The week before a big event your mind and body do some strange things. First your body begins to ache all over. Second you are an emotional nightmare of emotions and completely irrational. Third your mind is an uncontrollable barrage of must do this, must get this, do not forget this which is why the kitchen sink ends up being part of your luggage.
Travel day finally arrives! Hopefully you have a huge vehicle because the kitchen sink is going in. Your mind has played out every possible "what if" scenario resulting in at least 3 bags of items being packed.
The night before.... Now you would think you would like to get a great nights sleep on this night but it is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Hopefully you have had some sleep the week before because you will lie in bed miserable tossing and turning all night and may even have some very interesting or terrifying dreams. This particular race my dream was that we were being chased by a human size chicken during the race.
Race morning...... Now there is a list of things that must happen race morning. First on that list is COFFEE. Coffee helps start number two on that list which is number two :-). Then the Biofreeze (on any area that has even thought about hurting in the last month) and Vaseline on any area that clothing may touch. Also some pre-medication rituals (Motrin is always good). Then you must force your stomach to eat. You are not hungry. Your nerves are a mess. Your gut isn't even awake yet, but you must eat. Then you must start the hydration for the day. Now you drive to the site (in our case). We had other options but we chose to drive to the start and leave the car there (the cheaper option). In hindsight, for this race, we would Uber to the race site and get dropped off at the start!!
Where will we park - Oh here looks good - nope an official comes out and tells us to move after we are parked, loaded up, and walking to the start...... So back in the van we go. Where now in this nightmare of traffic? Take the second right he said - we cant take the second right it is blocked off. Turn around we are headed back to the hotel now. How are we going to turn around with miles of cars? This was a stressful adventure which could have been avoided by Uber. NOW WE KNOW. We took a chance and parked in a shopping center lot praying for the best with the van. I nervously ate my previously tested with great results pre-race fuel - Carolina Country Snacks Pork Cracklins. As Priscilla (TrivaP) mentioned in her post, we got in the Porta Potty line about 6:25 am for a race starting at 6:40 am. We made it into the porta potties and came out to the FAINT sound of the National Anthem. Get in line... just line up. "BUT MOM (TrivaP says) we are with the 4:30 pacer." Nobody is going to go fast in this just fall in. And we are off....
In case you do not know, I am a planner. I mean a planner, planner, planner. I need a plan to follow. So going into every run we have a plan. This run the plan was much like our first marathon plan. We planned to run the first mile to let some traffic clear and then start our run/walk intervals. After preparing TrivaP for weeks I was finally able to talk her into my favorite interval which is a 1 minute run followed by a 30 second walk. Mile one all run time 10:31. TrivaP exclaims something to the effect of' "We are going to die!" I try to reassure her that all is good and that we can all talk in full sentences and no ones tongue is hanging out as we start our intervals.
Some back ground info I need to add - - Bike Renee was running her first ever Half Marathon. The way the course was laid out she would run the first 8 miles with us and then she would split off and head back toward campus as we went back to the beach for a second loop. Bike Renee had set the goal of doing a Half Marathon during the year she turned 60!!! She will turn 60 April 6, 2017.
OK to continue with the run mile 2 under 11 min miles, mile 3 under 11 minute miles, mile 4 just a little over 11 minute miles (TrivaP was finally happy with that one). I think that happened because there was a shout out for Vaseline and a poor young lady who is never going to be able to shower again from chaffing, so we were digging through the pouches to get her some relief. Then came mile 5 back under 11 minute miles :-). We continue on this pace of well under our goal pace of 12 min miles until mile 17. Even with the small picture break at mile 13 for me to try to get a picture with Mrs. Wolf which was not very successful because TrivaP said I had my phone on zoom (yet she was the one taking the picture..)
