Race Recap-Tower of Terror 10 Miler

So this should be subtitled “the race report I never wanted to write”.  That may clue you in to where this is headed, but I’ll tell you everything anyway.

I set out early Friday morning to drive up to WDW so I could be at the expo when it opened.  The packet pickup and expo went like most all other WDW ones and I got through pretty quickly.  The only real difference was the expo size-it was much smaller than what you’d see during Marathon Weekend (where every millimeter of floor space is used to its fullest) which is what I’d expected. We got a cool tech shirt that glows in the dark and as I was expecting with the corral assignments made public beforehand, my bib # put me in the last corral (D).  I was a little disappointed about that since the only Disney race I’ve been in the last corral for was my very first one, but considering the shorter distance and only 4 regular corrals I guess I knew it was going to be like that.

I rested up Friday afternoon since I went to Mickey’s Not So Scary Halloween Party that night (LOVE the Halloween Party!).  I honestly can’t remember what I did on Saturday before getting ready to head to the race.  I ate a late lunch/early dinner, nothing different than what I’ve had for my other night races.  I was a bit concerned about the weather.  Not rain, but the humidity since the forecast was trending high.  We went to the start area early and met up with a bunch of the ROTErs and hung around chatting.  

Once it was time to start heading to the corrals I tried to make my way to the front of D, but there were SO many people it made it pretty hard.  I was finally able to get almost all the way to the front-I wanted as much room between me and the last person starting as possible.  Finally it was corral D’s turn to set off.  I was already sweating from standing in the huge mass of people...it didn’t help that it was still 80 degrees with 80% humidity (yes, you read that right).

I started off fine, walking a bit more than I normally would but still keeping my pace where it needed to be for Disney’s standards.  The first part of the course was an out-and-back down Osceola Parkway which was neat since you got to see the runners on the other side going the opposite direction and could shout out to each other when you saw someone you knew (or just random strangers if you really felt like it LOL).

Now, like I said I was keeping pace--so when the balloon girls (the Disney pacers who start after the last person crosses the start line and keep the 16 minute mile pace) had caught up to me by mile 3, I was wondering what the heck??  One of them I remembered from Princess, and it seemed they were doing the same thing I saw at Princess--once they would get to a mile marker they would stop for a bit since it seemed they were actually ahead of pace so they needed to pause to let the clock catch up to them.  So I was kind of concerned...especially when I really started to feel the humidity after mile 4.

Yes, I train in the heat and humidity since I live down here in SoFla where 80+ degrees and 80% or even 90% humidity is a regular thing (and it was like that throughout ToT training too).  But that night, it felt so much worse and actually made it hard to breathe properly when running-I felt like I couldn’t catch my breath...and so after mile 4 I was down to walking.  And after mile 4 I couldn’t see the balloon girls anymore.  But I wasn’t giving up.  I was going to keep going as fast as I could, period.  I was hydrating properly (and had for the days leading up to the race too) but the humidity was just so draining physically and it was making me feel a bit nauseated.

I think it was just after I hit mile 5 that the turn into Wide World of Sports came and we were on a dirt road for a while--which I hated.  I kept watching the ground, worried I was going to step wrong on a rock or something.  And that’s when I really started feeling the chafing from the huge amount of sweat making everything I was wearing wet (and in places you never want to chafe.  Don’t ask.).  But I kept going.  Through the stadium (which honestly didn’t wow me) and around the track, then back out to the WWoS exit.  As I was getting slower and slower-down to an 18 minute, then 19 minute mile there were fewer and fewer runners (well, walkers by then) all the way at the back.  But there were still people behind me...though many were starting to take the option of climbing into the extra-long golf cart that was trundling along at the back.

