Half Marathon #8 is over and done with. Hard to believe last time I did this race, it was only my 2nd half marathon ever. And I could not have been any less prepared for this race. I was totally untrained and completely forgot all forms of Garmin, watches, ipods, trackers of any sort so I also ended up running this race completely blind AND unprepared. Awesome combo, Kinley…good job.
Packet pickup was a huge improvement from 2011 at least – at the Italian Community Center and I walked there after work on Thursday and picked up my packet and left. Kinda felt sad that I was not the least bit interested in the race expo this time when those are normally my favorite things about races but the last thing I wanted to do was spend money on running gear right now. Got my bib and t-shirt and got out of there quick (the t-shirt is horrible btw, seams everywhere, picky and way too tight – one thing 2011 was better with!)
Friday I tried to just lay low and skip my lunchtime walk at work as my “taper” lol! Ended up walking plenty though just from regular things that day. My sister, our friend and I got P.F. Chang’s for dinner and a good carbo-load! That was delicious!! I also managed to be in bed at a reasonable time and fell right asleep – absolutely no tossing and turning like before normal races I am actually nervous and prepared for 
Saturday morning I woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to get ready and… POURING RAIN! Not gonna lie and say that made me super happy. Sprinkles and showers I can handle but this was a literal downpour. But by the time 6am rolled around and it was time for us to head Downtown, the rain had tapered off some so that was promising.
The corral area at the start was an absolute disaster. I was in corral J but still had to go in the southern side of the entrance and walk all the way north on Lincoln Memorial Drive to get to my corral – brainstorm for next year? Half Marathoners go in one side, Quarter in another?!?! Not that hard people. Runners can be some of the slowest walkers I have EVER been around. We stood still for a good 5 minutes waiting to funnel through a 10′ opening. I am no genius but even I could have guessed 9,000 runners do not fit in a 10′ opening – just saying!
Once I got to my corral, it was nice and not crowded so that part I have no complaints with! We got started a few minutes late – I want to say about 10 or so? But once we got moving, there was plenty of room for most of the race (running on the single lane trails later on did get a little crowded but that was maybe a mile or so).
Here we go!
Mile 1: OMG, I can’t do this. Why did I not just stay home this morning. I hate the Hoan Bridge, why do they think this is something fun for us to run up?
Mile 2: Thank God this is down hill for awhile. Love the smell of sewer treatment in the morning!
Mile 3: Oh joy, back up the other side of the bridge. And MORE SEWER TREATMENT SMELLS, YES!!!!!!!
Mile 4: Great, farthest I have ever run in “training” bahaha!
Mile 5: Time for a Gu – these are gross. Man, running is FUN!
Mile 6: Hasta la vista Hoan Bridge! Time for some flatter running and the quarter marathoners are split off now so that’s nice. My sister and A should be around here somewhere, better be on the lookout for them! I wish my dog was here to see 
Half-way there, no problem! I got this!
No Problem!
Mile 7: OMG A HUGE HILL! I want to die. I am never running a race again. I still have how many miles? Man, people are stupid when they cut across a hoard of runners and then just stop and gawk in front of me – I’m not stopping “Hurry Up!” Seriously people, common sense is not rocket science.
Mile 8: Ahhh, some more downhill action. This is nice. Saw a guy with nipple chafing issues and can’t stop laughing and thinking of Andy running in the 5k on the Office.
Mile 9: Trying to text the sister and find out my stupid phone has turned itself to Swype. How the heck did that happen and how can I change it… mile 9.5 still can’t figure it out. Swear and give up trying to fix it and text her about the chaffing.
Mile 10: Wow, my legs hurt. Why didn’t I train. Only a 5k left, no quitting now. At least I hit double digits and it’s still not raining at all! No heat either. Take another Gu and hope that sits OK in my stomach. Hope the sugar kicks in soon…
Mile 11: 2.1 to go. That’s just a walk with the dog. I need to walk more than 1 minute this mile. Maybe I can shoot for half mile walk breaks. Left, right, left, right. Remember Lakefront, you hurt so much worse on this same stretch of road. Just suck it up and be glad this is not a marathon.
Mile 12: 1.1 to go. Almost there. The pain will end soon. The medal looks cool. Man, I really get annoyed by runners to walk backwards and flaunt their completion in my face. Go drink more beer at the finish line and leave me to suffer in peace. Remember last time? They switched the race to black flag at this point. And we have a green flag this year!! Yeah! I’ll try to “pick up the pace” from here in.
Mile 12.75: I want to walk… SO BAD! NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO. Run. Almost. There. SO. Close.
Mile 13: Can see the finish line – 2:22 something on the clock. Ok, time to gun for the finish so you feel like you want to die when you are done. Definitely did not take you that long to run this race. That’s way better than the best case scenario finish times running through my brain all day! And wait? I didn’t cross right away so that’s not even my time! Whoot! Wonder if I will see my sister and A when I cross…. can’t look and sprint!
Mile 13:1 Oh thank you, God! I made it. I didn’t even pass out. I can stop running now… and yet I can’t because then my legs might seize up… oh great. Where’s my medal? Oh, banana, potato chips, chocolate milk? Don’t mind if I do! Oh. Ouch. Walking hurts. Must find a place to sit down.
All in all, this race went FAST? Is that because my last long race was a marathon? It’s weird to me that a half marathon could go fast but this one really did. It’s like I skipped from miles 3-11 in about two seconds. Finding my sis and A after the race was a little challenging but I eventually did and then they took a few finish photos for me and we headed back to the car.
The walk back to the car was a little slow – lol. Guess parking near the race would not have been the end up the world but I was too cheap to pay $5 when I have my parking garage just a mile away 
I don’t really know if I will feel like doing this race again in the near future but I’m glad I have a better taste in my mouth after 2011. Definitely an improvement on most counts. To top it all off, I set a course PR on this race – 2:17:03. Thank you, legs. I’m very sorry
And now any bets on whether I train for the Madison Mini in about two months? Bahahahaha!
