Heels and Hills Race Recap

Goal Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Actual Time: 2 hours 31 minutes 13 seconds

I had fun at the Heels and Hills Half Marathon, despite the weather!

My bib

The tech shirt. I like it!

I set up all of my stuff the night before so I'd be ready. I was sure not to forget my chip timer this time!

I woke up nice and early to get ready. It was decided that I would be the driver to this race (Positive A and I switch up for each race!). Quick pose for the camera in my 'traditional' pose...

I just LOVE the 13.1 temp. tattoo. I may have to order some more of these!

I picked Positive A up and then went on to pick up Casey! Off we went! We made it to the race site with plenty of time. We got a good parking spot, and only had to walk a few minutes to the race start area.

Us in the parking garage right when we got there!

We got some random person to take a picture of us. I REALLY like this picture of the 3 of us!

 

Casey, Positive A & Me

Some random fun pictures from before the race.

 

A dude in a skirt

Another dude in a skirt!

Alison standing in the port 'o potty line!

We met up with someone that I only knew through blogging, Lori, over at Off to a Running Start. Casey has known her for a long time. It was really nice to put a face to a name!

Lori, Casey & Me

The 4 of us!

We made it to the race start. Off we went!

 

Casey had a set plan to run 3 minutes then walk 3 minutes for as long as she could. Positive A and I decided that we were going to *try* to stick with the 2:25 pacing group. That lasted until about the first water stop at around 2 miles. They ended up pretty far ahead of us and we never really saw them again after that. We stuck to a 10:30ish mile pace while running, and then walked for just a little bit at the start of each mile. We lost Casey & Lori pretty quickly. Around mile 3 or 4 I ran into a friend from church who was running the 10k.

Right at the beginning, it started raining. Then it stopped. Then it started again. It rained pretty heavy for just a bit but it mostly drizzled for the entire run. I warmed up pretty fast, and the first 4 miles felt great. Miles 4-6 were rough for both Positive A and myself, and we aren't really positive why, though I think it was b/c the wind was pretty rough and we were almost running against it. We were still keeping the pace that we wanted, but I felt like we were giving a much greater effort to keep it than it should have taken.

We made our loop around and headed back.

I ran ahead and snapped a picture of Alison...

 

And then she got one of me...

 

We then came up to the 10 mile marker...where I take my traditional picture...

Um, look at my calf. Pretty freaking awesome!

 At this point someone at one of the aid stations that we were passing stopped us and told us that we should take cover under the gazebo thingy that was there b/c hail was coming and the race was paused. PAUSED. Seriously? Who pauses a race? Alison and I contemplated stopping, but they had no way of getting us back to our cars...so we were gonna have to run at some point. So, since we only has 3.1 miles left, we decided to just go for it. It wasn't really raining, we didn't see any lightning and it wasn't hailing at that point. So on we went!

I was wearing my Garmin, and I was soooo happy that I did, b/c we saw the 13 mile marker earlier than expected. Alison and I finished the race, but my Garmin said that we only ran 12.45 miles.

We got our medals right as we crossed the finish line.

Crossing the finish line the first time.

We then felt cheated, so we decided to turn around and run the last bit of the race. We ran back up the street, turned around and ran back...and crossed the finish line again. 

Crossing the finish line the second time.

Alison and I went to eat a quick snack and drink some water while waiting for Casey to finish. 

 

Casey texted me to let me know that she was almost done, so Alison and I went back up the race route to meet her to finish with her. 

Here comes Casey!

I crossed the finish line for a third time! How fun!

Casey crossing her FIRST half marathon finish line.

The 3 of us with our medals.

Me with my medal!

Traditional car picture.

By the time that we got to the car, the temperature had dropped significantly. I was FREEZING. The wind was HORRID. We were all STARVING. I called up my hubby and him and my boys came to meet us at Olive Garden to eat some food!

Me and Miguel

Me and my 4 1/2 year old, Colin

Me and my 2 1/2 year old, Brennan

Last picture of the 3 of us!

That's my re-cap! I also wanted to mention that I am sooooo proud of and happy for my friend Casey. She's awesome. This was her first half marathon, but it was very special to her and marked a special time in her life b/c she is recovering from Lyme's Disease. Just 1 year ago, she was practically bedridden and using a walker or wheelchair to get around. Today she crossed the finish line into recovery. Follow her journey here

Casey's first half marathon medal, but also the start to a new life.