Eugene Women's Half Recap

It was the best of times.  It was the worst of times.  It was the Eugene Women's Half Marathon.

Okay, maybe it wasn't the worst of times.  More like the fair to middling of times.  Here's how it played out.

The Good:

On the injury front, no problems at all from the stress fracture, old or potentially new.   My back didn't give me any grief for a change. 

I got a fairly good night's sleep before the race.  Woke up a lot thinking I'd overslept -- not entirely positive I had set the motel alarm clock correctly -- plus with the A/C on it got too cold, got too warm without it, yadda yadda yadda.  The bed and pillows were good for a budget motel.  Then I got the idea of bedbugs in my head and kept thinking things were crawling over me.  But overall, I went to bed early enough that I got enough sleep despite it all.

I managed to eat before the race, a turkey sausage egg mcmuffin thing that I was very happy to have brought with me since nothing at the motel's continental breakfast appealed to me.  I probably could've managed a bagel with cream cheese eventually but the turkey sausage thing was much better.  I felt a big difference in my energy at the start of the race.

I stayed fairly well hydrated.  I had my fuel belt with the two 10 ounce bottles, one with water and one with gatorade.  They had gatorade and water at the aid stations and at the first few stations I took both plus topped off my bottles.  I switched to straight water at the second half of the race but used a Nuun tablet at that point; the gatorade at the aid stations was the neon yellow kind and VERY strong.  During the race, I'd estimate I consumed around 32 ounces of gatorade, 20 ounces of nuun, and maybe 40 ounces of water.  I also had four electrolyte capsules over the first couple of hours; I think Hammer makes them. 

I had some Advil with me.  In the event my leg or back acted up I had dropped a couple of Advil in my fuel belt.  My leg and back were fine but my right ankle and hip did start to ache.  I started debating whether I should take it around mile six and around mile seven -- it was at the aid station by the mall -- I finally did and was almost immediately glad as it took the aches down to a whisper.  I'm going to do this for the marathon too.

I was dressed appropriately.  I knew it would be warm so I wore a short sleeved white tech tee.  I wore a fleece shirt over it until we got to the start so I knew my clothing would be temp appropriate.

The Bad:

Fucking SUN.  It was around 60 when we started and 72 when I finished.  In the shade it was perfect.  In the full sun -- also known as mile nine on -- it felt like 90.  My internal temperature gauge flipped around mile 12 -- always a little disturbing to be shivering with cold when you know you should be hot -- but that only lasted a short while.  With more shade I could've done a lot better over the last two miles.

I had some tummy troubles.  Say it with me:  no Taco Bell any time prior to the start of a race!  I actually was fairly ill the night before the race, suddenly got very nauseated for no apparent reason.  Must pack pepto next time.

And I'm still sick.  I took dayquil before the race which did a good job on keeping my sinuses clear but left me with a bad case of cotton mouth.  In retrospect, it probably did a lot in keeping my hydrated since it kept me drinking. 

There was a train!  Shortly before the first mile, the entire race got stopped by a passing train.  The leaders tried to go up and over the pedestrian overpass but were turned back.  They ended up adjusting the race clock by I think eight minutes.  That was nice because in Portland they usually will not do that. 

The Overall:

A decent race.  I finished in 3:16:59 (I'm taking that extra second, dammit!), slower than I had hoped but we did stop at all the water stops to refill plus at least twice at the potties.  Julie and I figured that took about ten minutes total.  And I finished strong, running at a an 11 minute mile pace in the last tenth mile across the finish line.   If only there'd been a little more shade...

My Garmin came up around 0.15 miles over 13.1.  I think it was all the dodging and weaving we had to do around the walkers.  We had finally settled in to a pace when we got stopped by the train so then we had to do it all over again. 

They closed the massage area down AGAIN.  And no mimosas by the time I finished.  I didn't really want a mimosa but a massage would've been nice. 

I got to meet some other bloggers! 

There was Kim at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls, Laurie at The (Mis)Adventures of a Jogging Stroller Mom (who ran the half in something like five seconds, she is amazing!), Julie D at The Finish Line Diaries, Meredith at the Therapeutic Runnings of a Mom, and Ashley at Inspired Miles of a Mom.  In reading their blogs you'll notice they all have some thing in common besides being really freaking fast:  they all do this while raising kids!! 

I am so in awe.

Plus I found a new blogger whom I did not get to meet but did see here this morning:  Michelle at Runn Princess Runn.  Hi Michelle! 

I am stealing one of Kim's pictures here:

Me, Meredith, Kim, Julie, Julie D., and Ashley

And from the finish, courtesy of Julie's husband and sherpa extraordinaire, Charles.

Yesterday I had absolutely nothing pressing to do so I did nothing but catch up on laundry (mainly running clothes) and TV.  It was fabulous.  You should try it.

Cheers,
the CilleyGirl