Pink Half Marathon

Finishing up the last bit of the Pink Half...realizing I have solidified first place!

This picture says it all...tired, relieved, processing...

First place!!  Wahoo!!

I think we need to have a party with some BlendTec smoothies!

I have always loved the Pink Half Marathon and have ran it 3 years in a row. Last year my legs didn't show up and it was a pretty miserable experience...to the point that if a truck had been at mile 7 I would have gladly hopped in to be taken to the finish. This year I was using this race as a training day for Austin that is in 2 weeks ,and was going back for some redemption. I love this course because it is tough! It has some really good uphill sections, is partly on some trail, and is absolutely beautiful...not to add that you are racing close to 7000 feet elevation. And...it is for such a great cause!

I had originally thought I was going to do this as a nice tempo run, but Coach M informed me earlier this week that it needed to be hard and I was racing it. So, it was back to mentally preparing to have a tough race and most likely spend some time in the pain cave. The weather looked like it was going to be questionable and most likely cold. So, I packed my bags with one of everything and prayed for no rain or snow!

I woke up to find no rain but lots of clouds. I grabbed my breakfast: banana with peanut butter and a NOW bar and headed to the race with my awesome mom and friend. We spent some time in a cozy building before loading buses and heading up. I am all about staying as warm as possible before a race. I will gladly load the last bus that is leaving.

Unfortunately they kicked us off the buses 15 minutes before the start and it was pretty cold, but passed the time quickly visiting with those around. As I started running a girl asked me what my goal was. I told her 1:35ish...she said she was doing a 1:30 and the girl in front of us was doing 1:25. I thought those were fast times on this course, but whatever...I was sticking to my original race plan! I turned on my ipod and just ran my race. I have been working really hard at staying out of my head, sticking with a race plan, and not worrying about what everyone else is doing. I stuck by the 1:35 pacer as planned through the first 5 miles which is uphill. I knew staying with him would ensure a good pace through those first uphill miles. At mile 3 I was in 2nd place. At mile 5 I had planned to hit it hard for the next few miles of downhill. I kept 1st place in sight and stayed within the heartrate I wanted so I wouldn't blow up. As I hit mile 7 I started finding landmarks and counting seconds between me and first. There is a mile uphill at mile 10 and I have always walked on this section...not this year! It didn't matter how tired I was...I was not walking one step of this race. I was staying out of my head and just pushing forward. At about 10.5 I knew I was catching the lead girl but just kept my pace. Patience...patience...patience. (Sometimes patience can be hard!) At about 11 I realized she was only 5 seconds in front of me and I knew at this point I was running faster then her and feeling pretty good. I passed her shortly after 11 and decided it was time to take off! Those last couple miles hurt! I wanted to walk! But...this was a training day, I was now in the lead, and this is how I was going to feel in two weeks at the end of the half ironman, this was a race to help me learn to run uncomfortably. And...I stuck with it! I won! I beat my goal by 5 minutes and beat my last year's time by 9 minutes!!! I felt pretty accomplished and was so excited!

I learned a lot today! I learned a lot of patience, perseverence, and staying out of my head!! I am so excited for Austin in 2 weeks and hope to have just as great of a race.

I am so grateful for being able to participate in such a fun sport, for being able to have a body that allows me to experience such beautiful places and being able to do hard things, and more importantly my awesome husband and family that always support me and are my best cheerleaders. Also a big thanks to GU, TriEdge, Flexr, Switch, and Bearpaw...your products always rock and I love using them! And....HT Training....what can I say...LOVE you guys!