The coffeepot was pre-programmed to brew this morning at 3:15. I crawled out of bed just after 3:30, grabbed a large bottle of Smart Water, and poured myself a cup of coffee. And then I got back in bed and pondered how I insane I am for waking up so early to go run and inflict pain upon myself. After the coffee hit me, I remembered how much I enjoyed racing and began gathering all of my necessities.

I packed a peanut butter and banana sandwich in a Ziploc bag, and then threw a few extra Ziplocs in my gear check bag. (I ended up putting my cell phone in one, and my camera in the other).

Speaking of the camera, it completely failed me today. I tried to take a photo of the starting line this morning, standing completely still and it came out blurry. Eight times. I was so angry I decided I wouldn’t take any pictures while I was running either. If standing still can’t produce a good shot, action photos will only come out worse. Therefore, this will be the most photo-less race recap ever.

I decided last night I was going to wear UA compression capris with a pair of Tempos over them. Then this morning when I saw the 95% humidity at 6am, I decided to wear only the Tempos. This would have been fine, if I had remembered to use Body Glide. Enough said.

I also decided to race in my compression socks, rather than regular UA heat gear socks & compression sleeves. The foot part of the sock is actually A LOT thicker than the socks I usually wear, and by mile five my feet were feeling incredibly cramped in my shoes. I ended up with terrible blisters.

Parking for the race was abundant, which is always a plus. I dropped my bag at gear check, and made my way to the starting line.

It was a sold out race, capped at 5,750. The course was never crowded, and I really enjoyed that aspect. Water was available at every two miles, and Powerade (in addition to water) every four. I would have appreciated Powerade at all of the water stops, and water stops at every mile. Easy fix: run with my own next time.

The left earbud on my headphones decided not to work today, so that was pretty annoying. All of the songs sounded weird. Ah, first world problems.

Usually when I’m racing, I’ll run a majority of the mile and then walk for a minute or so to recover, then repeat. Today I completely forgot about my routine and ended up running the first seven miles straight. Which is “hooray!” because I’ve never ran seven miles without taking a walk break before, but also “you’re an idiot!” because I completely burned myself out in the first half of the race. Rookie mistake. Grr.

Here are my splits:

One minute slower than Rock n Roll San Antonio, but still faster than Wine & Dine. I walked most of miles 11-13, but really picked it up at 12.5. I was running a 10-10:30 pace (best pace 7:35) right past the mile 13 marker, and crossed the finish line at 9:25 pace. I was trying to at least to tie my San Antonio time, but I picked up the speed too late. If I had started speeding up considerably once I hit mile 12, I could have done it. Ugh.

This “fast, downhill race” was incredibly tough for me. It was 64 degrees and 87& humidity at the starting line, and it only got warmer. Around mile ten, the sun came out and further compounded the miserable conditions. My lackluster training didn’t help the situation either. I couldn’t have expected to PR coming into a half with my most recent “long run” being only 6 miles.

Overall, I really enjoyed the race and I look forward to doing it again next year – properly trained, of course!