Race Recap - OBX Half Marathon

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to get Ashley up and ready for her cheerleading competition. We had to be in Knightdale by 8:00am (I am going to reserve my comments about the competition for another post...especially how poorly it was run for the second year in a row), so that meant leaving the house by 7:15am. I wanted Ashley to have a good breakfast, so I made scrambled eggs and cereal for her.

I stayed at the competition until after Ashley's squad performed. I headed out a little before noon and got Chick-fil-a on the road. After a 15 minute stop at a drawbridge, I was at the expo around 3:45pm. I met up with my roommates for the night, got my gear and shopped for about 2 seconds (got a fitness belt and a new hat) and we headed to the hotel to check in. After that was dinner at the Tomato Patch in Corolla, then back to the hotel for bed. I think we were in bed by 9:00pm, which was good considering we had the alarm set for 5:00am.

I did not sleep well which was expected. We were up and at the start by 6:30am for the 7:00am start. It was about 50 degrees, perfect weather. I was in shorts, short sleeved shirt, and my arm warmers. I tossed a sweatshirt at the start.

I really, really wanted 2:05. But I also decided I would see how I felt the first few miles. I am a wuss, this was my first race I was running by myself. My last two half marathons I did with friends and ran with them the entire time.

Mile 1 - 9:11
Mile 2 - 9:28
Mile 3 - 9:18
I felt pretty good through these miles, although by the end of mile 3, I was getting unexpectedly tired early. I decided to take my Gu. I also fought through some side stitches and I really need to figure those out.

Mile 4 - 9:30
Mile 5 - 9:23

I had decided after mile 3 not to look at my Garmin when it beeped after each mile. I just kept trucking.

Mile 6 - 9:29
Mile 7 - 9:34
Mile 8 - 9:45
I took another Gu here. One other note, I carried my little sprint handheld full of Gatorade. I was hoping it would help with side stitches as well.

Mile 9 - 9:48
I stopped at the water stop at mile 9 and had them fill up my handheld. Mile 9 was the bridge, the top of the bridge was mile 10. My stomach also growled at this point.

Mile 10 - 9:49
Bridge...enough said. At least I ran up the entire thing. I did look at my Garmin at the top of the bridge and saw where I was. I knew it was going to be close.

Mile 11 - 10:05
I actually have no idea why this mile was slower than all the rest. It was mainly downhill. I was struggling, but I should have run it faster.

Mile 12 - 9:35
That is more like it...

Mile 13 - 9:38
I knew the end was near....

Mile .2 - 2:01

And finally done, 2:06:38. I was thirsty and tired, but I had no pain anywhere. Well, except for my arm that was chafed from my shirt (I had other chafing but it didn't hurt at that point). I didn't want any of the food they offered (bananas, peanut butter sandwiches). I started to get cold, so we hopped on the shuttle back to our cars at the start.

And then I had the BEST BURGER ever at Five Guys. It was probably really good because I was starving at that point. And then I got in my van and drove 3.5 hours home. Not ideal, but I had to get home.

Next up...full marathon...I have 14 miles on deck for Saturday for my long run. From here on out are new distances...