Avocado Half Marathon - Race Recap

An alternate title for this race recap could very well be "The Race That Was All Hills"...because seriously, I think it was ALL hills whether it was up a hill or down a hill...nothing but hills!!! Alright, alright...let me go back to the beginning and I'll do this The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly style.

The Good:

Me & Sally back when we were happy to be running...LOL. Check out the little Mike Wazowski cheering people on - so adorable!!

• The weather was absolutely PERFECT for running! Overcast and about mid- to low-50's the entire time. 
• I was lucky enough to have my friend, Sally, (who is MUCH faster than turtle-paced me) pacing me for this race and having someone to talk to was really, really nice. I could get very used to having a race partner with me.
• I made a new friend. (see, Mom - some things never change! LOL) :-)
• My Skirt Sports outfit was absolutely flawless. I wore the Jaguar skirt, the 261 Fearless Personali-Tee, and the 261 Fearless Visor. Seriously, I cannot say enough good things about the outfit. The shirt is silky smooth, I forgot I even had a visor on, and the skirt offered perfect coverage and didn't move even an eensy-weensy bit. No slipping, no riding, no chafing. So totally worth every penny!!!
• The scenery was actually pretty nice...lots of foliage, pretty vistas, very little on city streets. So it's a beautiful course!
• There was NO CRAMPING...this is so huge for me as I had such miserable cramping in my full marathon and my last half marathon. I think I might have this one figured out...
• Tons of volunteers along the course.

Another good was this guy right here - he was up there dancing and playing music and just being SO encouraging the entire time! Total Rock Star!! Another good, the band at mile 7ish...they totally rocked it!

The Bad:

• I already knew going into this race that I was completely unprepared and that it was a challenging course. My fault and I have nobody to blame for this.
• Even though I knew it was a challenging course, it was way worse than I had even anticipated!
• No Porta-Pot until about Mile 6. Let me repeat that - NO BATHROOM FOR 6 MILES!!! I learned in training that I need to skip coffee before my long runs otherwise within the first two miles I have to pee no matter how many times I go before the race. I learned, and I ignored it anyways and had coffee that morning because I had slept terribly and wanted to pick-me-up. If I had known there wasn't a bathroom I would have gone with sleepy instead.
• Tons of volunteers along the course that didn't know any of the details like if there was a bathroom up ahead or that said "you're almost there" at mile 4 or coming back at mile 10, or that said "this is your last hill" when there was at least 500 more. 
• Waiting for the shuttle at the end of the race was grueling. 
• The HILLS...Oh the hilllllllllssssssss....

Yeah...the picture that tells the entire story!!

The Ugly:

• The Hills!!!! Take a good look at that picture up there...okay, so that was probably about mile 4. From mile 3.1 on it was a gradual climb for about a mile and then when you think, okay, I've got this...you crest the hill and you see THAT!! I wanted to cry...There were some areas of flat, but they were few and far between.
• I was carrying my own water in my trusty Nathan vest and it's a good thing I was because there was close to none out there. There were coolers of electrolytes and water, but NO CUPS. The volunteers were gamely offering to dispense by dumping directly into your mouth but as tired as I was it probably would've resulted in a major catastrophe. So no on-course water or electrolytes due to running out of supplies. Totally not cool in a race of this size especially when you should have some idea of how many runners are on course. 
• When I did finally find the porta-pot at mile 6ish they hadn't leveled it and it was like trying to go to the bathroom while riding a see-saw...sometimes it's the little details that make all the difference.

So all in all, it was a good race and I had fun for the most part. Yes, it was challenging, and yes, there were some issues that never should have happened like the water and bathroom and stuff like that. Would I do this race again? Today I say probably not, but like child birth I know I will forget how bad it really was eventually! HA! But I have to say that I really want to find a flat race for my next half marathon. LOL But if you're somebody that is looking for a real challenging course, in a beautiful location - this is a GREAT race! I understand a lot of runners use this race as a training run for San Francisco and that it is really good for that. 

Christine on the left, me in the center, and Sally on the right!

What made a difference on this one was having Sally there with me and having the volunteers cheering along the route. Many of them were very supportive and I had some fun with them. A couple girls at the beginning said they would run with us at the end, and they did when I reminded them of their earlier promise to us! It was fun and they were just adorable! And meeting and running with Christine, my new friend I mentioned up in The Good was a definite plus! She was just so cute and nice and she was struggling and didn't want to run, but we stuck it out together for the last 4ish miles and just picked a landmark and got to it before walking up another hill. Being able to encourage, and having others encourage me, is definitely one of the reasons I keep going back to participating in races. It just never fails to make me appreciate the toughness of the human spirit...that drive to keep going when everything inside of you wants to quit. I found it, Christine found it, and many others did too and that is what made it a good race!

They definitely got the medal right though!! That thing was HEAVY and HUGE!! And is engraved with 2015 finisher on the back...classy!

Oh - last thing...on the cramping. I think my problem is wearing compression socks/sleeves! I had worn compression on my marathon training runs, my marathon, and my last half marathon and experienced cramping to some degree in all of those. I wore them again during the early training for the half and experienced the same thing. I ditched the compression for the past several months and haven't had a single issue with cramping since I did!! So there you have it, for this girl, compression just doesn't benefit me and actually hinders me! Interesting, no??? 

Later this week I am hoping to talk a little bit more about my plan for success - not my usual go-to of success at failing! Stay tuned...

