Summerfest Rock 'n Sole 1/2 Marathon

Summerfest Rock 'n Sole 1/2 Marathon - June 15, 2013
time = 1:48:17 (with bathroom break, lol!)
pace = 8:16
placed 24th in my age group (40-44) out of 240
placed 174 in women out of 2077
placed 628 overall out of 3589

ok... what to say about this bugger. this was my very first 1/2 marathon and terrifying to be honest. i woke up at 4am to a thunderstorm because my dog is afraid of them and then likes to paw the closet door thinking that maybe this time (the millionth time) i'll let him in there? yeah right! i'll never let him in the closet to nest around in my things and make a mess cuz he's afraid of a little thunder and lightening... he can suck it up! however, that's neither here nor there... this story is not about his irrational storm fear.

the doppler didn't look good and so my family stayed home and i drove the 20ish minutes to the race in some rain. i arrived fairly uneventfully and parked. i tried contacting a few people who i knew would be there but got no one so i got myself together and started heading to the starting corrals. i knew the event was going to be big but i guess i didn't know exactly how big... this is the largest race i've ever competed in and i'm pretty proud of my results.

my goal was an hour and a half but that is pretty unrealistic considering the pace i've been running the past few months so i'm still pleased with my outcome. i'd like to be faster but i'm not going to complain... we'll see how i do in september at the brewer's 1/2 and if i'm better or worse then.
the corral i started off in was 1:45 pace. i tried to stay with them to begin with thinking that running up the hoan bridge might be really challenging but as it turned out it was quite easy. i think because i've been doing so much running in lapham peak on the black route aka the moraine ridge trail. it's the most difficult route in the park with several really challenging inclines including the very first one which is .87 of a mile and 4% grade... it's super hard but i have successfully run it without stopping several times now. that was pivotal in my success today. made all the hills a piece of cake!
i lost the pacers at mile 6 when i had to stop at the port-o-potty to pee... it couldn't be helped. so that changed my time by almost a minute. i stopped my app so i saw the difference. still... a great time even with the potty break.

overall the experience was pretty great. i'm glad i had my own hydration because i'm sure that would have slowed me down too... stopping along the course. i gunned it at the last 3/4 of a mile to a 7:39 pace... that hurt like a mofo! although, miles 2,3,5, and 6 were under 8 min/mi so that is pretty awesome... too bad i couldn't maintain that the whole time. the rest were just over 8 min/mi with the slowest being at mile 7 with a 8:33 min/mi right after my potty break. which is funny because i thought i had picked it up there but i guess it just felt that way after sitting down. weird.

the energy of the event was wonderful and i really didn't feel fatigued at all but my hips weren't feeling so good after mile 10 or 11 which made me feel slower than i was actually going... made it seem a lot harder than it should have been too i think.

and that... is my first 1/2 marathon experience.