I’m going to skip the talk about the expo, pre-race and post race for now (saving that for later this week), but I’ll tell you all about the race instead! As you may remember, I was slightly undertrained for this race due to hamstring and glute pain I’ve been having since… oh, years now! So by the time we were getting ready to line up for the race I was feeling truly nervous since I haven’t had a successful (ie, pain free) long run maybe at all during this training cycle! Haven’t even run more than 6 miles in a few weeks. So yeah, getting a bit nervous about cranking out 13.1!
The night before the race I gathered up my race gear. I decided to wear my water belt because it just gives me comfort knowing I can drink whenever I want, and it holds my phone. I was a little concerned about overall comfort when I pinned all of my bibs on – a half marathon bib, a team relay bib, and the relay bib with the timing chip! Not a great look. I investigated different options when I got to the race.
Race day weather could not have been better. I know 37 degrees at the start sounds cold, but after an hour of running, my arm sleeves came up off and I was working up a sweat. Temperature was around 50 by the finish. I felt sorry for those people who overdressed in long tights, long sleeve shirts and vests!
Even though the Glass City course is technically “flat”, it’s got far more inclines (I’ll call them inclines because my husband laughs at me when I call them hills!) than I ever see in my training. Note to self: I need to work on hills!
I decided that I was just going to run by feel, and was hoping to get a sub 2 hr. Early on I was happily surprised to mostly 8:30’s on each mile. It wasn’t easy, but faster miles than I expected. Around mile 6.6 I handed off my relay bib to my team mate and continued on my way. I was happy to be rid of that relay bib! I had to much gear on and it was annoying me.
As the rest of miles clicked by, I was feeling more of a struggle. Did I even train for this event?? Good news was that I wasn’t completely in glute and hamstring pain in the later miles. It bothered me, but I was able to continue.
Finish time: 1:56:56. Best day guess was 1:58, so yeah, I’m liking that time!! 22nd place out of my age division of 163 women.
In the meantime, my relay team was still running. Other legs of the relay were 6.2 miles (my friend Kristen), 3.1 (Alan), 4.9 (Zachary) and 5.3 (Sydney). I hung out for awhile and waited for our relay time to arrive. I knew my husband had handed off to my son….
…and he had passed the bib over to my daughter after he was finished. We were down to the last few miles!! My team joined me over in the Relay Reunion area and soon we saw Sydney coming. Yeah!! She was looking strong!
We tried to all cross the finish together, but our different running paces was becoming quite apparent in the chute. Kids = fast speed, me = pokey speed! We settled for adults in the back, kids in the lead. Can’t wait to see if we all got in the picture together!
Official time = 3:37!! Woohoo! We crushed our goals! 11th out of our division of 95 teams.
We all got hefty medals, shirts and mugs to remember our day. A very good day indeed!!
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Q: Did you run Glass City? How did it go for you??
Q: How many days do you take off after a hard race?
Congrats!!!!!!! What an awesome runner family!
When I saw your instagram pic yesterday I wondered how your hamstring was feeling. How is it feeling today? I hope it’s not bothering you!
Thanks!! It’s one of those odd things… I felt more out of shape (cardio wise) than I did hamstring pain. Right now my whole body hurts, but it will be interesting to see if my hamstring hurts more than before the race. It needed to cool down a bit I guess. I’m sure that wasn’t the last of my hamstring issue though. Need to come up with a solid strengthening plan next!
Congrats!!! Glad you felt ok and had a great run! 🙂 The weather was awesome, wasn’t it?! I took your idea and made arm warmers out of long socks. They worked perfectly and kept me just warm enough until I was ready to ditch them. Thanks for the tip! 🙂
I did ok. I was a tiny bit disappointed with my time. I wanted a PR, but I tied my PR instead! But I felt great the whole race. So that’s good! 🙂 Already signed up for next year! 🙂
Did you snag that $35 deal for next year?? I saw it was sold out already. My family enjoyed the relay so much, I have a feeling we’ll be doing it again next year. The arm warmers were perfect yesterday. Super great weather!!
Tying your PR is the next best thing I guess, right 🙂 Congrats!!
Congrats to all the Willfords!
Megan @ Meg Go Run recently posted…Weekend Wrap Up!
Thanks Meg!! It was a great experience. The kids loved their medals, not only were they well earned, the medals were also gorgeous. So much detail!!
I gotta get over to your blog and catch up now that my busy race weeks are over!
Your runner fam had a great relay! Well done everyone! Congrats!
And congratulations to you too on the half marathon.
Heather [is probably running] recently posted…Half #9: Rock CF Rivers Half Marathon
When we run Mohican, you will finally see what hills actually are! That was a fun race, definitely will do it again.
So Mohican will be really big inclines? 🙂 I can’t wait!
Thanks for blowing out your hip again to make our team look good. We appreciated your speediness!
Congrats Lisa!! I think it’s amazing that everyone in your family runs. Those family pictures are amazing.
I’m also glad that your hamstrings weren’t a problem during the race. I don’t know if it’s the adrenaline of the moment or what, but for some reason everything ends up working just fine at races.
Thank you!! I am so proud of the kids. They did great!! And yes, I do believe in Race Day Magic. It all just seems to work out… even when it doesn’t, the excitement of meeting up with friends and enjoying the post-race memories are what this sport are all about. Love it!
Congrats! And great job to your family as well! Hope you are resting well!
courtney @ eat pray run dc recently posted…Running in San Francisco – Training Recap
Thanks!! If resting is catching up on housework and emails, then I’m all over it 🙂