I refused to stop.  Once out of WWoS and back on the road, I knew I wouldn’t be finishing.  Just after the 7 mile point, one of the big charter buses was sitting right on the course (they normally position them off to the side on a side road or an off-ramp) along with one of the police cars positioned in such a way as to say “your race ends here”.  A man with a clipboard was waiting by the front of the bus to tell us that unfortunately, we’d have to stop there as they had to get the roads opened back up (um, for who?  It was right at midnight by then and we were only 3...miles...away...from...finishing).  There were several people who started to cry once they reached that point (and yes, I felt like it but held it back) and one guy who embraced his girlfriend/wife/SO to console her when they were stopped and her tears started to fall.

This is the first time I have ever been swept in any race.  I may have seen the bicycle people with their little orange flags and been passed or played leapfrog with the balloon girls before...but I was never swept.  Until now.

As we were ushered onto the bus, a runDisney person had a clipboard that she wrote our first name and bib numbers on as we boarded.  We were offered water and Powerade so I grabbed a bottle of water but just the thought of drinking the Powerade made my stomach do flips since that nauseous feeling was still happening.  I dropped into a seat and felt so tired and worn out--so horribly worse than I felt after doing the Disney full back in 2011 and the back-to-back days of halfs when I did the half marathon and marathon relay back in January 2012.  I didn’t want to move from my seat.  The runDisney person climbed on board the bus with us once the last person had been loaded.  She tried to be perky and smiling, saying we did a great job but we all knew she was just trying to cheer us up.  It didn’t work.

The bus dropped us near where the finish chute let out (I know it was after the finish line   since the runners coming by already had their medals).  We walked through a tent where we were handed a bottle of water and what I thought at the time was some food.  I wasn’t paying attention to what they were giving me since my stomach wasn’t very happy and I was looking around for anyone I knew and the way out, just trying to keep moving forward.  It wasn’t until after I was past the tent and trying to juggle what was in my hands that I realized the girl at the tent had handed me a medal, not some snack.

I know all the controversy there is surrounding medals for those who didn’t finish.  By the time I saw what I had, I was too far down to go back (I just felt awful and wanted to get where I was going and just be done)...so I just wrapped it up and zipped it away in my pocket.  I wasn’t about to hang it around my neck.

I saw Kimberly from ROTE and congratulated her, admitting that I was actually swept.  Actually saying that was so strange.  (It was great to see a familiar, friendly face after that, thanks for your kind words Kimberly!)

I finally made it out of the backstage area and into Hollywood Studios.  I texted my SIL and went to the Indiana Jones show area to pick up the bag I had checked.  Waiting in that line, going down the steps to the stage area and then back up the steps to get out I could feel the waves of nausea wanting to overcome me.  But I held on.  Once out I met up with my SIL and her friends (one was worse off than me).  I was craving some kind of soda, and made do with a bottle of Coke from one of the carts.  It actually made my stomach feel better when I drank it (and the burping helped too).  I still felt crummy so headed back to the hotel for the night.  I wasn’t in the mood for celebrating.

One thing was upsetting to me.  There was a large stretch of the course that was comprised of the out-and-back.  I actually saw several people cut from my side over to the other side, totally cutting out the WWoS section of the course.  At some of the points I saw people cut over well before WWoS, some cut from 2-2.5 miles off their course.  That just pissed me off.  Here I was, pushing as hard as I could given the conditions, not stopping until I was made to do so, covering every mile of the course as it was laid out.  Sure, I could have cut across--and though the thought of it was tempting once I hit that mile before WWoS, I have never cheated in a race and wasn’t about to start, even if I knew it might mean getting swept.  There were some people around me asking each other, “are they really cutting across?” and saying, “that’s just not right”.  Uh-huh, yeah.

Anyway.  Oddly enough (or maybe it was just a sign, or my body telling me something, or whatever), in the weeks leading up to the race and especially the day of and our waiting time right before the race started, I just had this “feeling”.  It was kind of a nervous butterfly feeling, you know?  It just felt wrong.  Even on days where my training was going great and I was excited for the cool new medal...I felt “fluttery”.  I don’t know.  

And so that’s my report.  The one I never wanted to have to write.  And I never want to write another one like it again.

