The Puppy Pacer: Not My Normal Sunday Long Run!

Hey there, Race Fans! As noted yesterday, the Half is FINISHED and I had a BLAST!! That doesn't mean there weren't hard moments, but it does mean the overall experience was fab-u-lous! Here's the recap; it's longer than most posts but so was the run. Ready? Here we go!

Pre-Race: I cannot tell you my relief to wake up on race day and see that it wasn't going to rain on us! In truth, I'd resigned myself to rain (believe it or not) given the complete and utter downpours and lightening situations the day before. I had reason to be nervous that this event would be cancelled, and I lost quite a bit of sleep the two nights prior -- one night for the storms, one night for nerves. But, here we were race day morning, and we were good to go!

Mostly clear skies as the sun was coming up! It was nearing 70
degrees and pretty humid already *gulp!* but we were all good
to go!! See the Arch back there? We had great scenery!

Ah, yes, it started early!! On the way to the starting corrals,
look what I already found! This had the promise of a great day!

There we are! I'm not sure any of us was fully awake, but it was
cool to be down by the start and soak in the atmosphere. There
is quite a buzz at such an event, and it's really awesome!

Getting ready: When we registered, we indicated our anticipated finish time, and, in doing so, we were assigned start corrals. Look in the middle of the picture, and you see the blue starting line. There were 15,000 registrants there!

I was in corral D which you would think would be more on the
relaxed side of things (um, none of us are going to win, so that
burden is lifted ...). I was having a bit of a time, though, as I
listened to a lady in front of me making it very clear to a friend
of hers behind me, "I can't wait for you. I just can't." I was
thinking, "Um, you do know you're in corral D ... it only goes
up to E ... chill a wee bit!" It was an odd sense of adamancy
from her outcome that I've grown not to expect in my race
placement. Or, maybe I'm just a dork about it who thought
it was more fun to get free samples and take pictures with
our shuttle driver at the Expo than to investigate shoes and
gels. We have our own goals, I get it, but be supportive, people!
Especially of your friends!! Not to mention, someone in the
corral passed gas ... it's not an animal corral. Come on!

Clearly, I do not adopt the game face as one of my priorities
this go around was to take some pictures! Here I am right
out of the starting line, and I took the following picture:

Look in the middle, and you'll see my blue-shirted Pit Crew!
I love the whole of this picture seeing everyone looking for
someone. Those people along that fence really, really matter!
Those of us who run get all of the attention, but these people
are just as invested and matter just as much!!

Miles 1 and 2:

There we go cruising along! See me?

There I am!

I am here to tell you that we rounded a corner and before even
hitting the second mile, ba-da-bing! Oh yes, I stopped to get them
and maneuvered my camera to take this all in motion. See?
My training for this very moment paid off, too! You need to be
prepared for all kinds of situations, you know.

Miles 3-5: So, there we were trotting along on our way to Mile 3 when in the lane on the other side of the median (which is where we would loop to Miles 4 and 5) we saw the first marathoner coming down the lane. In other words, he'd already done what we were doing and was doing so at about a 5-minute/mile pace. Woah!! (I think he not only Boston qualified, but I'm pretty sure he beat the pants off of me. Just sayin'.)

But, did he get pictures of the sites?! I did! Keep going!

Okay, so there was a neighborhood contest sponsored by the
event -- the most spirited neighborhood group could win money
toward neighborhood revitalization. This group has a reputation
for their pajama party! It was pretty cool and a good payoff for
just having run up a steep hill to get to them! I took a couple of
shots of the group and found out later one of the participants was
in a Speedo and robe. Yeah, I deleted that. This was at Mile 3.

We ran a street that went in between the Budweiser brewery
buildings, and at the end was one of the Clydesdales! Isn't it
beautiful? Would it have hurt it any to have given me a lift
to the finish line? That would have been a Boston qualifying
time for sure! (Ha!)

It was right around Mile 3.5 that I came up on a woman who I could tell was struggling. She was part of a marathon relay team (I believe each leg is 6.5 miles), and she looked just fine physically. But, I could hear it. I heard the same breathing I had in my first couple of races. Shallow, short and choking back tears. I looked at her and told her she was doing great. She said, "No. I'm not. I can't believe I already had to stop. I was so proud of myself last week because I'd run the whole distance without stopping, and I couldn't do it today." Without trying to invalidate her feelings, I reminded her of the adrenaline rush we all had at the start (the one we have to figure out how to manage because it can really overrun your mental plan). I reminded her that it was humid as heck out and none of us have had the opportunity to train in it because it's not been around. And, I told her what she was doing was amazing no matter when she finished. I then told her I would shut up so as not to annoy her. She thanked me for the encouragement, but I wanted to give her her space, so I told her I would be rooting for her, and I went on my way.

I have so been there with my tears in my throat. That makes running very, very difficult.

Mile 6-7: So, things are going along just swimmingly as I crossed Mile 6 except I realized my pace was at my 10K pace which is a minute-per-mile too fast for a Half if I want to finish the Half in one piece and without it being mental torture to finish at all. Going too fast will defeat the last half of the run, and that's just not worth it. So, I slowed myself down a wee bit, regrouped and all was well!

Things were so well that this picture was taken by -- you know
it -- The Pit Crew! They found me just after Mile 6! What a
great surprise!! I didn't yet know they were there because I
was taking a picture of this:

That hill doesn't look like much, but the entire length of almost
two miles was like that. We'd just come over the top of what I
thought was going to be the end (see the down part of the hill?
Yay!). Then, I looked ahead. More up! Eeks!! I channeled my
inner voices to liken these hills to ones I'm used to, and it totally
worked! It didn't make it fun, but it made it very doable!

I wasn't the only one on the run at this point! Just after seeing
me, a Pit Crewer needed a pit stop! Aaron snapped it as they
walked back to wherever they were going.

Miles 8-9: I cannot be more honest when I say I simply do not remember these miles. Right after I took the picture above of the crowd in front of me, I heard a woman tell her running partner, "Mile 8 is the worst one." I know for certain I never saw the 9-mile marker. Frankly, I'm not sure I saw the one at 8. These are the miles -- just past the middle but still a way to go -- even on training runs, where I must space out entirely.

Mile 10: It was hitting this mile marker where I felt checked back in to the run. This is the point where I know many, many runners start telling themselves, "Just a 5K left. Just a 5K left." I am pretty sure I was doing the same thing until I was happily distracted by the onlookers who brought these signs:

Loved that one!

That made me laugh. The dude did, too.
He was very enthusiastic!

And, my favorite. In fact, when I saw this one, I literally doubled
over giggling. As I was taking her picture, I told her, "That is
awesome. You suck a little bit for making us laugh, but it was
totally worth it." She got a big kick out of it. Everyone wins!

Oh, and right after the signs, guess what? There was a beer sample offered to us! Beer? Then? Really? Forget the fact that I hate beer .. is that what you want in the middle of this thing? I can understand at the end, but ... (You can see it in the picture with Mr. Enthusiasm.) Anyway, here was the other sweet spot of this stretch:

Turn around and head to the finish!! Just three point one more ...
And, yes, it's crooked. I was feeling a little crooked here ...

Miles 11-13: Through the euphoria of hitting Mile 10 (knowing the finish is within reach), the grind really starts here for me. It's that so-close-but-so-far-away feeling. But, pushing through that feeling and carrying on is what brings about this:

Mile 13.1: