whoah whoah. brace yourselves people. i think this post has the most writing in jayAdores history. but i love talking about running, so that is probably why.
ya know how i said i had no time goals for my trail half mary? that was the best decision EVER. i had SO much fun running on saturday and i seriously just love this race. i ran the SLOWEST half marathon i have ever run (minus when i ran this race last year and got lost for 2 miles..i just don’t count that one), but given my lack of training and the gnarly (and plentiful) hills and trails and rocks and mud, i really don’t care too much. all other races i run throughout the year are road races and because i know those are easier to PR on, i try harder. does anyone else not try as hard when you know it’s a course you can’t PR on?
reis’ good friend christian and i ran together on saturday morning, but he is mr. speedster and left me in his dust. i ate half a kid’s clif z-bar before the race and that was perfect because i hate eating anything when i run in the morning. the weather was absolutely perfect: it rained a little bit, it was cool, breezy, and cloudy. awesome blossom. the course was gorgeous. and au nauturale. i dodged a crapload (literally) of horse and cow manure the entire course. the hills and rocks were pretty insane. it flattened out mid-course, but only for a couple miles. i walked A LOT which i never normally do in races, but it felt more like a “rigorous hike” at some points. it’s pretty crazy too – the herd of runners thins out mid-run and at times you feel like you are completely by yourself in the mountains! they had about 4 or 5 aid stations along the trails and they were awesome. the volunteers were great and so friendly and they gave out this really good electrolyte drink that i swear gave me a second wind with every swig. i carried clif shotbloks with me and only ate one square. when i am running, eating anything sounds so unappetizing so i had to force it down. who knows if it helped. probably not.
(i gave reis my camera to take pics of us and when i went to look through his shots, i became pretty convinced he has a man-crush on christian. he took a billion of christian and he told me it was to test the lighting and the settings so he could get good ones of me when i came in. sure…)
in every race i run, i usually experience an “oh-my-gosh-i-hate-this-so-much-and-running-sucks” moment that goes away the second i cross the finish line, but i didn’t come anywhere near that on saturday. which translates into: i didn’t push myself. i wasn’t even sore on sunday. now i kinda wish i tried harder. but oh well, i’ve decided this race will be my “fun run” every year! i finished around 2:18, which according to athlinks.com is about 26 minutes longer than my average half mary time. (p.s. is anyone else as obsessed with athlinks.com as much as i am? i am too lazy to write down all my times and so its like my favorite thing. it categorizes all of your races and times and tells you your PR for each distance you run..so cool!)
reis says he feels lame always being a “running groupie” at my races, so i am trying to convince him to actually run one with me. too bad the only sports he will participate in have to involve the ocean. but then again, i love having my own personal race photog. $40 for official race photos? ya no thanks. overall, this race was awesome and fun and beautiful and just reminded me why i love running. i am already super stoked on my next half mary in a few weeks!
