I'm Not Alone!! Race Recap

So on to my half... A few posts ago I had mentioned that I was going to run the Long Beach Half Marathon alone and was bummed.  It really wasn't that I was running alone, I ran my first half all by my lonesome it was just the fact that B and I had trained together and found a good rhythm and it would be cool to have the extra support, and the fact that she had to pull out like 5 days before sucked big time.  So like I said I was resigned to the fact that I would be running solo.  The plan was to still stay at CareBears's and do dinner and B decided that she still wanted to come and cheer me on (I know I have great friends)...

So half jokingly we told CB that she should do it and just run as B.  Mind you she does run but only 3-4 miles a few times a week and has never run more than 5 (and that was one time).  She laughed it off then on Friday morning she came back with "WHY NOT!"   What???  "Ya why not what's the worse that  could happen, I don't finish so what at least I tried."  Well ok then!  

So Saturday we all met up at Care's then went out to BJ's for some major carb loading
  Then it was off to bed early it was a 415 am wake up call.   We woke up got ready and had a decent but light breakfast of peanut butter toast.  We did grab a banana to eat along the way.  The race didn't start until 7:30 but the traffic and parking are a bitch on a regular day so we did not want to take any chances on race day.  The good thing, I was able to pre purchase parking so we had a guaranteed space and it was valet too!! Only $12 bucks heck yea.  After we parked we walked over to the starting line and watched the wheelchair racers take off, then we walked around a bit and took pictures.  It was really chilly, perfect for running but when your just standing around waiting not great.  I took the advice of a friend and stopped at the local goodwill and picked up a sweatshirt I could wear until race time then toss it. Paying only $3 I had no guilt tossing it and in the welcome packet it said that any items or clothing left behind or along the race course would be collected and given to charity win win.  

  

Here we are taking silly pictures waiting to start

We were in corral 3 I was really shooting for a finish somewhere in the 2:30's. Our plan was to stay together at least  until about mile 6 then just go with it after that, and I'm so glad we did. It also gave us some great pictures.

       On the bridge with the Queen Mary in the background 

The course was said to be flat, obviously they don't run where I do lol, the first 6 were pretty hilly and part of it was on a freeway on ramp so it curved and tilted funky which made my knee hurt a bit also I felt really tired early on but I think that was because my first 3 miles were at a 10:55 pace and that is faster than I normally run (so much adrenaline out the gate). Right  after we hit mile 6 I pulled ahead I tried looking around for Care but finally at mile 7 gave up and just did my own thing. 

Miles 8-10 were the longest miles EVER!! I just hit a wall then all this negative talk was in my head.  It went something like this..."what the hell am I doing? Why am I doing this again? I've already done it once I should have just crossed it off my list and be done with it.  That's it I'm never doing another one again eff this shit."   Ya longest miles ever (and about a 12:10-13:18 pace)!! and the shitty thing it was probably the easiest part super flat beach path along the water, but I just couldn't find my rhythm.  Finally about mile ten we headed back up to the street and I knew we where looping back to the finish. At that point I knew I only had 3 miles to go and was in a better frame of mind.  So I tried to make up some time and just go with it and just look for the finish line.

I just kept looking and finally turned a corner and saw it Thank Gawd it was downhill I saw Barbie near the finish line and just opened it up and ran like hell!!  My official time was 2:39:01 Holy Crap I shaved more that 12 minutes off my previous race.  And I stayed in the 2:30's.  After making my way through the chute I called B and was hoping to watch Care cross the finish line, but when I finally got a hold of here she told me C had already crossed!!   WHAT??  Yup about 7 minutes behind me... Holy hell.  I caouldnt believe it.  C always likes to say she is a "pretend" runner and that she can look the part but isn't a "real" runner... My answer to that is LIAR lol no pretend runner would take one for the team (as she put it) and run 13.1 miles in 2:46 with no training and on a whim.  You are a runner girl whether you like it or not! 

 

Whew sorry for such a long post but it was a cray cray day.  The rest was spent with a beer or two and some TV!