That Time I Drank a lot and then Ran a Race

Yesterday I ran the Baldwin Park Half Marathon – my 19th half and the longest distance I’ve run since February. A lot of poor decision making (on my part) went into this race, including but not limited to a three-mile run on Friday that I should have skipped, spending all day Saturday on my feet at EDC, drinking more drinks than can be counted on one hand, and skipping dinner.

But I’m a trooper, ya’ll. So when I got home Saturday night, I drank as much water as humanly possible, got a better-than-expected six hours of sleep, and ran a damn half marathon.

Michelle picked me up at 6:15 – right on time, I might add. *so proud* The girl is always at least a little late.

The race is only 15 minutes from my house. We even scored some major rock star parking by the start/finish line when Michelle went through a “road blocked” sign that was guarded by a police car. No fear, that one.

Once we parked, I realized I left my Garmin at home. I was also too busy sleeping in and forgot to make my standard PB&J, so I grabbed my next bad decision.

Cola flavor. Totally disgusting.

If you’ve been reading for awhile, you know I can’t eat anything with sugar (even natural) during a race. I ate one of those chews at mile 8, 9, and 10. Three is my limit. My stomach started churning after that.

I ran this race three years ago. It’s the same this year as it was then – small with a pretty course that is extremely familiar since it’s where I did a lot of my marathon training. I heard a few people complain that there wasn’t enough water on course, especially in the beginning miles, but I wore my new Camelbak so it wasn’t an issue for me.

Now for the race. Let’s just say that considering the night I had beforehand, it could have been a lot worse. So I am super grateful for the race I had. There was no timing on course, so I had  no idea what pace I was running and I didn’t see a mile marker until mile seven, which was annoying. Michelle and I leap-frogged each other for those seven miles, but as we know, the only time I ever beat her in a race is when she’s pregnant or has bruised ribs. We high-fived at the turn-around and that’s when I lost her. I ended up walking a good 20 minutes throughout (or more, I stopped counting after a while) because I was completely pooped, my left leg felt super fatigued while my right leg was fine (??) and the shoulder pain that started during my first marathon came back. (< — read that race review if you enjoy pity parties)

Things that didn’t happen include me pooping, barfing, or dying. So I consider this a major win. I came in at 2:21:54, not even a personal worst so I’ll take it.

Epic Sports Marketing puts on this race and I notice they keep getting better and more organized each time. They even had a really good spread of fruit, bagel thins, rolls, peanut butter and Nutella at the end.

Nutella!

I can definitely feel that I haven’t run that distance in some time. My legs are tired. Squatting to clean out the bunny’s litter box definitely takes more effort. But I’m glad I ran this one because I needed to get the miles in and they aren’t going to run themselves.

Next up is the OUC Orlando Half Marathon on 12/7. I’m using that race as a training run as well and then maybe I’ll get more serious about my races in January and March. I mean, at the least I’ll try not to be drunk for them.

Race Review: Baldwin Park Half Marathon

Chip Time: 02:06:18
Date: November 13, 2010

Swag: One cotton t-shirt, and one 80 calorie bag of Dole yogurt covered pineapple. I’m surprised we had to pick up our packets the day before to get only this. Especially since we had to pick up our transponders at the race only.

Today I ran the first race I’ve ever run alone. Sure, my friends sprint past me never to be seen again in other races, but this one I was actually starting alone. So cold. So alone.

The race was small – approximately 500 people ran it and it was located 10 minutes away from my house. And it was cheap. All good things.

You know how you’re never supposed to do something new in a race? Well, I did it again. I carried a water bottle instead of using my CamelBak. It worked out ok, but I just don’t like having something in my hands while running.

No D-tags for this race, just transponders that you had to give back after the race. When I crossed the finish, a volunteer actually did the “stop in the name of love” hand motion to stop me from walking forward and then took the transponder off my ankle. A little daunting, but it’s not like I was gonna wear it with my favorite outfit.

I swear I don’t have cankles but this picture suggests otherwise.

Oh yeah. Speaking of new things, I wore my Asics for this race. Annnnd I’ll be going back to my Sauconys.

I started on the front line of this race. THAT is how small it was.

This is the front line.

Then everyone and their brother and their walker-using grandma passed me up. I swear I didn’t pass anyone (except for 2 walkers) until Mile 4. It felt like the whole race was in front of me.

After Mile 6, I saw the pace setter ride by and the runner who, I assume, got first place. A chic that was booking ass while her abs glistened in the sun. I had to squint from the brightness of her glory. And then I felt inferior because I knew how far the turn around was since my friend Michelle and I did 10 miles on the same trail the weekend before.

That’s the start line and the pace setter (on the bike).

Heavy police presence at the Port-o-Potties. You know, just in case.

I felt good during this race and I PRed, which was super cool. But a race is SO not as fun when you don’t have someone to share it with afterwards. I definitely missed having a friend there. Now I know why runners have their family members meet them at the finish. Makes such a difference.

In other news, how’s this for the lamest medal ever?

No? Let’s give you some perspective and compare it to my other medals:

Three half marathons and I’m already a medal snob. But seriously, you could make a medal like that with one of those machines that flatten out pennies and put it on a rope. Stay classy, Orlando.