Picture of me at the expo playing with the Stick. (That sounds kind of dirty.)

So here we go. Like I said in my previous post, the first half the course was fairly flat or downhill. The second half however was full of hills. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. It was in the high 40's when the race started and couldn't have been any higher than mid 50's by the time it was over. It was overcast, which meant no sun beating down on us. Seriously, picture perfect weather.

I was feeling pretty good before the race. I chowed two Power Bars and sipped some Gatorade before the get go. Hit the Porta-potty twice because I always have to go more often when I'm nervous. I also had my iPod with me because you could run the race with it.

I had with me a pack of Sports Beans and a Propel and would pick up Gu at one of the aid stations around mile 7.

The race started downhill and a pretty steep one before flattening out. I hit mile 1 at 10:43, where I proceeded to mutter, "Oh Crap." Although it must have been louder than I thought because the woman next to me said, "No that's the gun time not your time" (The clock by mile one said 12 something). I smiled at her and said, "No I'm going way too fast."

I tried to slow myself down but didn't really succeed hitting mile two around 21 and change. That's where the first aid station was. I grabbed a cup of water and Gatorade. As is my usual, I walked through all the aid stations.

The first two miles my legs felt a little heavy, but I kept going.

I saw my parents at mile three and waved and smiled. I completely missed the mile markers for four and five. When my watch read about 56 minutes I walked while I ate my Sports Beans and gulped some Propel.


I hit the 10K at1:04 and change. That's way fast for me peeps.


I saw my parents soon after and my mom yelled, "You're way ahead of pace."

My answer: "I know I hit the 10K way too fast. This is bad."


I cruised into the Parkway hit mile 7 where I grabbed water and a pack of Gu. I didn't take the Gu until mile 8 though.



Right after that aid station I took a little walk break to rest my legs. I think it was about two minutes. From there I picked it up and was able to run some more. I saw my parents for the last time before I'd see them at the finish line around mile 7.5.


After mile 8 the evil hills started. I walked the first one and ran down the other side and was able to keep going. I ran through the covered bridge and hit mile 9.

At this point my legs were feeling pretty tired, but I kept going and hit mile 10 at around 1:50ish I think.

Mile 10 was full of more hills and I had to do a lot more walking. I was tired but feeling pretty good.

Then I hit mile 11. I was walking and running pretty evenly at this point. I'd run for about 5 minutes and walk for two sometimes extending it to three if I needed it.

Mile 11.5 did me in. I hit the wall of all walls. But knowing I only had about two more miles to go I kept moving. I was still on pace to finish under 2:30, which was one of my big goals for this race.


I walked a large part of mile 12 and then I got to the stadium. May parents were standing right outside cheering me on and I picked it up to a run. I kept it nice and easy for the first half of the track and then somewhere deep down I still had some energy left because I sprinted the last .1 with everything left in the tank.


I passed a whole pack of about 10 runners in that last .1 including a bunch of guys. Hey Vanilla is it bad that was I a little bit excited to have chicked them?


I didn't get a chance to stop my watch around away afterward because people were shoving bottles of water and that plastic wrap stuff to keep you warm into my hands.

When I managed to stop it it read 2:27:00. I frantically waited for them to post chip times. Mine was 2:26:56.

I shaved 11:33 off my previous PR!!! I was/am/and probably will be for a long time PUMPED! And I finished under 2:30 which was my big goal for this race!


Here's a quick some up of the positive and negatives.

Positives:


Super-friendly volunteers at the aid stations.
The bands on the course were fun.
The flatness of the first half of the course rocked.

Negatives:
A lot of the course was out and back so it got a little repetitive.
The finish area wasn't roped off for just runners so getting your chip taken off and getting medals and everything was kind of complicated with all the spectators around.
The food wasn't just for the runners, which isn't the problem. The problems is starving runners had to wait in realllllly long lines to get food. (In the end I didn't, it wasn't worth it for soup and a sausage sandwich. What about bagels and bananas? I drove home and had toast.)

Overall though it was a fun race. And it was great to run at home and have my parents there. My mom has done a lot of races with me, but my dad has never seen me run so that was pretty special. I also have to give major props to my dad for taking all of the pictures.