2013 Strawberry Plains Half Marathon:::: Recap & Review

.:race details:.  

date: saturday february 9th
race day pick up? yes. you could pick up your packet the morning of the race or the night before at Academy Sports + Outdoors in Knoxville.
start time:  9 am [the 10k also started at 9am]
did race start on time? yes
adequate restrooms?  i didn't need the restrooms so i don't really know. there were bathrooms inside the school and also portopotties outside
aid stations:  i think there were about 6. the race is a T shaped course and the second and third time we passed the intersection they had Gu gels. The rest had water and gatorade [except one time when we went through they were out of gatorade].
course spectator support: there weren't many spectators along the race but the volunteers and  even the police officers were all very friendly and encouraging. 
course terrain:  all paved, a couple of large hills. all out in the country though, it was beautiful. 
shirts:  long technical shirts. i was honestly a little disappointed in the shirts. last year they were so pretty, i loved the design and color. I'm not sure what was up with the donkey being the theme of the race. There were some donkeys on the course but a lot of other animals too. Maybe next year it'll be chickens instead. Even with the donkey though, I think a colored shirt would have looked better. 

medals:  the donkey rears its ugly head again. it's not my favorite medal, but it is quite unique. 

would i race again?  yes 
any complaints? other than the shirts, not really. 
what you need to know:  parking is a little tricky, so get there early. i had to park on the side of the road, which was fine because it's not a high traffic area, but make sure you're not going to get blocked in. also, this course does not allow headphones [they will not give you your medal if you're caught wearing them!]


.: my race :.
chip time:::: 2:33:41

i drove to knoxville on friday to pick up my packet and do some shopping. i got a hotel room on the strawberry plains exit and it worked perfectly. i had a 20 miler on the schedule so i got up and ran 7 miles on the treadmill at the hotel. then i changed and packed up my stuff to head to the race. 

dawn and i were hoping to run into each other and we did right before the race. [ps-- she's running 30 half marathons before she turns 30, how awesome is that?!] this race does not allow headphones, so we started out together, chatting as we went. isn't it crazy how you can meet someone for the first time but have so much to talk about? i've never talked that much while running, but it did keep me aware of my breathing and made the time fly by. it was also great to get to know her better. 

we saw a lot of animals during the race:  dogs, horses, goats, chicken, donkeys, cows, and a little dog even ran with us for a little while. dawn got this pic of me with our little friend!

we walked some of the big hills and tried to make up the time lost by running a little quicker on the downhills. she wanted to break 230 and i'm sad that i didn't get her there, but i have a feeling she'll get it at her next one! 

dawn's husband took this one after the race, isn't that sweat stripe so flattering?

all in all, a successful saturday/long run. thanks to dawn for being a great running buddy!

i also ran this race last year, if you'd like to check out that recap you can find it here. 

Get Your Good On!

today was one of those walking on sunshine days. you know what i'm talking about? 

it's my last day of my working streak [i have the next five days off], which is always reason for celebration. not that i don't like my job [because i love it] but i also love sleeping past 5am. 

after work i treated myself to some new workout clothes. saturday is the halfway point (6 weeks) of the training plan i've been doing and i've not missed a single workout. hard work = lululemon, right? 

not only did i find three super cute tops, i got to spend some time talking to the amazing ladies that work in the showroom, alex and lindsay. alex has a yoga blog called Yoga for Awesomeness so go give her some love! the asheville marathon will be lindsay's first full marathon too, so we're going to try to run together sometime. 

i'm also excited because alex is teaching a complimentary yoga class at a local gym [hard exercise works] on tuesday and i'm off so i'm going to check it out! so i met some great girls, made plans to workout and got some beautiful new shirts!

the blue middle shirt and the black shirt on the right are actually the same [turbo tank], i loved it so much that i couldn't just get one. i've learned my lesson with lulu. if you like it buy it because it probably won't be there if you decide to go back and get it! the one on the far left is a no limits tank. love them all and only wish i could wear them all day everyday. 

from lulu i headed over to manna food bank. this is something i've been really excited about! i decided to start volunteering again (i haven't since pharmacy school!) so i attended orientation. we got to learn a lot about hunger in WNC and what manna is doing to eradicate it. i signed up for this about 2 weeks ago and have really been counting down the days. i'm really ready to get involved and hopefully i'll be able to get started next week! 

tomorrow i'm heading to KY... i'm staying with my parents tomorrow night then heading on to louisville to see some of my bests for shannon's bachelorette party!  i can't wait to see everyone and have some fun [although i'll probably be regretting it come sunday morning].

have a great weekend!!!