Oh, and the medal?  I’ve never put it around my neck.  It’s not on my rack...and I'm not posting a picture of it.  And now I’ve got a sticker on it that says “DNF, 7.12 miles”.  It’s just sitting on a shelf.  It will never hang on my rack, but it is a reminder for me...and motivation to never let it happen again.  And yes, I’ll be back to try again...the whole redemption thing, right?

It's almost time for The Jelly Bean Virtual Race!

Yup, that's right-Spring is just around the corner (well, here in SoFla we haven't really even had a winter)...and that means it's almost time for The Jelly Bean Virtual Race!  If you haven't heard about it, head on over to the Run with Jess site and check out the post for the 3rd Annual Jelly Bean Virtual Race.

Haven't heard about virtual races before?  It's like doing an actual in-person, live race but all by yourself...or with a group of local friends if you feel like getting a group together to do your miles.  You basically do the number of miles for the race length(s) you choose, then report your results.  And don't worry about how fast or how slow you may be-it doesn't matter.  Everyone who finishes gets an entry into the prize drawings, and the more events you complete, the more entries you earn...up to 4 entries for the 4 events.  The events are Run 5K, Run 10K, Run Half Marathon and Bike 21K (13 miles).  You can enter 1, 2, 3 or all 4 events and you have from March 20th thru March 31st to complete the ones you register for.

Did you catch the part about the prizes?  Yup, Jess has some fantastic sponsors like Nuun, Racer Frames, Gone For A Run and more and you could win a prize from one of them just for participating.  Again, it doesn't matter if you have the fastest time or the slowest one-if you finish and report a time for one or more of the distances you register for, you get entries into the prize drawings.

Best of all?  It's all free!  Now, if you want some bling (AKA a medal for those unfamiliar with the term) then you can pony up the $10 for the optional race medal but if you'd prefer not to and just want to take your chances with the drawings, you can do that too.  This year there's also team options (5 or 10 person teams) where you can purchase the team pack and not only get the bling for each person but some other goodies as well.

I did the Jelly Bean last year and had a good time (even if my neighbors thought I was a bit nuts out there in my bunny ears)...you can read my blog post from it here and see some of the pics I took.  I've already signed up for this year for the 5K and 10K.  I still don't own a bike (*sniff*sniff*) so no bike event for me...and while I was thinking about adding the half marathon, I've scaled back my Spring calendar to prepare for this year's Expedition Everest 5K adventure race at Walt Disney World and don't have any training miles over 7 planned so it'll probably just be the 5K and 10K for me again this year.

Anyway, go check out the race info and sign up...and don't forget to buy some jelly beans before your race(s) to celebrate with after...or even along the way-jelly beans are actually pretty good fuel when doing miles!

Have you ever done a virtual race before?  Did you like it, and will you be signing up for the Jelly Bean?

2012 Princess Half Marathon Weekend Recap

Yes, I’m aware it is almost 11 months later, but hey-I figure if a year hasn’t passed yet, I’m okay posting my recap.

This was my first time doing the Disney Princess Half Marathon.  I’d actually been to the Princess Half Marathon Weekend before...you may or may not remember that the Royal Family 5K in 2009 during the inaugural Princess Weekend was not only my first Disney race, it was my first race of any kind-ever.  I remember when I was getting ready to check out of my hotel that Sunday (the day after the 5K), runners had already started coming back to the hotel with the shiny Princess Half bling hanging around their necks and that was the first time I thought, “I want one of those!”.  And thus this whole crazy ride started.

I was originally going to be heading up to WDW by myself, but then turned it into a mother-daughter weekend instead, bringing my mom along with me.  If you think I’m a huge Disney fan, I’ve got nothing on my mom.  Plus this would be the first time she’d be there for one of my races...so I was looking forward to a fun weekend.

