Holy Half Marathon Race Recap

My first half marathon of 2013 is complete. I decided early on this year I was going to run some new races that I had not run before or choose races I had not done the last couple of years.

So I set out for my first half of 2013.

Got up early and had waffles with peanut butter and set out to my friend Bryan's house. Once we got the entire group in one car we drove to South Bend together. As we drove we all chatted about goals and what we thought the race would be like. Bryan mentioned that the course was a two lap course around the campus of Notre Dame... I was instantly disappointed we wouldn't be running around some of the really nice parts of South Bend similar to the Sunburst half I did back in June of 2012.


My friend Bryan tried to do packet pickup for us Friday however the race event failed to mention we needed to send him with signed waivers so we had to check in Saturday morning... ANNOYING... this should have been posted on their site.


After we got checked in (which was very unorganized), hit the port a potties (there were not enough) we set out to figure out the start line. I understand that due to this being a small race (it is all put on and organized by students) there were no starting corrals. However this was the most unorganized start EVER! The announcements were hard to hear and it was very crowded at the start. I felt very uneasy getting started... Here is Lily, Bryan and myself at the start line. I am faking this smile entirely because I am so nervous about the unorganized start. To take my mind off the race and start I sent a text to my mom of this photo so she would know I was about to start the race. I was also freezing at the start of this race regardless of the blinding sun that was out.

Lily, Me and Bryan

They sounds the race horn and that is when I figured out that this was a chip start and finish (thank god). I wasn't sure if it was since it was such a small race. During the first mile I was running near Bryan and my other friend Brian. The made everyone stay on the sidewalk and the start was very crowded. Brian and I were discussing how crowded the beginning was. Then he goes on to mention that it seemed like there were a lot more females than males running (he was right 455 males finished but 521 females finished). I then said it looked like the race was mostly for the student body and that we should do really well in our respective age groups. I joked that maybe I would even win mine. As we looked around most of the runners seemed much younger than us. At the first water stop I passed on water. It wasn't even 1 mile into the race. Just after the first mile we went "off" roading. The area was a very hard frozen over mud. It was very hard to try to focus on my run because I was focused on not falling/tripping on the dirt. This went on for a couple of miles then we set out pass the lake and back onto the pavement. This is we went by student housing where students were very happy to see their friends. In fact they were already in celebrating mood. It was like running through a tailgate. Then we went out near the streets, then they made us go down and back a sidewalk. I noticed it seemed like we were headed back for the start line and we did. The marked everyone's 10K time because this was everyone's 10K mark. Then we set out for the 2nd loop. Although I knew what to expect for most of the 2nd loop I knew I couldn't keep the good pace I had the first loop because the uneven areas were making me so nervous. I was right. I ran nearly 7 minutes longer on the 2nd loop. You can see the water area marked where we had to run on the uneven pavement. As we went by the student housing again I knew we were getting very close to finish. By this time the students tailgate was much more roudy. One guy said to me "That guy up there is talking shit about you go get'em" I can't lie this thought really made me laugh and helped me push hard that last 1.5 miles or so. The out and back that we had to do near the baseball field I saw Bryan and Brian. They both really helped push me through to the end knowing I wasn't far behind.

One last push and all three of us finished... First Bryan, then Brian and then me...

Brian, Me and Bryan

All three of us were discussing did you see your time? I was wearing my watch but I wasn't sure of my actual time. I knew it was not a PR but I was proud of the way I ran considering the unexpected mileage "off road."  Then we saw the tent where you could get your actual race results... I was so proud when I saw the actual results: 1:55:41... 4th place out of 21 in my age group!! I was also 190/521 females and 476 out of 976 finishers.

Honestly I would not do this race again. However I am glad I went and ran. I learned a few things from this race though: be more prepared, need to get back to my correct eating habits the day before a race, and be more prepared for the unexpected during a race.