The Sure Way to Succeed...at Failing

So I'm going to let you in on a little secret...one that I'm working on perfecting!! It's called the Sure Way to Succeed...at FAILING and I'm getting REALLY good at it!! (Said in a very sarcastic tone of voice).

Step One: create a training plan - put a lot of time and effort into this because the other steps are somewhat dependent on this one. So spend several hours perfecting it, plugging the details into your running journal - my favorite is the Believe Training Journal by Lauren and Ro - creating the workouts in your Garmin calendar and whatever else you need to do to be ready for kickoff on Day 1 of the plan.

Step Two: Set some SMART goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. For example you might set the following goal: Set a PR in the half marathon distance on May 23, 2015. Specific: Get a PR. Measurable: you have a time from your last race, all you have to do is come in under that one...totally measurable. Attainable: yep - just stick to the training and eating right and it should be no problem. Relevant: yes, totally relevant. Time-Bound: there's a solid date attached to this goal. This is a GREAT goal!! Should be completely manageable!!

Step Three: Tell yourself that you are going to completely NAIL this training cycle. You are going to eat right, get enough rest, stretch, foam roll, yoga your ass off, oh and don't forget cross training - you're going to ace that too!! You should also go on Pinterest and pin all kinds of happy motivation to get you jazzed up for this! Print some off, tape them to your wall, use that motivation!!

Step Four: Eat all the bad food. Slack off on all the workouts. Completely forget every goal you set. Don't pay attention to what's on the training plan. Go out and run your 13.1 miles with no more than 9 miles done in training. SUCCESS - you have now completely and totally set yourself up to succeed at failing!!! Brilliant!!! Whomp-whomp.

Seriously though, I have not done the work and I have made a plethora of excuses and I recognize that I have this really bad habit of completely and totally going into sabotage mode as I near a race. I don't know what that is or where it comes from...I could probably psychoanalyze the heck out of myself and find out that it is related to a fear of not living up to the standards I've set in my head, so if I have a bunch of "reasons" why I can't meet those standards than it isn't really my fault. Yeah...I'm guessing it's something like that. hahahaha Talk about a total mind f*&%!!! But here's the thing...I don't like it. I don't like being that person that is all fired up at the beginning just to completely fizzle out like a firework that didn't have enough oomph.

I want to know what it feels like to get to a starting line and know that I've done everything I possibly could have, within reason, to be READY to tackle the distance and the pace. I would even be okay if I didn't make my goal because I would at least know that I had done everything I could. But I haven't gotten there yet, and I'm definitely not there for this weekend's half marathon. My single goal for this one is to just finish it within the time limit so I can get my medal.

But I'm ready to turn a corner and no longer succeed at failing...I want to actually SUCCEED.

More to come on this...I've been working on setting some new goals, a new plan, and a system to support those goals and plans. I'll be sharing soon!

In the meantime, keep in mind that even though I joke about it, even failure is a building block to success because it teaches us what needs to be changed or tweaked on the next try! It's all part of the learning experience...one I'm getting pretty darn good at.

Skirt Sports 13er - It's Not Half of Anything...GIVEAWAY

I absolutely love that the Skirt Sports refuses to call their 13er a "half" marathon. I've done 4 half marathons and 1 full marathon and I can tell you right now that they are both very challenging in their own right. Just because it is "only" 13.1 miles, doesn't mean it isn't going to change you in the process of training and running one!!

This is what Skirt Sports says about it on their website: 13.1 ain’t half of anything, it’s a whole race and a big milestone we’re going to celebrate together. For those that can’t join us for our Lousiville, CO 13er, let’s all train together virtually and from mile 1 to 13.1, we’ll have a #runcelebration.

Skirt Sports is holding their 13er Race on June 13, 2015 in Louisville Colorado, or absolutely ANYWHERE with their virtual option! And guess what - you have a chance at winning a Basic Entry valued at $85! As a Skirt Sports Ambassador Captain I have been provided with a free basic entry to either the actual 13er in Colorado or the Virtual 13er for one of you lucky readers. And don't worry if you aren't up to running 13.1 miles - you can also register for the 5k or 10k options and still get all the same awesome swag!

The winner will receive the following with their race entry:

• An awesome finisher skirt! 
  
• A $50 gift certificate to Skirt Sports to be used for absolutely ANYTHING you want!! Keep in mind that on full priced items you can use discount code SSPQL20 for 20% off. (If the item is already on sale or discounted please do not use the discount code as you will be contacted to pay the difference and may delay your order processing)
• A 13er Race Bib
• Swag Bag items from the race sponsors
• Monthly training tips newsletter

And in addition to that, you get to run 13.1 miles with thousands of other awesome women (and men - you all want a skirt too, right??) across the globe! What's not to love, right?? So enter to win using the Rafflecopter form below.

BUT if you don't want to wait to see if you won, or don't want to take any chances, you can register for the race at any time and can use that same discount code (SSPQL20) for 20% off the registration price. To register for the live event in Colorado click here and for the Virtual option click here.

Some details: I have been provided the race entry at no cost to me by Skirt Sports. All opinions regarding the race are my own and have not been influenced by Skirt Sports in any way. The contest opens on 5/13/15 and will close at midnight on 5/20/15. Winners will be notified by email and by entering to win consent to provide their email address to Skirt Sports so they can receive a special congratulations from them. Skirt Sports will not sell, provide, or use the email for any other purposes. Winners have the option of upgrading their registration ($125 or $275 gift certificates upgrades available), but will be required to pay the difference above and beyond the $85 basic entry fee.

Good luck!!

a Rafflecopter giveaway