The expo on Friday was just like most other Disney race expos, though not quite as large and crazy as the Marathon Weekend expo can be.  Packet pickup went smoothly as always, and I wound up in corral G.  Since the corrals went to H that meant I’d be in the next to last corral...so at least a little cushion there.  Erica from ROTE was working at the SparkleSkirts booth and after introducing mom, Erica continued calling her “Carra’s Mom” for the weekend.  After, mom and I spent time at Magic Kingdom getting lots of Photopass pictures taken and enjoying our favorites-the Main Street Electrical Parade and Wishes.

Saturday we checked out Animal Kingdom, taking more Photopass pics until a little after lunchtime, then headed back to the hotel for relaxing and an early bedtime since those 3am buses on Sunday would be coming up pretty quickly!

I brought my mom along to the family area where I met up with the other Running of the Ears peeps at the H tent.  I introduced her to some of my friends and asked if she could follow some of them who would be cheering over to the Magic Kingdom until it got light outside (thank you so much Steve!).  Once it came time to head to the corrals, I made my way over while mom hung with the cheering ROTErs until they went to catch the monorail to the Magic Kingdom.  It was a bit cool out...I also did have a cheap poncho in my pocket just in case since the forecast was looking like it could rain.

Once in my corral I got as far forward as possible.  My speed was not really where I wanted it to be and I wanted to make sure I got as much cushion as I could to avoid those pesky sweepers.  Once we were on our way, the race was pretty uneventful...I didn’t stop for any characters and I was already familiar with the course from the Disney Half Marathons I’ve done.  The cool temperatures made it easier to keep up my pace.  I did start seeing the bicycle people with their little orange flags around mile 7.5 or so.  Around the time I got to mile 9 the weather had gotten a bit misty out but I didn’t bother breaking out the poncho.  There’s one lady from the bike people who would ride by letting us know how far ahead of pace we were.  I’ve seen her at previous WDW races and she’s pretty good at keeping the runners informed.  

Once I hit about mile 9.5, I was just so tired of trying to keep my pace up-I’d stopped doing any intervals a couple miles before.  I think after doing the back-to-back halfs during Marathon Weekend, then the ING Half three weeks later, then Princess was just taking its toll.  But I kept going and pushing because what was foremost in my brain was the fact that my mom was going to be at the finish and I didn’t want to get swept at a race she came to see.  Between mile markers 10 and 11 was the hardest...because just after 10, the pace girls with those blasted balloons passed me at that point.  During mile 10 my pace had dropped to around 17:30/mile.  

As I and my fellow runners/walkers were pushing through mile 11 towards a looping turn that would take us toward the final approach to Epcot, a couple of us asked one of the male bike guys if there were any more sweep points.  He said ,”Nah, no more” and looked very relaxed just hanging out on the side of the course as he was watching us go by.  We made a looping turn toward our last overpass when the lady bike person came around again.  She wasn’t saying anything about how far behind pace we were, so we asked again about sweep points.  She kind of fumbled her response with a ,”Um, well, you just need to keep on going, keep on moving forward”.  We looked at each other (us runner/walkers that is) and we knew we were safe--you could tell she was trying to say something to keep it vague so we wouldn’t just slow to a crawl without actually saying there were no more sweep points.

And so yes, I did slow a little, maybe by 15 seconds/mile until I passed the 12 mile point-knowing by then I was definitely not getting swept.  At that point it was kind of drizzly out and I was not going to rush it anymore.  I wound up finishing in 3:45 and some change...and finally got that Princess bling around my neck!

Once I stopped moving I got chilly and the line for the bus back to the resort was waaaaaaaaay long so mom and I hung out in the empty bag check tent to stay warm (mom was freezing from mostly standing in the wet and cold) until the line went down, then hopped the bus back to the hotel.  We both wound up taking a nap for a couple of hours to rest and warm up before heading out to a celebratory meal at Outback.

