This race is seriously amazing! It's so pretty, the course is just how i like it, and it is extremely well organized. They give out over 100 raffle prizes, including a treadmill (though I didn't win anything).
So I did better than i thought i would today! It's still hard to look at my watch and see that my exertion level does not match my times from last year, but I'll get there again.
I made sure that I ate pre - race (banana), and also took a 1/2 of 2 gus on the course. Also took salt pills. My stomach handled it pretty well.
I was a little nervous leaving Ivy as she still will not take a bottle. She does pretty well for at least 2.5 hrs, so all i had to do was not bonk and she'd be fine.
This course was on my old stompin ground in star valley, wy, and I really wanted to do well! Based on times that I was running in training, I knew that my speed/endurance was just not there post baby yet. I was thinking I was going to average 7:20-7:30s. It really is weird to push your body like you used to, and not get the same result. But I was going to try my hardest. I knew that there were a couple ladies there that would give me some competition, so I had my work cut out for me.
The beginning was at the top of a dirt road in the mountains, and warming up was a little tricky. It was steep down both ways, so I kept it short. I got to see a few friends including josse. It was so good to catch up with her - and I knew that she was going to push me.
I decided to just run fast down the first 2 miles of hills as I was going to need a little bit of a boost to stay ahead of these ladies. No one really challenged me right off, and I thought maybe I'd have a better day than I thought. It's funny how down hills can make you feel fast and confident:) after about mile 4, i was already thinking "oh crap - this is a long ways to race". The middle miles were rough -definitely more uphill than i thought they'd be, and it's been a while since I felt like quitting in a half marathon. Number 2 lady passed me while i was tying my shoes, and then again after she took a bathroom break. Josse caught me at around mile 10. I knew I didn't have much more in me as it was taking me everything to finish. I actually did try to speed up and catch her at the end, but she was speeding up too. That was all I had left.
splits are 6:34, 6:39, 6:56, 7:16, 7:05. 7:13, 7:31, 7:40 (ouch), 7:38, 7:26, 7:28, 7:12, 7:01.
So I guess I'm happy overall as I did better than my expected time and I guess it's respectable for just having a baby 4 mo ago. 3rd place and a sweet carved wooden plaque (and $25).
I was so proud of Jim for running the entire thing with a nagging sprained ankle! | 