I ran a halloween race, a half marathon! Let’s start at the beginning…
I made the solo drive Sunday morning up to Golden, Colorado.
When I arrived and I putted on my bib #1613….on this nice shirt
The expo was nice and I’d give it an 6 out of 10. Thankfully, the morning I felt great and same time nervous to be honest.
The first half of the race was great. I felt good. My running felt good. Everything just felt good! I stopped and walked through each water stop, since the past few long runs.
Now here is where the “fun”comes in. For those of you who have been following my blog know, I’ve spent a lot of time this summer working on and experimenting with my nutrition in Maryland, Mexico, and back to Colorado. The first HUGE mistake I made this race (and really, I’m a newbie so this is a big lesson I learned) is that I ate not enough breakfast before the race. Instead, *sigh* WHEN will I ever learn? Around mile 7/8 I started getting those chills that always signal to me that my electrolytes are low. I had eat GU Gel…. I will make sure I eat, drink plenty water and electrolytes and snacks! Next time!
SECOND mistake: I glanced at the race map the night before and assumed by the little water droplets on the picture that there were water stops every mile……
The website claims they feel like every 2 miles to 3 miles stops.
All I know is that I started to get really tired and knew I needed to gu around mile 8 so I had to take my own energy jelly beans to eat and grab one, and another one stop until after 10 (Oh yes there was a long up hill between 9 to 11 miles to climb with a hardest breathing and walking all way up).
It messed with my body, messed my left IT band which it got real stiff/tight, and it messed with my head. It’s that fine line of not wanting to have TOO much nutrition (and the dreaded gu-belly), but not wanting to burn out. I am 100% positive that my diet as of late has not helped. Candies and Cakes, too much coffees, you all know what I’m talking about, I certainly blog about it enough, haha. Needless to say, I have some work to do with my eating and drinking.
I will say though, I used Gu Gel plus Jelly Bean Energy, and had zero stomach issues during the race. Post race my stomach did a few flip flops, but after about 30 minutes I was fine.
The craziest thing happened to me. I was literally around 25 yards from the finish. I had just run 13 miles already. And my body just….stopped. It is like I couldn’t go any further. I can’t pinpoint the exact reason. I wasn’t entirely out of breath, a little labored breathing but certainly not gasping. My legs hurt, but no shooting pain or anything. It was just like my gas tank was running on fumes and the fumes were gone. I was struggling and crying to push myself.
As I was pushing myself to just get to the finish line already (I had already realized I forgot to ask my husband to take picture of me at finish line, sorry no picture.) But at the time, the “I JUST WANT THIS RACE TO BE OVER” I was thinking “get the *&%$ out to the line!!”.
I crossed the finish line, got some water, sat down (awesome), my medal, and the best post race treat ever: A banana, burrito of egg and bacon, and candies! (Yes I was shaky because my sugar was very low.)
I was thinking to myself that I finished my first EVER half marathon! I’m super proud of myself! And equally as exciting, my husband and daughter came down to the finish! I was SOOOOOO HAPPY to see them especially mostly my daughter!
Post race: My husband signed me up for stretch lab and it do felt so AWESOME!!!!!!
So all rambling aside, here are my final thoughts on this race:
1) It was a good race, but I was a bit disappointed in the whole of between 9 to 11 miles of big up hill to climb felt like hiking plus my left IT band got stiff and tight.
2) Don’t take your chances on nutrition Nicki what were you thinking?!?
3) I have to say the back of the pack is more fun. No one was having “fun” in the front. I guess everyone had a time goal.
4) I am so incredibly blessed and lucky. I’m so lucky to have such a supportive Kris and Ember plus family and closest friends that give me their blessing. I’m so lucky to have met so many different people across the country through running and my journey through Maryland people, Mexico people and new people in Colorado I met.
5) I have a lot of work to do between now and January 8, 2023 (Disney Marathon Florida), if on nothing more than my non race nutrition. Time to pick it up a notch Nicki!