Sunday night was Epcot, then Monday was Hollywood Studios and a little more Epcot (taking lots more Photopass pics of course!) before finally heading home.  It really was a great weekend, especially being able to spend it with my mom, so we had a fun girls’ weekend-appropriate for Princess, don’tcha think?  As we were driving home, mom asked if I could let her know when we could see the Photopass pictures online after we got home since she would probably want to get some of us.  That’s when I sprung a little surprise on her...that we’d be getting ALL of them since I’d be getting the Photopass CD (thanks to a bunch of ROTE friends sharing discs!).  While it took me a while to get around to copying the pictures over onto a disc for her, I did finally get it to her along with a framed 5” x 7” of one of my favorite pics from the weekend (no, not the one pictured here).

So, have you ever had a race weekend away with your mom ladies (or dad for the guys)?  Did you have as much fun as I did with mine?  :-)  Cherish those memories!

The Biggest Loser RunWalk 5K-Fort Lauderdale

Just a quick recap from today’s event.  Back sometime last fall I had seen an email for The Biggest Loser RunWalk 5K that was coming to Fort Lauderdale on January 6th.  I originally looked it over and then though, nah-not interested.  The second time I saw an email, I thought about it and then decided, why not?  They actually give you a whole hour and a half to complete the 5K...I could walk the whole thing R E A L L Y slow like a turtle and still be just fine (not like there would be a sag wagon for a 5K, but still).  Plus you would get a tech shirt, a finisher’s medal and (drumroll please...........) free downloads of your race pics!  Yeah, bet most of you haven’t seen that one before.  And so I went ahead and signed up.

Here we are on January 6th and it’s time for the 5K.  Packet pickup was yesterday at a local running store.  On the website they had said that Dan Evans (season 5 Biggest Loser contestant, orange team) would be performing race morning...he was actually at the store helping with setup when I got there.  We got a bib, drawstring backpack and our tech shirts.  One thing I was a bit puzzled about was the women’s shirts (they had both women’s and men’s sizes)--being that this is a Biggest Loser event, you would expect to see many larger-sized people, right?  The women’s shirts only went to XL, but these were your average women’s tech shirts-that “slim” type cut-where an XL is not what a real XL is in regular clothes...and so I got a men’s XL instead.

This morning I headed down early since it was being held in Downtown Fort Lauderdale and I almost never go there and didn’t want to lose my way.  It had been raining before I left the house so it was really humid--like 93% humid--and 70 degrees.  Thankfully the rain cleared out and a light breeze was going on by the time the 5K started...unfortunately the humidity didn’t really go away though.  We’re having a warm winter this year with highs in the 80s, I was hoping for today that we could have had cooler and drier weather but that just wasn’t happening.  I met up with a friend from ROTE (Hi Tracy!) and was re-introduced to someone from my high school class (over 24 year ago, wow!) and we hung out until the start.  Dan Evans would be performing but before that he was again helping with setup, then he and his mom (Jackie) got up on stage at the start line and got us all started.  Dan even sang the national anthem before we started ( a little off-key for the first line, but overall did pretty good, especially since it was 7:30 in the morning).

At the start line-Dan and Jackie (season 5, orange team) are on the stage to the right at the front

I decided to just walk the course, aiming to just be under an hour since I really haven’t done much training the past couple of months.  I started going too fast (as always) and my shins and calves immediately let me know.  So I slowed down a bit...to find a little drawbridge after our first turn.  The incline wasn’t too bad, but have you ever walked over a drawbridge down here?  The top of the bridge is a metal grate.  Which wouldn’t have been an issue...if it hadn’t been raining.  I saw a few people slip so told myself to be careful...and still slipped a little myself (yeah, my back loved that).  After that I settle into a steady walk.  We walked thru downtown a little, then through an long-established neighborhood with beautiful, fancy homes...and cars-like the gorgeous red Ferrari and cream-colored Bentley I passed about halfway through the course.  Back into downtown and around another corner to----another drawbridge.  This time I got up on the sidewalk since the streets were still wet.  I sped up a little bit, headed for the finish line and squeaked in at 59:16.  I did walk the entire way, just trying to enjoy being out there and not trying for any kind of time...except to just be under an hour which I did do.  Got my medal (yes an actual metal medal!) but didn’t feel like hanging around-there were a couple of booths set up with some vendors, but nothing that really caught my eye-and so said my goodbyes and headed home.

