Boots Before Corset: I Ran Like a Girl

Today I ran my first half-marathon, 13.1 miles! The weather couldn't have been more perfect; cool and cloudy, but no rain or wind. Here's the race link:

Run Like a Girl

It was a really laid-back race, with lots of fun goodies along the way, which I mostly didn't stop for, because I was probably the only person there who actually cared how fast I ran it.

And I ran it pretty fast, as it turns out. For me, anyway. The course is a bit hilly, and I was hoping to run it in 2:15, if really booked. The trail is marked every half mile, so I had a plan for how fast I thought I could run each mile, but I came in under, sometimes way under, all but two of my goals, and finished in 2:05 - two hours and five minutes, with hills! I'm so pleased.

The hills (from the internet. I wasn't stopping to take photos!):

The lady announcer was really funny. When we were all lined up for the start, she told us that she'd marked the trail in flour. While she was at the store buying ten bags of flour, she got some funny looks. A man finally asked her if she liked to bake a lot. She explained that she was using the flour to mark a race course. He asked, seriously, "But what will you do about the gluten-free runners?"

Then she told us the course wouldn't be timed, but if we liked, we could call out to her at the finish what time we'd like to have run it in, and she was good with that.

Karl and my friend Connie came to cheer me on. Connie brought me flowers (thank you!) and Karl met me at about 8 or 9 miles, just as I was walking up a hill, and handed me a Powerade. It was great, but it slowed me down a little.

The whole running empty thing totally worked. I had a small bowl of oatmeal two hours before the race, and nothing during. I wasn't at all hungry until an hour after the race, and even then, not starving, like I usually am. (But I did manage to choke down half a chocolate shake...)

Claire made me a splendid song list to run to. Several times during the race, a perfect song came up just as I was flagging a bit and got me moving again. Did you know that you can key your music to running by picking songs with a bpm (beats per minute) to match your desired pace? Then all you've got to do is run to the beat. Cool, huh?

At the end of the race, a whole bunch of firemen (group? fraternity? cabal?) stood waiting for the runners. They tooted their fire horn as each of us crossed the finish line, then placed necklaces around our necks. Pity I was too tired to even admire them. Lovely firemen.

Some of the assembled runners.