Race Report: South Shore Half Marathon

The quick and dirty? I did not make my goal time of 2:20, but I DID PR significantly, with a finish time of 2:22:49 (a more than 12 minute PR). YAY! Now the details...

This is a very no-frills race run by the Badgerland Striders, a huge running organization in Wisconsin. Let me say right off the bat, they put on a great event! There was no medal and no swag outside of a pair of gloves every runner got, but for under $15, I thought it was a fantastic race on a beautiful course.

The night before was insane at my house. Julia had Daisy Scouts after school, Jack had his first school sanctioned 4th grade basketball practice, and Jenna had hr first junior high dance (SOB!!). Add to that our friends who were recently made a one car family and needed chauffeuring, and let's just say, it was a crazy night. Since we had guests, I made guacamole and proceeded to eat entirely too much of it. Add to that pizza, and let's just say pre-race fueling really wasn't on my mind. I can assure you, it was most definitely on my mind later that night and the next morning. Oh how I'd come to regret those choices...

I did manage to get to bed relatively early, and I was out like a light. I was carpooling with Kim and some friends from the running club, and Kim was kind enough to pick me up, so I didn't have to worry about directions at all, I just needed to get myself ready. I had a couple cups of coffee to get things moving, and a bowl of cheerios. I dropped some lemon lime nuun in a bottle of water and I was good to go.

The weather was perfection. Overcast, even a bit foggy to start, and around 40 degrees. I wore capris, a longsleeved tech tee, and a fleece vest. I wore my new adrenaline 10s (the 11s need more breaking in) and my new balega socks (LOVE!!). I used liberal body glide on my bunion blister and hoped for the best.

We got our bibs easily, and got to hang out inside a heated building (with indoor bathrooms) until race time. All told, the race had 929 finishers, a pretty good-sized turnout. I opted to pin my bib to my pants, which I ended up loving - I completely forgot it was even there (I am forever catching my thumb on my bib when it's pinned to my shirt). Go-time was 8:30, and with a bit more than a half an hour to go, we used the facilities one last time, and I THOUGHT I was good to go.


(I shamelessly stole Kim's photos - my family didn't show up til later, and anyhow, he forgot the camera, just like I told Kim he would.)

I started pretty near the back of the pack with a girl from the club who runs a very similar pace to mine. I can't emphasize enough who NICE it was to run WITH someone. It was a first for me in a race, and I really really enjoyed the company. We ran together all the way until mile 11 or so, when I started to lose it and needed walk breaks. It took us a minute or 2 to cross the start, and immediately, I noticed that my watch was jacked up - I'd started it inside the building, and it got confused. I had to turn it off and start it up again, and it took a bit for it to locate satellites. Grr.

The course was very hilly - constant rollers that aren't horrible but they don't stop. I felt really strong throughout the first half, even WITH all the hills. I was aiming for a pace between 10:30 and 10:40, and for the most part, we were in range of that. We varied a bit depending on whether we were going uphill or downhill...

mile 1ish: 10:48
mile 2ish: 10:23
mile 3ish: 10:53
mile 4ish: 10:19
mile 5ish: 10:15
mile 6ish: 10:31
mile 7ish: 11:07 (gu)

Up until now, I was only walking water stops (there was water and gatorade at each of 5 stops)and drinking 1 cup of each at every stop. At the mile 6 stop I took my first gel, and the next stop was soon after (the same stop again after the turnaround). I thought about a potty stop but wasn't sure I needed it then. About a half mile later I was regretting NOT stopping. And I knew I had to get to mile 10 before I reached the next port-o-potty. Miles 7-10 were spent concentrating on not having an accident. Seriously. I got super quiet, and my running buddy just kept checking on me every once in a while and letting me set the pace. We made it to the rest stop, and she hung back and waited for me, which was WAY above and beyond in my book. I was thankful for that...

mile 8ish: 10:33
mile 9ish: 10:33
mile 10ish: 12:23 (potty)

I never really recovered after that. I felt good for about a mile, but then I RAN OUT OF GAS. It was kind of sad. But I thought maybe I needed another gel (I made the mistake my first half of underfueling because I was afraid of what my stomach would do) so I stopped to take that and sent my running buddy on. I was happy to see they added another water stop between miles 11 and 12, which happened to come up for me right after the gel - I was feeling really thirsty now, and the water helped to wash down the gel.

Unfortunately, my stomach kept randomly cramping up on me. It just was not happy. Fortunately, Kim had finished (PR'd too - yay!!), and she and another woman found me at mile 12.5 or so and ran me in (way too much walking was happening then - I was feeling defeated, and their push was EXACTLY what I needed to keep moving).

mile 11ish: 10:01
mile 12ish: 10:54
the last bit: 9:15

I did manage to kick it in at the end. I saw my parents just before heading down the chute, and my Daddy snapped a couple picks (one on the way in - you can see just how gorgeous it was there - and one after I was all finished).


So with the exception of my gross stomach issues (all of my own doing - stupid idiot) I am really happy with how this went. I have been having ZERO stomach issues during training, which is why I'd blown off worrying about it much - lesson learned. My gear held up well, and my foot never hurt (even though my blister skin was kind of "loose" afterwards) despite getting THAT foot (of course) really wet early on in part of the course that was a bit flooded. I was a little sore later, but feel really good today, and I'll likely run again tomorrow.

One last Kim photo that my hubs took for us (with her camera) before we all went home...


And that's that. Race number one of 2011 is officially done. I'm hoping to do even better in May...I think that without my potty stop, I might have made my goal.