Mile 17 was refill time. We had to stop as quickly as we could and refill our bottles and add BCAAs etc. So this made that mile avg slightly longer. We knew from the beginning that we had never seen the 5 hour pacers. We expected them to catch us early but they did not. At mile 18 other runners started asking us had we seen them, Nope. So then began the game..... How long can we keep the 5 hour pacer behind us........ Well turns out at mile 19.5 he had us in his sites. At mile 19.75 he caught us but his interval was up and he was doing 5 minute runs with 1 minute walk. So we were able to meet the goal of staying ahead of him until mile 20!!!!! WHICH WAS FABULOUS. Then we head down the greenway. Now this part we would loop through twice. ECU was the aid station at the beginning of the loop. There was a volunteer there cleaning up trash. We thanked him as we try to do often throughout the race. He replied with an " AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH" to which TrivaP exclaimed, "Did he just growl at you?" After I stopped laughing enough to respond I reminded her that ECU was the Pirates and he was making the common Pirate sound.
THE LOOP - The loop gets its own paragraph. Why you ask? Because that is how long it was. Half of mile 20 and all of miles 21 and 22 and most of mile 23 were in this loop. In this loop at some point we were told there would be a wrist band we would be given. This would confirm we had done the loop and not skipped that part of the course. Mile 21 we see the blind man and his guide again (TrivaP will talk more about this in her post) which makes TrivaP start running faster to catch them. Which makes me tired and wishing she would stop chasing these people. She said they motivated her and they did! She would pick up the pace every time they were in her sites! Mile 22 - music coming from random car in neighborhood - "Dream On" - chills overtake me - my brother puts his hand on my shoulder and tells me he is proud of me and to keep doing what I am doing no matter whether people understand or not. TrivaP looks at me and sees my face and then she hears it and knows. Can't cry and run. Where are those damn armbands? It was while we were on this eternal run through this loop that I had some thoughts start occurring. First thought - What if they run out of armbands? Well no they wouldn't run out of armbands they knew how many people signed up. They would have ordered enough. BUT - Second thought - What if the shipment got flooded (I have no clue how or why a shipment would be flooded so don't ask) and all of the bands didn't get delivered and they are going to run our before we get there? I convey these thought to TrivaP who suggests I take a Honey Stinger chew because I am losing it. THE ARMBANDS!!!! We finally arrive at the armband station and receive our fluorescent orange armbands and proceed back through the ECU aid station again. This time we get to exit the loop left toward the campus with only a 5K left to go! Before we turn we see that there are still people coming in to start the loop. THE POOR SOULS!!! We notice one lady, Anna, who appeared to be struggling a bit and a race volunteer was talking to her and she had some supporters by her side. We asked if we the issue was pain or chaffing? I think she responded chaffing. Either way she had 3 more miles than us to go, so I handed her my BioFreeze and Vaseline hoping it would help in some way and we turned left toward the campus.
We arrived at mile 25. I high fived Priscilla here and said, "I just hit the wall!" This was AWESOME because we had watched many before us slam into that wall at miles 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. I did not hit it until Mile 25. A measly 1.2 miles left to go!!! WE GOT THIS!!! We rounded the corner and both Garmins stated we had 0.2 miles to go. We could see the finish but it was TINY, very tiny. Boy that looks a long ways away. Here we meet a fellow who tells us to go ahead. We tell him we are fine and still may have to interval a bit because the finish line looks like it is an eternity away. He states that he is not racing anything and lets us know about his stop at the bar on course to have 4 beers. Any way we arrive at 26.2 on the Garmins (5:05) only to still be .24 away from the finish line. We did both get to ring the PR bell at the finish which I apparently rang with a little more excitement than most from the look on that volunteers face :-).
I will not go to post race for now. Instead I will list as close as I can our fuel used and when we used it as best I can remember.
Mile 5 - We each had half of a Once Again Organic Peanut Butter packet
Mile 8 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 10 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 13 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 15 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 18 - Orange slice at aid station (TrivaP had been waiting for this moment!)
Mile 19 - We each had half of a Once Again Organic Cashew Butter packet
Mile 20 - Orange slice at aid station
Mile 22 - One Honey Stinger chew each
Mile 23 - TrivaVal had Honey Stinger chew
Mile 24 - TrivaVal had Honey Stinger chew
We both used 2 bottles of X-tend BCAAs and 2 bottles of water split between us both and took water at some aid stations.
