Painters Half-Marathon Race Report

Wow, what a wild and crazy weekend! We made it home safely yesterday after a full day of shopping and driving (I ended up driving the entire way home, since the Hubs drove from St. George to Vegas and back). I'm sure you're all dying to hear how the race went, so I'll try to get to the point (but you all know me, so this could wander a bit).

I picked up my packet Friday afternoon, and was slightly disappointed at the lack of goodies in my bag. There was no technical t-shirt, just a sweatshirt (which I knew ahead of time), and then I got a snow hat/beanie with the logo embroidered on the front. And the only other thing was a package of the new (I think) PowerBar Gel bursts Blasts. But I guess I can't complain, because it only cost $35 for the race, and most half-marathons are almost twice that (and some are even more).

I decided to do my carb-loading at the Pizza Factory. In the past, it seems I've run well after eating pizza, and we all know how much I love it, so I crossed my fingers that it would be okay. Below is a picture of me with my giant garlic parmesan breadstick and my salad bar (and of course I'm sportin' zero make-up).

We went shopping at the outlet stores, and I wandered around for a while in the sporting goods store, hoping to score a bargain. There wasn't really anything I needed in there. However, right before I headed out the door I saw some gloves and decided to check them out. It must have been fate, because right below the gloves they had arm warmers. It was exactly what I needed for peace of mind on my temperature dilemma. They were light, and could just be pushed down if needed. Voila! Here I am modeling them before the start of the race. They're Pearl Izumi, and they were $20, which I don't think was any kind of bargain, but it was seriously the best $20 I've spent in a while. Oh, and notice what's in the background. Yep, a Tropical Sno shack. Hello!! It's January. We can see our breath, and I don't think anyone wants a Tropical Sno. It wasn't functional, but I thought it was funny when I noticed it in the picture.

I wore my C9 Champion singlet from Target, with the arm warmers, and a long-sleeve tech shirt from my 10k back in Sept (which has a decent size zip pocket on the side, that I planned to use for my gloves once I warmed up). Then I had my fleece headband (and my ever-present visor since it was a bright sunny morning), my  cheap cotton stretchy gloves, my Nike capri tights, and some CoolMax socks. Here I am modeling the full get-up, with my shirt hiked up so you can see my bib number- lucky 2300 even-steven. You can also see my new ITB strap (the tan one) which doesn't blend in as well as my other strap, which is black.

The Hubs had me pose for a picture at the starting line, so here I am right at front and center. After the picture, I proceeded to my appropriate spot in the middle of the pack, rather than blocking traffic in the front.

After the race started, the Hubs took off back to the hotel to go back to sleep. I had set the alarm clock for him, and told him I would call him when I had 2 miles left, so that he could make it back to the finish line. It was a pretty good size crowd, but still on the smaller end. I think there were 1700 participants, and that might have included the 5k people. Okay, I just checked the results page and there were 1033 in the half-marathon. Surprisingly the crowd moved pretty well at the start, and there wasn't a lot of back-up. My mantra was "nice and steady", trying to keep an even pace- not too fast, not too slow. At the first mile, I was already sweating, so that was good- it meant that I was warming up. By 2 miles, I had my gloves off and in the pocket. At that point, it was just under 20 minutes, so I was right on target. I reached the first water station at 2.7 miles, walked through while I took a quick drink, then kept running.

At that point we moved from the street to the trail, which went along the Virgin River. It was paved, and it was really nice. Good scenery, not too crowded, and not too many hills. Although just after mile 4 there was a steep, short hill that was pretty rough. But I got through it okay, and kept on cruisin. We went through a neighborhood for a bit, and I pulled out my gel, knowing that there would be water around mile 5 to wash it down. It gave me the push I needed and I continued on at my nice, steady pace. I was feeling pretty good, and was somewhere just under a 10:00 pace. We were soon back on the trail, and had a slight climb (hardly noticeable). Then we turned a sharp corner, and came down a big hill and crossed a bridge. We were almost to the half-way point. It was getting warmer, and I was still feeling pretty good, other than a little bit of arch pain that lasted for a half-mile or so. Experience has shown that it usually goes away, so I tried to ignore it. It was barely even a bother.

