Lincoln 1/2 Marathon Recap

Lincoln 1/2 marathon yesterday!  This has always been #1 on my list of races for a few reasons. 

It's pretty close to home.
It's flat.
Crowd support is great.
They have straws & lids on their cups at the water stops. :) Excellent!
The food after is like a buffet! Such good stuff.

I typically don't run with anyone during a race, because, well, you just never know what's going to happen to you out there.  I don't want to slow anyone down and I don't want to be slowed down (it can go either way depending on the day).  But for this race I really wanted to run with my friend Marcie.  

She was so much fun on the run!  So much energy and I could tell she was having a great run.  My boyfriend, his 2 daughters and my daughter were waiting for us at mile 8.  What a good pick me up :)

All was good, until about mile 8.5 when I started to feel bad. The gels I used for this race are really best when followed with water & my tummy was feeling upset ... After the last gel at mile 7 I tossed them to the curb.

I lost it around mile 9 - which is pretty normal for me - but man, I was struggling.  I know I needed the gels and ending them at mile 7 is a recipe for disaster, but they were making me feel like I might hurl, so I had to stop eating them. Barfing is worse than walking, and that's where I was. 

Runner's code....  If you run with someone during a race you must decide this ahead of time:
Are you sticking together through thick and thin, no matter what?
Or
Are you going to allow you partner to go ahead if they can?

I'm the second one - for sure.  The last thing I wanted to do was keep her from her goal, but she was so nice to stay with me.  We decided when we got to mile 10 she would go on if I couldn't keep up.  We stuck to that and she went on to crush her goal by a full 5 minutes!  Excellent!

What happened to me after mile 10?  Well, between mile 10-11 I was touch & go.  Jog a little, walk a little.  I was still fine with my time because Marcie and I had gotten ahead of our goal time during the first 9, so I still felt ok with it .... but I didn't feel ok with walking.  Especially being that close to finishing. 

At mile 11 my pace was about a minute slower than the first 9, but I was ok with that.   I just wanted to finsh. 

At about 12 - 12.5 there's my family again waiting for me to encourage me to the finish.  My daughter and my bf's daughter ran beside me for a bit, talking about random stuff, making me laugh, to keep my mind off of things, then it was around the corner and DONE. 

I will say this about this race.  It was much more fun a few years ago when I ran it in 2:05.  LOL  It's really hard to let go of that. 

One thing I do like to do after a run is to go back and reflect on what I've learned from this (because there is always something, no matter how many of these you do.) 

What I did wrong on this one: 

1.  I missed lots of scheduled runs due to my stupid plantar fascitis. I kept up with the long runs on the weekends, but had to skip quite a few shorter runs during the week since my heel was recovering.  No speed work, no hill work - this really showed on race day.

2.  I should have carried water.  I never do during a race, but had I looked ahead to see how far apart the water stops were, I would have.  Rookie mistake.

What I loved about this one:

1.  Having my family there to support me.  This race thing makes a LONG day for kids, plus a 2 hour ride home in my tiny car. They were troopers.

2.  Running with Marcie and seeing her have a great race day.  I'm truly so happy for her!

3.  Chocolate milk after the race.  I have never tasted better chocolate milk.

All & all I am proud to say I finished my 6th 1/2 marathon yesterday and I tried my hardest with where I am now. 

You should always try your best.  You never know who is watching ;)