2006 Rock'N'Roll Half - a new course record!

Believe it or not we made our way through Ernesto to VA Beach and ran the race on Sunday!

It was horribly humid but other than that a really nice weekend. I was hoping to run around 2:25 on but finished in a hard earned 2:34:11. I'm pretty happy with that time because it's a course record for me (only by about 40 seconds) and I really worked hard to keep myself moving throughout the second half of the race. It was hot and humid and I never felt like I was on track.

Splits as follows:

Mile 1: 11:23 I was shooting for 11:30 but was OK with this
Mile 2: 11:05 Not sure why I got faster, wasn't trying to do that
Mile 3: 10:50 Whoa! I need to slow down.
Mile 4: 11:27 Stop and pull off band-aid that got bunchy. Didn't miss it.
Mile 5: 11:44 Ate 2nd gel here and walked - very crowded section. 1st gel in corral before start
Mile 6: 11:11 Talked to Brian here - he pulls away for good.
Mile 7: 12:09 Walked A LOT in Camp Pendelton. It's always blazing hot here. Ate some salt.
Mile 8: 11:53 Enjoyed the sprinklers here, ran UP the bridge (thought there was a camera)
Mile 9: 11:51 Walked at the turnaround leading to Atlantic. Ate 3rd gel.
Mile 10: 12:25 Where is mile 10? Where is the water? between 9 & 10 worst part of race
Mile 11: 12:43 Smile! Camera time! Can still make 2:30
Mile 12: 12:00 Only 9 minutes to make it under 2:30. Not possible. Wet head at water stop
Mile 13: 12:23 Running to Foo Fighters 'All My Life' - thank god! would have walked w/o music
Mile .1: 1:04 It's OVER! Yay!

Final time: 2:34:11

Crossing the finish line was great but since I've gotten faster I'm now finishing with a lot more people and the finish area was super crowded and hot. People couldn't move and were dropping like flies in the finish area. I was lucky to be on the right edge of the crowd, close to the folks handing out water (I guzzled 2 bottles of Dasani) and they also handed me ice which I promptly stuffed into my bra (a trick I read on somebody's blog) and felt better almost instantly. I kept re-loading the ice and stayed cool. The were also handing out towels soaked in ice cold water and that felt like heaven on my face and then a volunteer heard me say how good it felt and she draped another one over my shoulders. At this point the crowd thinned out at little bit and I had my chip removed and got my medal.

I met up wth Brian around now (he finished in 2:31) and we each got a bottle of Amino Vital (orange flavor OK , red I hear was vile) and progressed towards the food. There was a line but it still seemed more organized than last year. One volunteer started walking out through the runners handing out bananas and I actually ate one! They also gave out oranges (cold) and bagels and pretzels and amino vital bars.

The free Spenco sandals are still ugly but far more comfortable than last year's model and much easier to get.

Back at the room I finished the 2nd half a 34oz Gatorade Endurance and drank half of another bottle too. Ate some soy chips and then realized that my medal had fallen off the ribbon! oh no!
Luckily, my hotel is right on the course at mile 13 so I could easily run back to the finish area and got a volunteer to replace my missing medal. I would have been crushed if I had lost it.

Final thoughts: the humidity was a killer and I was sorry that I wasn't wearing my fuel belt and carrying Endurance. I don't usually wear the belt in races but I was mighty jealous of the folks out on the course who had their own supply. I think I might have done better if I had my own stuff and since the PDR is in two weeks and they're using Amino Vital there too I'm going to wear my belt unless the temperature is a lot lower, which it might well be.

Even though my time wasn't anywhere near what I hoped for I think I did OK considering the conditions. I didn't run my best race but I didn't let myself totally give up either and I'm proud of myself for that.

I can't wait for the PDR though!