Flying Pig Half Marathon:::: #4 of 12 in 2012

flying pig half marathon, cincinnati ohio

half mary # 5

race# 4 of 12 in 2012

time:  2:16:25 (PR)

division:  408/1116

gender: 2125/6772

expo:

The race expo was Friday and Saturday and it was the largest expo I've ever attended. If you want to read more specifics you can check out this post. There were tons of volunteers which was really nice. There were really long lines for all the booths that had free samples. We got tech shirts, posters, and duffel bags (all really nice).

race morning:

Traffic was pretty crazy on the Ohio side of the river. Luckily Brad's parents live in Cinci and are pretty used to it. We decided to park on the Kentucky side of the river (AKA the better side!) and walk over. That worked pretty well. I had my standard Clif bar and some G2. We arrived around 6am (race time at 630am). You'd think that would be plenty of time but it totally wasn't. I was hoping to see Jill and my friend Becca before the race (it was Becca's first half!!), but that didn't happen.  I got to my corral (pigpen) and the bathroom line was RIDIC.

Not happening. I could have stayed and went (chip timing) but I didn't want to have to bob and weave more than I was already going to have to.

the race:

I felt prepared for this race. Ready for the hills. Hoping for a PR.

Prepared but not super confident. I had an A goal. One that I shared with NO ONE. Super secret.

And my B goal was 2:20.

This was the first half that I've done that I ran with someone I knew (my friend from home, Jill).  Oddly enough, we had never ran together before. It worked out a lot better than I'd hoped. She is a little faster than me but she wanted me to pace her, she usually goes out too fast.

Here were are within the first half mile of the race. I was a little stressed trying to maintain a good, steady pace. I REALLY wanted to catch up to the 2:15 pace group, but that never happened. They started from the E corral and I never saw them again. [Side note:  I registered WAY early for this race and plugged in the only finish time I had-- 2:32. I could have/should have/wished I'd been in the E corral].

I felt really good throughout the race and Jill and I did well staying together until about mile 6 or so. We were going up a hill and she found a new gear! I walked for a minute, got my legs back then started back up.

The other races I've done have been more rolling hills. You get a little up, you get a little down. My strategy to this point has been to walk uphill if I need to, then run down. This course was different because the uphill wasn't steep, but it was pretty consistent over about 3 miles. I ran most of it but took a few walking breaks when I needed. Maybe one day I'll actually run an entire half! ;)



Anyways, I was really pumped up at the halfway point. My legs were getting a little tired and I was worried I'd emptied my tank by running some of those hills, BUT I was right on pace for a sub 2:15. Anytime I felt like slowing down I just repeated my mantra, "HUSTLE HARDER." I also used 'dig deeper' a couple times.

 

 

The crowd support at this race was amazing. This was my favorite sign and I thought it was pretty funny that Brad picked it out and got a picture of it too! I love me some Luke Bryan and I thought this was the sweetest sign ever. HINT HINT Brad! Some others:

My mother in law made this hot pink "C" for me and it says 'Go Courtney Go!' It was super sweet of her to make (this is my father in law carrying it) and it was also great because they held it up while they were in the crowd. I could always pick them out when I was running up to them throughout the course!

 

There were so many people out cheering us on, so many great signs and well staffed water stations. There was no GU supplied on the half course which I thought was odd for a race this size. Best moment of the race? A group of girls had taken those tube popsicles and cut them in half and were handing them out. BEST POPSICLE EVER!!! I grabbed one and Jill and I killed it!

 

As I came to the end of the race I was getting super excited. I totally had my sub 2:15!!! The weird thing was, as my watch hit 13.1 I STILL COULDN'T SEE THE FINISH LINE?!?! WTH?  So of course I started getting super frustrated, but I kept running.

