Well, I did it! It wasn't like I a. thought I wouldn't or b. thought I wouldn't enjoy it... but
it was a blast.
We went to the expo for packet pick up and for some shopping on 8/29. Unlike all the other expos I have been to it was a breeze. Very little crowd and little to no lines anywhere we stopped. The only aspect that was the least bit of a pain was the fact things were not exactly well marked as you walked up from Katella ave. So while we knew it was at the DL hotel and we could follow the herd it wasn't clearly marked. Add in the fact that the sales floor/speaker sessions were in one place and the bibs/tickets/special purchases were in another and we did end up needing to take a couple trips to where we picked up our bibs.
The race itself was on 8//31. We got up at 3:30ish to get ready.
We made our walk to the corrals at about 4:20ish.
I LOVED this. I thought I was seriously going to miss the ritual of getting up early (as if 3:30 isn't early...that extra half hour is EARLY) taking the bus at 3:30 and then trudging along with the mass amount of people to the staging area and then out even farther to the corrals. Don't get me wrong, that all does hold a certain appeal to me. However, being able to just completely control when and where we were headed was really cool. (even if we did make a slight misstep and start down the wrong chute towards NOT our corral)
We were able to get some prerace photos take of us after we dropped off our checked bags.
Cynthia and I were each in C, so that took care of any debate of where either of us was starting.
Once we were in our corral, Cynthia went to make one last trip to the porta poties. I ate my belvita biscuit while I waited. Not to be confused by velveta... not a cheese biscuit. Cynthia and I had a good laugh at that one. She had thought I was planning to eat a velveta buscuit.
A quick selfie before we started. Don't we just look way to excited for that early in the morning??? We were!!!!
The race started and I was a bit surprised by two things. One, there were no fireworks. Two, they released a couple corrals at a time together.
The plan for Cynthia and I was to run our own races and meet at the end. I knew she would be faster it would just be a matter of how much faster.
I could see her for the first couple miles. It wasn't too crowded but was still crowded enough.
I loved running through DCA and then into DLR. Running through the castle was pretty cool too, although here I think I really do prefer WDW for the castle run through. What was neat though was that they had a couple of the animals out of the petting zoo to cheer us on. In fact... the spectators in general were the highlight for me. I did not anticipate that. All the various groups and organizations that came to spectate and cheer us on was amazing!! I loved it and for this reason could see doing more of the DL races.
Around mile 6 I saw Cynthia again. Turns out our 5k and 10k times were not too far off. So close by mile 6 that I thought I might catch up to her. And just when I thought I might she got some speed to her! Zoom she was off and that was the last I saw of her.
We then came to the santa anna trail. I had been a tad nervous about it. "dust and gravel" are not my friends. It turned out to be one of the more interesting parts of the course. I actually enjoyed it!
Next was the Angel stadium. OMG! I am so glad we got to run through there. Better than the castle! The crowd in there was amazing. How many people get to say they were on the field of a major stadium and people were cheering? So cool!
After that it was kinda a tough race. The course runs along a freeway. So super boring to see. It also was starting to warm a tad (although really the temp and cloud cover were so in our favor compared to later runners). I ran out of steam and my pace slowed dowwwwwwwwwn. I was sure that I would not come close to my half PR. I let that get into my mind and I allowed myself to give up and so I took some long walk breaks.
Just after mile 12 there was a cm singing let it go. He was horrid... and being very animated as he sang. It was enough of a boost to get me that last mile. I needed away from him and that song.
I crossed the finish and was actually a tad surprised at the clock time. I realized there was no way that I would hit my absolute no later than time.
I made my way through the chute.
Got my medals, my picture taken, my food box, banana, water, power aid...
Picked up my bag from bag check and Cynthia was just outside waiting. She had finished well before me. Her time was amazing...even more so given it was her FIRST HALF!
How did I do? Well, my PR was 2:17:23 My worst half was 2:25:50
scrathin I just made the realization my worst was actually worse...I thought it was 2:22:xx)
This was 2:19:56.
Ya know you always can look back and realize where you could have shaved off some time. The extra walk breaks? Would they have cut 2.5 minutes off my time? It is hard to say. What isn't hard to say though is that I am very happy with this time. Happy and surprised. I actually really thought there was a chance I would come close to 2:30
My stats...
Total Finishers = 15984
Total Female = 10148
Total in My Division = 1338
My ranking =
3468 overall
1456 female
183 in my division
As down as I have been regarding my pace/performance this really turned out to be pretty good.
Cynthia and I got some more pictures taken and hung around for some free flip flops.
I am so very happy that Cynthia invited me along for this! She was the perfect race companion! I can't wait for the phm! Cynthia and I will room again but there will be more of us gals running "together".