Travel day finally arrives! Hopefully you have a huge vehicle because the kitchen sink is going in. Your mind has played out every possible "what if" scenario resulting in at least 3 bags of items being packed.
The night before.... Now you would think you would like to get a great nights sleep on this night but it is NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Hopefully you have had some sleep the week before because you will lie in bed miserable tossing and turning all night and may even have some very interesting or terrifying dreams. This particular race my dream was that we were being chased by a human size chicken during the race.
Race morning...... Now there is a list of things that must happen race morning. First on that list is COFFEE. Coffee helps start number two on that list which is number two :-). Then the Biofreeze (on any area that has even thought about hurting in the last month) and Vaseline on any area that clothing may touch. Also some pre-medication rituals (Motrin is always good). Then you must force your stomach to eat. You are not hungry. Your nerves are a mess. Your gut isn't even awake yet, but you must eat. Then you must start the hydration for the day. Now you drive to the site (in our case). We had other options but we chose to drive to the start and leave the car there (the cheaper option). In hindsight, for this race, we would Uber to the race site and get dropped off at the start!!
Where will we park - Oh here looks good - nope an official comes out and tells us to move after we are parked, loaded up, and walking to the start...... So back in the van we go. Where now in this nightmare of traffic? Take the second right he said - we cant take the second right it is blocked off. Turn around we are headed back to the hotel now. How are we going to turn around with miles of cars? This was a stressful adventure which could have been avoided by Uber. NOW WE KNOW. We took a chance and parked in a shopping center lot praying for the best with the van. I nervously ate my previously tested with great results pre-race fuel - Carolina Country Snacks Pork Cracklins. As Priscilla (TrivaP) mentioned in her post, we got in the Porta Potty line about 6:25 am for a race starting at 6:40 am. We made it into the porta potties and came out to the FAINT sound of the National Anthem. Get in line... just line up. "BUT MOM (TrivaP says) we are with the 4:30 pacer." Nobody is going to go fast in this just fall in. And we are off....
In case you do not know, I am a planner. I mean a planner, planner, planner. I need a plan to follow. So going into every run we have a plan. This run the plan was much like our first marathon plan. We planned to run the first mile to let some traffic clear and then start our run/walk intervals. After preparing TrivaP for weeks I was finally able to talk her into my favorite interval which is a 1 minute run followed by a 30 second walk. Mile one all run time 10:31. TrivaP exclaims something to the effect of' "We are going to die!" I try to reassure her that all is good and that we can all talk in full sentences and no ones tongue is hanging out as we start our intervals.
Some back ground info I need to add - - Bike Renee was running her first ever Half Marathon. The way the course was laid out she would run the first 8 miles with us and then she would split off and head back toward campus as we went back to the beach for a second loop. Bike Renee had set the goal of doing a Half Marathon during the year she turned 60!!! She will turn 60 April 6, 2017.
  |
| Pictures taken just before mile 4 |
 |
| This is Bike Renee and she absolutely ROCKED her first Half Marathon! |
OK to continue with the run mile 2 under 11 min miles, mile 3 under 11 minute miles, mile 4 just a little over 11 minute miles (TrivaP was finally happy with that one). I think that happened because there was a shout out for Vaseline and a poor young lady who is never going to be able to shower again from chaffing, so we were digging through the pouches to get her some relief. Then came mile 5 back under 11 minute miles :-). We continue on this pace of well under our goal pace of 12 min miles until mile 17. Even with the small picture break at mile 13 for me to try to get a picture with Mrs. Wolf which was not very successful because TrivaP said I had my phone on zoom (yet she was the one taking the picture..)
Really I was posing with Mrs. Wolf. She just didn't make it into the picture.... Mile 13ish
Mile 17 was refill time. We had to stop as quickly as we could and refill our bottles and add BCAAs etc. So this made that mile avg slightly longer. We knew from the beginning that we had never seen the 5 hour pacers. We expected them to catch us early but they did not. At mile 18 other runners started asking us had we seen them, Nope. So then began the game..... How long can we keep the 5 hour pacer behind us........ Well turns out at mile 19.5 he had us in his sites. At mile 19.75 he caught us but his interval was up and he was doing 5 minute runs with 1 minute walk. So we were able to meet the goal of staying ahead of him until mile 20!!!!! WHICH WAS FABULOUS. Then we head down the greenway. Now this part we would loop through twice. ECU was the aid station at the beginning of the loop. There was a volunteer there cleaning up trash. We thanked him as we try to do often throughout the race. He replied with an " AAARRRRGGGGHHHHHH" to which TrivaP exclaimed, "Did he just growl at you?" After I stopped laughing enough to respond I reminded her that ECU was the Pirates and he was making the common Pirate sound.