 

So what happened? The course was long. My watch said 13.46 when it was all said and done. Everyone else I talked to said the same thing. I was PISSED.  I met up with Jill, she finished a minute or so in front of me. There was a lot of different food out for racers, but they didn't have any bags for us so it was kind of dumb. There was no way to carry stuff, I ended up dropping half of what I picked up. They had cold Gogurt, which was a good idea. No chocolate milk (bummer) and believe it or not I made it thru the whole chute without getting a water. Not cool.

 

I found my family and we loaded up to go to brunch. Brad, his parents, and his cousin and her husband all came out to support me which was really nice! We had an amazing brunch in KY after the race... I had french toast with fresh berries, chocolate drizzle and powdered sugar! YUM!

 

 

When I saw my final time for this race my initial reaction was disappointment. Then I had a come to Jesus with myself and decided I needed to get over it. I was being a turd. I reminded myself of all the things I should be thankful for, and I got over it.

 

Besides, I'm totally going to get that sub 2:15 eventually!

 

After brunch we went home to shower and Brad took a long nap. He'd had a tough day ;)

 

(This was in the AM before the race). While he was napping I met up with Jill, who organized 12 in 2012! We had been trying to meet up all weekend but we kept missing each other. We met at Starbucks and chatted for a while. It was so great to meet her and her beautiful family!

I stole this picture from Jill!

 

All in all it was a great weekend and I would definitely run the Pig again.

 

I wanted to give a big shoutout to my friend Becca who rocked her first half at the pig!!! She's already got the bug and I'm hoping we can do a race together later this year!

Run The Bluegrass 2012::: Race Review

Race #2 of 12 in 2012

Two weekends ago (I am such a procrastinator) I ran two half marathons in two days. On Saturday March 31st I did the Run the Bluegrass Half Marathon in Lexington, Kentucky. 

Our basketball team had a huge game against U of L to advance to the Final Four so I experimented with iron on letters and made what I thought was a pretty bad ass shirt!

Brad was my official photographer, so I actually have some pictures from the race!

My thoughts going into this race we all about getting through it fairly conservatively so that I would be able to walk/run the next day. I had heard horror stories about the hills so I was nervous but I was excited to be racing in Kentucky and I was super excited to meet several blog friends!! 

I picked up my packet the morning of the race and was REALLY pleased with the shirts. Nike Dri Fit and women sizes!!

The temperature was perfect for running, cool and a light mist. The race started right on time [with George "Bucky" Sallee playing the bugle like he does at Keenland!!!] and sure enough, there were plenty of rolling hills [the Asheville Citizen-Times Half was way worse though]. I quickly adopted a walk the hills, run the rest plan. 

The course was BEAUTIFUL! Horse farms, bluegrass, beautiful homes, horses everywhere... LOVED it. The course support was amazing and there were plenty of water stops.

Around mile 10 I realized that I was way ahead of my normal time, so I decided to bust it and try to get a new PR. Brad was waiting for me at the finish line and got these pics:

Starting to kick and this guy in the yellow came up and was trying to pass everyone!

Time to dig down deep!

I'm not usually this competitive but I did not want to let him beat me!

I'm too busy trying not to die sprinting to smile!

Not smiling now, is he?!? CHICKED!

I might look like a hot mess in these pics, but I was not about to let him beat me!! 

FINISH TIME:  2:22:25 **NEW PR**

Overall:  1039 of 1500 (69%)

Age Group:  94 of 146 (64%)

I am SO PROUD of my new PR. Couldn't be happier! 

After the race we were in a huge hurry (I didn't even have time to shower before we had to pack up to head to Knoxville to pick up my packet for the Covenant Health Half Marathon) but I did get some ice cold chocolate milk and of course my medal. 

This is by far my favorite medal so far!!! I love the blue and white ribbon and the horseshoe! 

I would definitely run this race again, I'll actually be really sad if I don't get to next year! I was originally supposed to run with my friend, Becca, but a foot injury sidelined her. Next year I hope we can run together!!

The organizers did a great job with this race and I'd recommend it to anyone looking for a challenging but beautiful course!!

Showing off my awesome double pouch iFitness belt. This thing is a lifesaver and truly the best running belt I've ever used. iFitness is sponsoring 12 in 2012 and gave us all single pouch belts. I bought the double right before my first half. 
I love both belts but like the single for long training runs and the double for long races. Just because it holds more and I like to have my phone to take pictures!