As we were coming up to the half-way point, it was a part of the trail where we go down, loop around and come back that same way before heading to the finish. Well, I reached the half-way mark, around 1:05, and just after that, several fast guys went speeding by, with 2 bikers in the front. It took me a minute to realize that they were the leaders of the pack- with only about a mile left!! Now that's fast! (The first place guy finished in 1:10:59, and the first female was also fast at 1:20:41- unbelievable!). I just continued on my steady pace. We came around the end of the trail, and there was a golf course and a driving range. We started going uphill a bit, but it really wasn't bad at all. Although most of my long runs were on the flat track inside at the rec center, apparently I ran enough hills in the shorter runs, that my body was conditioned enough. Oh, and another thing someone pointed out that it was at a lower elevation. I'm used to running at 4300 ft. and St. George is at about 2400 ft, so that could have helped, too.

Anyway, at the next station, I drank a little Gatorade (lemon-lime, which was really sour after my tangerine gel that I had back at mile 5)  and was off running again. There was another big hill after that, but I just took it nice and easy. Then it was a slow climb as we made a big circle. Around mile 8, I decided to take off my over shirt, so I had to undo my headphones and take my iPod off my arm. I slowed down a bit, but was still jogging. I tied my shirt around my waist and kept going. Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how to make the music work. Apparently if you unplug the headphones while using the Nike+ it messes with the music. It was still tracking my time and distance, and I could get the audio feedback, but no music. Crap! Well, I kept fiddling with it, and about a mile later, I figured it out. At that point, we were heading a bit downhill. Around mile 10, I ate a couple of PowerBar Gel bursts Blasts (cola flavor), and they were okay, but way too hard and chewy. I thought they would be softer like fruit snacks or something. I felt like I was wasting a lot of energy with my mouth. I probably wouldn't use them again. Next time I'll either "eat" another gel, or just take some fruit snacks or sport beans.

Around mile 10, I took off my fleece headband (I had left it on even though it was warm, because it was great at soaking up my sweat). I couldn't believe I was almost to the point where I would be calling the Hubs. As I was running the first part, I tried to notice where the mile markers were as we passed them (11 and 12), so I had a good idea when I was getting close. Soon enough I was at mile 11, and I pulled out my phone. I told the Hubs I was feeling good, and I was- surprisingly good. He said he was on his way. Once I hit mile 12 I slowed a bit. A while after that, there were some volunteers marking the course and they were cheering "only a mile left, keep going". Well, I was a little annoyed, because I knew it was less than a mile left- at least it should have been- but I wasn't exactly sure, because I knew the Nike+ was off by quite a bit at this point. I've come to the conclusion that on flat surfaces it's pretty accurate, but when there's any kind of hill or incline, that's where it adds extra distance. But whatever. I just kept plugging along.

We came around the mountain, and I saw the bridge. I was so excited, I got a burst of energy! I was thinking (because I heard someone before the race) that right after the bridge is where we came across and it was almost the finish line. Well, after crossing the bridge, I still had to wind around on a sidewalk. I was still going a little faster because I thought this time I really was nearing the finish. Then I got to a point where I again thought it was almost the end, and the volunteers were shouting out "stay to the left, keep going straight". What? Are you kidding me? So we had to run down a ways and do a little out-and-back and come back to the fork. Then we had to go up a little hill (seriously?). I was thinking it had to be the finish this time. At the top of the hill, we still had to run around the back way, and come through the finish line from behind. Sheesh! But as I came down the final stretch, I heard the Hubs and he had the camera on video. At that point, I was running fast (I've mentioned that I like to book it at the end of races). He ran along side me (I was sort of by myself ) with the camera, and told me to do "The Rocky" so I pumped my arms up in the air as I ran through the gate and over the timing mat. Wahoo! I did it!

