Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Santa Hustle Smokies 1/2 Marathon

On Sunday, December 11 I ran my last "race" of 2011, the Santa Hustle Smokies 1/2 Marathon in Sevierville, TN. This was an inaugural event so I wasn't too sure how organized it would be. After my huge FLOP at the Nashville Half (Read about it HERE) I said I was going to take advantage of the 3weeks leading into the Santa Hustle Half and put in some good training runs along with some hilly runs, BUT DID I??? Of course NOT :? And I knew this going into the race therefore I looked at this event as just for fun for me!

We ended up staying at the host hotel which was the Wilderness of the Smokies, they have an indoor water park should have taken my suit, which is also where the packet pickup was. I really wasn't feeling all that well but didn't say anything about it to anyone. We picked up our packets, checked into our room and headed out the door for some retail therapy at the outlet mall! After a couple of hours of shopping we headed on over to Olive Garden for some YUMMY pasta salad and breadsticks :) We ended up back at out hotel and in the bed by 9:30p.m. ~ look out husbands we are party animals LOL!

Something the race directors wanted (and included) was for everyone to wear the red Santa shirt, hat and beard!

HO! HO! HO!
We wore the full garb for a before photo shot but certainly wasn't and/or couldn't run in a Santa hat and beard!
Me, Sheri, Carmen and Sarah
Aren't we the cutest Santa's EVER?!?!
Miles 1 - 4: I felt pretty good waking up and preparing myself except that I didn't bring anything to eat for breakfast and could only find some cookies in the snack machine, I didn't want to eat too many of them in fear of getting a belly ache while running. I lined up with Sheri in HOPES of being able to stay with her the entire way even though I knew better. Right as we approached the first mile marker a "dude" starting talking with us. "Hey was that the first mile? What kind of pace to y'all have? What kind of goal do y'all have?" Guess he could tell we was buddies :) There was also another girl to the left of me wanting to know the same information. I told both of them they should stay with Sheri, she is a MUCH better pacer than me and I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold the pace for much longer. I felt good these miles and we was pretty well ahead of our "9:09" goal pace. When we reached the 4mile mark I bowed out and told our "group" see everyone at the finish I am out! Even though is was chilly I started out sweating but around mile 4.5 I stopped sweating and got the chills.

Miles 5 - 9: I am so thankful I told myself I was doing this just for fun I was really feeling the effects of NOT training. During these miles I did lots of run/walk at first I would take short 30 - 45 second walk breaks and run at least 5mins or longer. After I reached the turn around I started feeling a little better and was able to run about a mile and a half without walking. Then I was back to run/walk but with longer walks this time. I kept checking my watch and trying to figure out how close to 1:59:59 I could get IF I could just pull myself together and GO! Nice thought anyway remember I am doing this for FUN!

Miles 10 - 13.2: (Isn't it suppose to be 13.1??)Yea by the time I reached mile 10 I was pretty much done for. I told myself several times "its only a 5k left" only the longest 5k ever! I tried my very best to actually run as much of it as I could then I told myself just try to run the entire last mile, well that was out as well....at about mile 12.85 making the last turn to the finish one of the race officials asked me if I was alright, if I needed anything and if I could finish?? Did I really look that bad??

My Finish Stats: Official finish time 2:19:00
Age Division: 35/65
Overall: 384/634
Looks like I was stuck in the middle!
Not my best performance, Not my worst, Not too bad considering lack of training! I felt AWFUL when I did finally finish, my legs hurt, my head hurt, my belly ached and I quit sweating and had the chills.

Overall for a first time event it was very well organized. Will more than likely do it again next year! (With better training :) I would recommend this race to anyone even though it is pretty much just one long hill both ways in/out but with the right training I think anyone could achieve a PR!

Super Thirsty!

Sheri, Sarah & Me -I look super tired UGGHH!


Super Cute Medal!!
I am all about the Medals :)

8 comments:

misszippy said...

Now that's a fun medal! And you guys looked great. Sounds like one to make a tradition, I think!

H Love said...

super fun race. I want to do it just to have pictures in Santa's beard.

Running Librarian said...

looks like fun and great medal!!

Kyria @ Travel Spot said...

That looks like so much fun! I wanted to do one of those, but there were not any near me! Great pics!

Crystal said...

cute medal! love the santa outfits too! :) sorry about your run though.

Clarinda said...

The race really provided the santa outfits? To keep? Being in MN, I bet the hat and beard would be great to run in for a Christmas race to help keep me nice and warm. Unless the beard was super itchy, then no bueno.

Suz and Allan said...

Love that medal! I'll have to see how far that race would be for me. Great job on your race!

Courtney said...

love the medal! great job!