my first 1/2

but most definitely not my last!

I had “fun.”

the weather was P.E.R.F.E.C.T.

I even managed to get sunburned.

the race started promptly at 0900 this morning.

for the first 4 miles it was mostly flat and downhill. I was averaging 8:00 min/mile. I felt great. legs felt awesome. I was doing great at keeping pace.

I turned the corner and saw this….

(pictures of race course were taken post race…I really wasn’t out there all alone!)

the picture doesn’t exactly do it justice, but you can see the top of this hill and yes…we went clear to the top.

I ran up maybe half, and then had to walk. Run…then walk…then run…then walk.

once I topped the hill it turned onto an old two track. from what I’m told this is where the race gets its name. these are probably the longest 3 miles of my life! luckily this year the course was dry. most years its muddy and you’re sliding all over the place.

the course went up and little, then flat, then down a little. and repeated a few times until we came to this.

down a big hill and then up! see the giant hill in the distance. I wanted to cry right then and there!

let the climbing begin. everyone struggle on this one. even when you thought you were to the top….

you turned the corner and had farther to go. I didn’t even bother to see the distance (from bottom to top) of this hill. it was long and steep. that’s all I know!

there were some great views of the wonderful Bighorn Mountains though.

once that hill was topped that was it for the BIG hills. then we started heading downhill.

I got a nice little side stitch coming down this which again forced me to walk. grrr….

the rest of the course was mostly flat or downhill which allowed me to make up some time.

when I hit about mile 11 my calves just didn’t want to go any faster uphills. they were done! (note to self: I think I will try RUNNING with compression socks the next BIG race to see if that helps with calf muscle fatigue.) but I pushed through the pain and tried to finish as strong as my little legs would go.

that’s my “dude! there’s the finish line!" pose.

garmin registered 13.32 miles in 1:57:03
goal accomplished. finish in under 2 hours.
I wish I would have done more hill training. and I think I know right where I am going to start as soon as I get back from my vacation!

remember my whole “I’ve ran 10 miles, what’s 3 more?” mentality? yeah…when there are GIANT hills involved 3.1 is A LOT more!

I was the 5th female to finish. if they broke it down into age groups…I’m think I would have been the 3rd. most of these racers use this as a training run for the 50 miler and 100 miler that goes OVER the Bighorns coming next month. 2 of the top 3 finishers were 40+ years of age and one of them had completed an Ironman. the first female finished in 1:47-ish. so to me…10 minutes behind the leading female is not bad. (the first male 1:36 ish) and a sub 2:00 for my first 1/2 marathon is pretty great. I was talking to a guy after that said his wife has been chasing a sub 2:00 1/2 marathon for a couple years. I’ve only been running for maybe 5 months and I’m happy with my sub 2:00.

Mom and Hubby ran the 3.5 miler. Hubby finished first! they had some issues with the timing chips with him…so we don’t really know what his time was. he timed himself at 31:00, but the timers said 34:00. who knows.

I’d like to say that I will do this 1/2 again, just to see how well I do with these kind of hills again.

now that the 1/2 is out of the way and training for anything can take a back seat because Hubby and I are headed to the Bahamas in 3 days!