It was amazing. I couldn't believe that I made it through the whole race with almost no pain, and running almost the entire way (with the exception of walking through the water stops). I certainly planned to take walk breaks, but I didn't even need them. I had no knee or hip pain, just a little arch pain for about 5 minutes or so in the middle). It was incredible! At the end, I was definitely ready for some type of refueling, though, so I wandered around trying to find food and water. I finally located the refreshment table and grabbed a half a banana, an orange, some bread and some water. Here's a picture of me with my medal. It's kind of small, and not very flashy, but again, I can't complain for only $35.

My official chip time was 2:15:26. Right within my goal time- yay!! That's an average pace of 10:22. Certainly not speedy, but not bad for someone who couldn't even run a mile without stopping last May. I finished 774 out of 1033, and I was 107 out of 150 in my age group (30-34) and 409 out of 605 in the females. Not bad for a first try. While I felt great through pretty much the whole race, shortly after I started feeling not so hot. Luckily we had a late checkout at the hotel, so I could go back and shower and change before we headed to Vegas. But I was pretty spent, and didn't have a whole lot of energy. I took a hot bath and laid there forever. Then the stomach issues started. I won't go into detail, but you can use your imagination. I think it was a combination of the running, the nerves and my breakfast. For the rest of the day I wasn't feeling very well. That's why the Hubs drove the whole way to Vegas (only 125 miles).

We planned to take it easy that night and see a movie, but it was really crowded everywhere (I mean it was Saturday night, but still). I needed food and was fading fast (by this time it was 7:30 Utah time). We ended up going to Denny's so I could get chicken noodle soup. I was about ready to fall asleep at the table. It was pretty pathetic. We headed back to the hotel instead of seeing a movie. I went to bed while the Hubs watched TV (the room was really nice and fancy, though, and we had a big flat screen in the room). Oh, and you should have seen the tub. It was humongous. Well, it wasn't big in size, but it was really deep, and maybe a little longer than a normal tub. I was going to take a picture, but I forgot. So Sunday morning, I took another long, hot bath (usually I'm not a bath person, but I really didn't have the energy to stand up and take a shower).

Then after breakfast we headed over to the MGM Grand to watch the football games. The Hubs placed a bet on both games, and luckily we picked the winning teams. He bet $20 on each game, and ended up winning $78. Not too shabby. It was fun to hang around and cheer, especially since there were so many Cardinals fans (we were rooting for the underdog), but I'd forgotten how smoky the casinos can be. It was not fun for my allergies, but overall it was a fun day. After the games, we ate at Baja Fresh, where I had a gift card that I won at work (but we don't have them in Utah anymore, and the closest location is in Vegas). I had tasty mahi mahi tacos. Then we drove back to St. George, but since I was so tired (and I don't have the greatest night vision) the Hubs drove. We didn't make it back in time to get in the hot tub (drat!), so we just went to sleep.

Yesterday, we had a quick breakfast, then headed back over to the outlet stores. The K-B Toy Store was going out of business and they had Hot Wheels for 60% off (which made them $0.47 each). Since we have a lot of nephews, we decided to buy a ton, so we picked out about 50 cars. Hey, just doing our part to stimulate the economy, LOL. Then we wandered around to a few different stores. I bought a shirt at Eddie Bauer (I can't help it, I'm a t-shirt junkie and it was only $6). Then I went back to the sporting goods store to get my contribution to Pat's contest. Finally we were on the road headed home. We stopped in Cedar City to eat lunch at Wendy's (using another gift card) but then it was straight home. We ended up spending less than $50 on gas for the entire trip, and for food and hotel rooms, it was only another $200 or so. Talk about a cheap trip. Last spring when we went on our road trip to California and cruise, we spent over $200 just on gas.

So that was my weekend. And now I'm back to the grind at work. I have lots of blog reading to do, and of course so much other stuff to tell you from last week and before, so hopefully I'll get to that eventually. But not right now. I keep thinking it's Monday, but it's Biggest Loser Tuesday. Yippee! Unfortunately the Hubs is changing his game night to Wednesday, so I probably won't be able to watch it tonight. Anyway, I'm outta here for now.