THE LOOP - The loop gets its own paragraph. Why you ask? Because that is how long it was. Half of mile 20 and all of miles 21 and 22 and most of mile 23 were in this loop. In this loop at some point we were told there would be a wrist band we would be given. This would confirm we had done the loop and not skipped that part of the course. Mile 21 we see the blind man and his guide again (TrivaP will talk more about this in her post) which makes TrivaP start running faster to catch them. Which makes me tired and wishing she would stop chasing these people. She said they motivated her and they did! She would pick up the pace every time they were in her sites! Mile 22 - music coming from random car in neighborhood - "Dream On" - chills overtake me - my brother puts his hand on my shoulder and tells me he is proud of me and to keep doing what I am doing no matter whether people understand or not. TrivaP looks at me and sees my face and then she hears it and knows. Can't cry and run. Where are those damn armbands? It was while we were on this eternal run through this loop that I had some thoughts start occurring. First thought - What if they run out of armbands? Well no they wouldn't run out of armbands they knew how many people signed up. They would have ordered enough. BUT - Second thought - What if the shipment got flooded (I have no clue how or why a shipment would be flooded so don't ask) and all of the bands didn't get delivered and they are going to run our before we get there? I convey these thought to TrivaP who suggests I take a Honey Stinger chew because I am losing it. THE ARMBANDS!!!! We finally arrive at the armband station and receive our fluorescent orange armbands and proceed back through the ECU aid station again. This time we get to exit the loop left toward the campus with only a 5K left to go! Before we turn we see that there are still people coming in to start the loop. THE POOR SOULS!!! We notice one lady, Anna, who appeared to be struggling a bit and a race volunteer was talking to her and she had some supporters by her side. We asked if we the issue was pain or chaffing? I think she responded chaffing. Either way she had 3 more miles than us to go, so I handed her my BioFreeze and Vaseline hoping it would help in some way and we turned left toward the campus.
 |
| Mile 24ish |
We arrived at mile 25. I high fived Priscilla here and said, "I just hit the wall!" This was AWESOME because we had watched many before us slam into that wall at miles 20, 21, 22, 23, and 24. I did not hit it until Mile 25. A measly 1.2 miles left to go!!! WE GOT THIS!!! We rounded the corner and both Garmins stated we had 0.2 miles to go. We could see the finish but it was TINY, very tiny. Boy that looks a long ways away. Here we meet a fellow who tells us to go ahead. We tell him we are fine and still may have to interval a bit because the finish line looks like it is an eternity away. He states that he is not racing anything and lets us know about his stop at the bar on course to have 4 beers. Any way we arrive at 26.2 on the Garmins (5:05) only to still be .24 away from the finish line. We did both get to ring the PR bell at the finish which I apparently rang with a little more excitement than most from the look on that volunteers face :-).
I will not go to post race for now. Instead I will list as close as I can our fuel used and when we used it as best I can remember.
Mile 5 - We each had half of a Once Again Organic Peanut Butter packet
Mile 8 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 10 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 13 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 15 - We each had about 1/4 of a Carob Chip Perfect Bar
Mile 18 - Orange slice at aid station (TrivaP had been waiting for this moment!)
Mile 19 - We each had half of a Once Again Organic Cashew Butter packet
Mile 20 - Orange slice at aid station
Mile 22 - One Honey Stinger chew each
Mile 23 - TrivaVal had Honey Stinger chew
Mile 24 - TrivaVal had Honey Stinger chew
We both used 2 bottles of X-tend BCAAs and 2 bottles of water split between us both and took water at some aid stations.
Comments
Post a Comment