me while my creative juices are flowing! Doesn't happen very often LOL.
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun one! I did the North Shore Half this past weekend - not nearly as fun sounding as yours : (
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great one to run next year. I did the North Shore Half this past Sunday, not nearly as much fun : (
ReplyDeleteLook at all that BLING!!! You put my medal rack to SHAME! ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh - and that's your *slow* pace???? I feel like a slacker extraordinaire! :-)
Kristen, that is indeed my slow pace. We can be slackers together!!!! Slack on, Sister!
ReplyDelete