Friday, September 7, 2012

Indy Women's Half- I Wanted SO Much More...But it was FUN



Some of the sights before my phone died!
Downtown Indianapolis is really cool place, I think so at least:) It sorta made me think of Nashville, Tn without the bars. We walked around the downtown area the night before and decided to carb load it up at Buca di Beppo, have you ever been there? It was a very interesting place I felt like I was on an episode of the Soprano's and might have to take cover under the table at any moment, LOL! The food was spectacular and everything is served family style huge portions for everyone to share even the dessert

Look at the size of that thing! Mom made us get the dessert, LOL!

All smiles before & ready to roll!
Sarah, Shalan & Me
The weather ended up cooperating with us as far as the rain goes, HOWEVER it was so crazy SUPER humid at 7am it was 83% humidity and 77*! Thank goodness the sun didn't come out and it stayed cloudy we would have really roasted! I went into this half with a big goal: Finish time of 1:57 or no more than 1:59! My last half was 1:58:30 so I really thought I could do it, I even printed me a pace band to help 8:55 pace I should be able to handle that.....

Miles 1-4:  8:40, 8:34, 8:57, 9:04
There was a little over 1400 women running so it wasn't terribly crowded and we lined up about half way in the middle.  Of course like I always do, I took off like a rocket weaving in & out realizing we should have moved up a little farther about a half mile in I got caught up in all kinds of walkers (I have nothing against walkers just wish they would get closer to the back:). I was feeling good these miles checking the Garmin often seeing I was well above the "goal" pace. I kept telling myself to slow it down but for some reason my legs wasn't listening to my thoughts! I was around two women that seemed to have a good pace going and I felt comfortable so I tried to just stay with them, every time I checked the pace it was around 8:30-8:45 dang it still too fast but I was feeling ok so I just kept on with it!

Miles 5-8:  9:14, 9:52, 10:25, 10:30
Geez it was so stinking HUMID and I was drenched in sweat and burning up wishing I hadn't worn my hat but I didn't want to lose it either and starting to have sinus trouble. I am terrible about not getting water at the beginning stops and waiting until I feel like I just HAVE to have a drink. The first two water stops were just a little before mile 2 & 4, at 5.5mi I was regretting not stopping at least at one of those but there went my thoughts again "The next one should be here in just a few minutes before mile 6, right?!" Nope it was almost at 6.5!! About mile 5.75 I walked~UGGHH! I was still close to the two women I was trying to hang with but I was feeling like I just couldn't go on any farther, I made it a small walk break though. When I finally reached the water stopped of course I walked through it and a little past....ok well maybe a lot past before I began running again. At the half way point I was still on target to finish in "goal" time IF I could keep running and pick up my pace a little. Around mile 8.5 I was just DEAD!

Miles 9-12:  10:42, 11:08, 10:54, 12:38
Yep all that "quickness" in the beginning got me, I was SUPER hot, had a terrible chafe spot under my right arm that was buring like fire, really needed to pee but didn't want to waste any more time to stop and go and I could feel a blister coming on my right big toe! Holy cow I was falling to pieces!! During mile 9 I kept looking at my time trying to calculate if I could still finish in 1:59, of course the answer to that was NO but even if I could hold on to a 10:00 pace it should be just a little over 2:00. I just couldn't do it. I was having the terrible talk to myself saying "you are such a terrible runner, why do you even put these BIG goals on yourself, suck it up and go!!" Then at the 10mi water stop my friend Shalan had caught up with me and nothing against her but that really crushed me I knew I was probably so much ahead of her and then there she went sailing on past me! I was happy for her don't get me wrong I was just mad at myself! We walked through the water stop together and I told her I was just done and ready to be finished and I raised my arm to show her the chafe spot, her reaction showed me it was worse than I thought it was. From that point on I just ran as much as I could and walked lots~UGGHH! I did see one of the women I was originally trying to stay with which was making me feel better.

This was at mile 12~ So READY to be DONE!!
Miles 13-.15:  10:51, 1:25
Oh goodness that was the longest last mile (but isn't it usually!!). Some how I managed to work up enough energy to actually run most of the last mile and completely run the last half mile or so. I crossed the finish line in 2:13:00 by my Garmin, only 16mins off from my "goal" time. The first thing I did was walk straight into the medical tent and ask for something to put on my chafed arm, it hurt BAD! That is the first time also I have ever had to visit the medical tent. I know I went wrong in the beginning by not making myself "slow" down to the 8:55 pace and by letting myself to start walking when I should have just slowed down and keep running but these are lessons I will take with me into the next half in a few short weeks!

Yep shoes off I'm over it!
Overall-
Overall this is really an awesome race. I wasn't too sure if I would enjoy an all women's event you know how it can be when you get a bunch of women together (LOL) but I was pleasantly surprised how friendly everyone seemed to be. The finish area was great serving Chocolate Milk,  Mimosa's, Bloody Mary's and Beer but the fruit and main food was gone by the time we got up there. There was a couple of bands out along the course and several spots that had crowd support, lots of police and volunteers with traffic control which was really nice since we was running in some high traffic areas. The expo wasn't very big with just a few booths but they did have free manicures provided by Paul Mitchell the School and free massages at the expo and after the race although we didn't do either :(  The course was perfect and flat going through the downtown and a couple of residential streets. I look forward to making this an annual event with my girlfriends and hope that more of us will be able to go next year and maybe be able to make a long "Girls Weekend" out of it!!

Still smiling when its all said and DONE!
Stole this photo from FB but the butterfly on top corner is a removable pin~ How cute!

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Oh the heat and humidity. I'm sorry your race didn't go more like you planned it.

I really like that medal...hmmm...Indy for Labor Day next year? I need to put it on my radar.

Courtney said...

sorry it didn't go the way you hoped, but we all have off days. don't let it affect your perspective of yourself, you're an amazing runner!

Clarinda @ Enjoying the Course said...

What an adorable medal! Sorry you had such a bad race. Great attitude, though - learn the lesson and prepare for the next one. :)

Suz and Allan said...

Sorry this race didn't go as you had hoped. The medal looks really neat. That's shocking that the fruit and main food were already gone when you guys finished.