Overall the event was good, it was just too bad that the weather was so humid.  Topped the day off by watching The Biggest Loser season premiere tonight.  Not sure if I’ll watch all season since I’m not a fan of the scheming and head games that start up as the season goes on, but it was a good end to the day.  I’m using today’s 5K as my re-start for my own weight-loss program since I majorly fell off the wagon this past year.  I’ll post more on that in another blog entry, for now it’s time to finally head to bed.

Race recap-2012 ING Miami Half Marathon 1/29/2012

Yes, I know this is very late--hey, I'm almost caught up though!

I was really lucky with the registration for this one.  They were running a promotion for the first however-many to sign up once registration opened that registration would only be $25 (I think it was the first 50 people).  Registration opened February 1, 2011 at 6am...I was registered by 6:04am...total was $33.50 with Active fees (lordy how I hate those Active fees!).  Couldn’t pass that up for a race as big as this one, especially since the 2012 race was the 10th anniversary promising special bling!  The race would be held January 29, 2012

I already knew I’d be running an event during Marathon Weekend at Disney earlier that month...I didn’t realize at the time that I would actually be running both the half and the marathon relay--3 weeks before ING.  Ah, well...it would be an experiment to see just how far I could push myself, right?  Sure.

The expo was held at the Miami Beach Convention Center and SIL and I went down to it together.  We met up with our friend Tracy and a couple more ROTErs we ran into there (hi Paul and Bill and Todd!) and got a free pic together at one of the booths.  After, some of us wandered down to Lincoln Road for some lunch before we headed home to rest up for the race.

The morning of the race my SIL and I drove down and got caught in a bit of a traffic crush trying to get to the parking garage by Bayside across the street from the American Airlines Arena (in front of which the start line was located).  Thankfully we made it with plenty of time.  We met up with some ROTErs who were in town for the race and hung out until it was time to get to our corrals.  It was great to see people down here that I normally have to travel up to Disney World to see.

The only problem?  I had this nagging feeling that I really didn’t want to do the race.  I mean, I had no issue with doing the miles (that never bothers me)...I just didn’t want to RACE.  I don’t know if my body was just telling me it was tired out after my back-to-backs during Marathon Weekend, or if it was a mental thing or what.  I just did NOT want to be there racing.

Unfortunately, we were both in the very last corral so it was quite a long wait until it was our turn to cross that start line.  One of the neat things about our corral though was that we were actually on a side street right next to the start line (we’d feed into the main road to cross the start), so we were able to see everyone start before us really close up.  And finally it was our turn and we were off.  

Now, normally when I start a race I’ll run for the first 30 seconds to one minute-excitement of the start and all that-and then settle into a walk for a bit to ease up on my shins before starting my intervals.  And that’s what I did for this race...though I probably ran a bit longer than I should have as my shins felt like what they feel like when I need a new pair of running shoes (and no, I did not have old shoes on).  This usually would be no big deal-I would just walk slower for longer before starting my intervals.  Except this course threw in a bit of a curveball.

After a small straight start, we turned right headed toward Watson Island...and the first bridge, only a quarter mile into the race.  Now, the bridge would normally be no problem-if it wasn’t so soon in the course.  My shins hadn’t had a chance to break themselves in and already I had to go up...up..up.  Those of you from other places in the world probably think I’m one heck of a softie, I mean it’s just a bridge right?  But I’m the very definition of a flatlander (South Florida native, and while I did live up in the NC mountains for five years, I was not active while there)-and I so very, very rarely ever have any kind of inclines in the races I do that I haven’t bothered with hill training so far.  Hitting that bridge right after the start and with my shins not really worked out yet HURT.  And so I slowed down...a lot.  Like almost 18 minute miles.  At least I had the cruise ships to look at along the MacArthur Causeway as I went along.  There was a second bridge along the causeway, but thankfully my shins had loosened up by then.  Too bad I was never able to get my speed back to normal.  Here's some pics from the first part of the race:

or this...

