2011 River Run Half-Marathon Recap

I had all these grand goals of treating my body well - good food, lots of sleep, not too much beer. I kind of failed:

Wednesday night: four pints of Oktoberfest, burger & fries for dinner
Thursday: Aaron and I split two pitchers of beer, and I ate pizza & wings for dinner
Friday: BBQ for dinner followed by two beers out and then splitting a 150ml of Rare Vos at home

And not nearly enough sleep!

Saturday's food choices were better, at least: grilled chicken salad for lunch, one latte and no caffeine after that, spaghetti (no meat) for dinner with one beer. I think I was asleep by 11 or 11:30 and then up around 5.

Before I went to sleep, I had gathered everything I needed for the race - Power Bar for breakfast, clothing, gels, Spi Belt, iPod, Garmin, hat, etc. - so I didn't need to do much in the morning aside from wash my face, put in my contacts, brush my teeth and get dressed. I ate most of the Power Bar before the race, but I have trouble eating an entire one for some reason. The dishrag texture doesn't help, I guess.

We arrived at Rocky River High School around 6:30, which gave us time to pin on our bibs and get to the bus for transportation to the starting line. The River Run is a point-to-point race, and the high school is nearer to the finish line. It took FOREVER to get to the starting line, and we both had to pee. Aaron eventually took advantage of being a man and peed outside, but I still had to wait for the Port-o-Potty.

While waiting for the restroom, I saw our friends from Pittsburgh, so it was nice to see them prior to the race. Once I was done, it was almost time for the race to start. We found our running group and started with them.

I felt good. The first 6 or 7 miles went well. I ran with one of the coaches. She took a bathroom break at mile 6 and ran the rest of the way with another girl in the group - that meant I was on my own for the second half of the race. Honestly, I kind of needed someone because I started fading. The second half - especially the last quarter - was tough. I kept moving forward, only walking through water stops. I did a gel at 5, Gatorade at 8, and another gel at 11. Aid stations were every two miles, which was awesome and I definitely took advantage of them.

I remember at mile 10 seeing that I was at 1:45. I was so excited knowing that I could do 12-minute miles for the rest of the way and get to my 2:30 goal. I had pretty much stopped looking at my watch by that point because my pace was depressing me. I'd held a 10-minute pace during the first half, and watching it slip was too hard. I actually held fairly steady and finished with 2:19:45!

Under 2:20! Officially I had a 10:40 pace, but the course, of course, was a little long. According to my Garmin, I had a 10:30 pace. Who cares?! I finished in under (barely) 2:20, and I got this: