Race Report: Lake Country Half Marathon

As I think I mentioned in a previous post, I signed up for this as a training run race. I was scheduled for 18 miles, so I figured I'd warm up and cool down and smash a half marathon in the middle. When I signed up, the course looked gorgeous - it was supposed to go all around Lac LeBelle - and there was no time limit, so I didn't feel like I'd have needed to push it.

All that kind of went out the window with my weird August. AND they jacked the course all up due to a whole lot of road construction in the area. So I wasn't really "gearing up" for this at all. The race wasn't even really on my radar until that week. So I wasn't stressed out about it, or prepared for it either. (I bought my race capris on Thursday before a Saturday race).

Friday I drove up to the "Expo." I use that word ridiculously loosely - I was hoping for an expo, but when it was all said and done, I drove an hour and twenty minutes each way for packet pickup. There was NOTHING there. Irritating. But I was still glad I went, because I got the chance to figure out exactly where I needed to be before actual race day (I stress about that). And James took a nap in the car. SCORE!

So after much discussion, we decided that I'd drive up early separate, and John would bring the kids up later and they'd see me at the finish line. I knew the drive home was going to suck, but dragging everyone out of bed after the first full week of school at 4 am would suck worse. I got everything ready and had my favorite pre-race meal of a steak grilled stufft burrito and a double decker taco supreme from Taco Bell. DON'T JUDGE! I have no idea why, but I ALWAYS have my best runs after eating this combo. I say, go with what works!

I actually made it to bed early and slept well. I headed out the door on race morning right on schedule after eating toast with dark chocolate dreams peanut butter and brought a cup of coffee to go. I brought every possible combination of stuff, because it was COLD! Like 47 degrees when I left cold. LOVE IT!

I made it up there with no issues and managed to hit the bathrooms twice before race time. I laughed at the volunteer trying her hardest to get the 40 women in line for the indoor bathrooms to use the porta-potties outside. We all kept looking at each other and rolling our eyes - who uses porta-potties when a bathroom is available?!? I went back to the car and ditched my jacket (I had waffled back and forth 50 times on whether or not to run in it) and headed for the start.

The start line was on the side of a grassy hill behind the church. It was windy and chilly, but we only had to wait a few minutes before they started. I had put myself pretty far back, still unsure of what to expect from myself. Once we started running, I was really really glad to have ditched my jacket - the weather was perfect without it.

The first few miles flew by. The race had almost more water / gatorade stops than necessary - I never felt like I needed one, and towards the end, I even skipped one. It was a mostly flat course with a few rolling hills thrown in. The running was very uneventful - I felt REALLY good, so for 11 miles or so, I ran all but the water stops. I am incapable of drinking very fast or drinking while running, so I walked all of them, taking both gatorade and water at each. By about mile 5 I was chatting with a woman named Jill who'd been pacing me without knowing it, hehe. She is a power walker, and was walking super steady at between an 11 and 11:30 pace the whole time. We got to know each other, and the middle miles FLEW. I now know the benefit of a running buddy - besides pacing each other, having someone to visit with takes your mind off the chore at hand. It was so fun to chat with her!!

I paused at mile 10 to let my husband know where I was - I'd been going so steady I was nervous he'd miss my finish! And after my finish in Chicago, I didn't want that to happen...but he was right on schedule and then kept texting me encouragement. Since I fell behind Jill (I was walking a bunch at the end) I really needed that! At mile 12, I realized that if I JUST KEPT RUNNING (even slowly) I could PR without even pushing it. So I did! I kept on running, even tho my form was kind of falling apart, and then I rounded the corner to the finishers chute and saw my family. They were all yelling and cheering for me, and my 3 older kids started running with me. My Julia fell behind, but Jenna and Jack ran me all the way across the finish line. I felt SO GOOD!!!! It was seriously the best feeling ever.

Official time: 2:35:21

In a super speedy group (even with no time limit) that was only good for 12/14 Athenas and 835/899 overall. But that didn't matter to me at all. I was so so happy with this race. It has given me back a lot of the confidence that August had taken from me. And for that, I am extremely grateful.