I'd rather be on this...

Approaching the 2nd bridge

 I do have to say, I’ve done a few races down in Miami Beach and I do like going along the Causeway.  Too bad most of the rest of the course did absolutely nothing for me.  We had maybe a little more than a mile (I’d guess around mile 4.5 through about 5.75) that was along Ocean Drive and the beach...other than that it was just going through the city streets, then along the Venetian Causeway-which had a whole bunch of construction along it.  It wouldn’t have been a big deal, but at the pace I was at, somewhere between mile 9 and mile 10 I (and everyone else still out on the course-which was a pretty good number of people) had to move up to the sidewalk as they were trying to open the roads back up.  Again, usually not a big deal when that happens, and I know that’s something I might encounter during a race if my pace is or falls below race pace (I’m just glad when they still let you finish and just move you to the sidewalks).  However, the sidewalks along the Venetian Causeway were mostly pretty narrow so there were many of us single-file and it was very difficult to pass anyone (which I was still able to do at some points, yay for me!).  

I tried to stay positive though-at least the skies were overcast so the sun wasn’t beating down.  We had only had a few sprinkles (for me back around mile 5 or so and only for a couple minutes) so it was not hot at all. Here’s my “keep your chin up” pic:

Once back on the mainland, it was a couple more miles through the city streets of Miami...but most in areas that didn’t look so hot (I wouldn’t walk there by myself if I wasn’t on a race course, especially around mile 12).  Our spectators for that part were mostly several homeless men sitting with their bags of stuff along the sidewalks.  By miles 11 and 12 I was dipping back into the 18 minute mile range.  Then finally during mile 13 I just totally eased off, knowing I was going to finish and not really caring at that point how long it took.  Remember that feeling I had like I really didn’t want to be there?  Miles 11-13 that feeling was roaring back full force.  I made the final hairpin curve to the finish...you can see how totally blah I was by then:

And then I was done.  Final chip time-3:55:37.  While I was not last-there were over 140 more people who came in after me-and not the slowest I’ve ever done 13.1 miles-I’ve never felt more tired, sore and just so totally wretched after a race as I did after this one.    I made my way through the finishers area (here, I smiled with my medal, I dug deep for that one)...

...and through the post-race food tents where there was plenty to eat since those people running the full marathon still had a couple more hours to go.  I was starving.  I looked around trying to find SIL (I knew she had finished almost an hour before me) and made my way over to some benches in a little mini-amphitheater area where a lot of runners had decided to crash.  I did not want to get up.  I would have been happy just laying down on the bench and staying there for the rest of the day.  But she found me and after we both just sat for a bit, we finally, very slowly, made our way back to her car for the ride back home.  Where I crashed on the couch with food and a blanket (after a shower of course) for the rest of the day.

Personally, I don’t know that I’d ever do this race again.  Not because my experience just sucked from a physical/mental standpoint, but because I really didn’t care for the course.  The other two half marathons I’ve done in the Miami Beach area were much more scenic and just felt more comfortable to me.  I’m not really a metro-urban city kind of girl and would rather be where there’s a lot more trees, water and so on than city streets with businesses and such.  I’m glad I did it, especially since it was the 10-year anniversary (yay for spinning bling!) and I got in for such a cheap entry fee...but for me it’s certainly not a priority for a future race.  I’ll gladly ride down to cheer for friends though come next year!

Sorry for such a long report and a mostly down-in-the-dumps one at that...but it does accurately capture my whole mood that day.  No really great pics with the exception of our group pics.  

Have you ever had one of those “I just don’t feel like doing this today” feelings before a race?  

Have you ever done the ING Miami Half Marathon?  What did you think of the course?