Monday, September 14, 2009

Lewis and Clarke Half Marathon Race Report...

I decided to run this race a few weeks ago.  My friend Laura in St. Louis mentioned that she was going to run this race and I checked my calendar and realized I could run it too!  I was a little concerned about being able to run it since I had knee issues after the San Francisco Marathon, but it all worked out.

I rode the Amtrak train to St. Louis from Kansas City.  I had never done this before and thought I would give it a shot.  It was actually quite relaxing.  I listened to my ipod and read a little bit and took in the scenery. 

On Sunday morning, we woke up around 5:00 am so that we could be in St. Charles around 6:00 am.  Normally, I wake up eat/drink and pee a few times before I leave home or the hotel and do not have to wait long before the start.  The race did not start until 7:15, so I thought maybe I needed to drink more water.  Note to self:  more water means more peeing!  I have never had to use a port-a-potty before a race, but I did on Sunday.

We lined up and started the race.  After about a half a mile, I looked at Laura and told her that I thought I was going to pee my pants.  I am not sure where this came from, since I had just gone to the bathroom.  I have never had this happen to me before.  Not being sure of when the first aid station would be, I did want any other Southwest Missouri girl would do, I find a large sign with bushes around it and took off for the sign so I could pee!  My mom would be so proud!  Laura said that when I darted, some really handsome guys were laughing and got a huge kick out of me taking off to pee.  I am not sure I understand this, because I have seen more men stopping to be by bushes than at the port-a-potties!

Ah, much better.  I never could catch Laura, so I just plugged away listening to my ipod.  Around mile four or five, my knee started getting a little sore, but it was fine after a few more miles.  There was a long incline going up to the bridge to cross the Missouri River.  I saw a lot of people walking at this point.  I am happy to say that I just ran right up that sucker!  I really think all of the hills I have been running are finally paying off!  I ended up seeing Laura around mile 10.  I crossed the finish line in 2:02:18.  Not my best half marathon, but I was pretty happy with it!

I would list my splits, but I have no idea how to get that information off of my Garmin!

3 comments:

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

How fun - you ran a half marathon race! Congrats!

Seeing your splits is fun, so... Let's see... One way to see your splits, if you've got a 205 like me (other Garmins might be similar), click the mode button, hit enter when you see 'history' highlighted in black, hit enter when you see 'running' highlighted in black, hit enter when you see 'by day' highlighted, click enter when you see the date you want highlighted (use arrow buttons to scroll up /down), hit enter when you see 'view laps', and scroll arrow down to see your mile splits. They'll be just above the 'Best' pace line.

If that doesn't work, I probably missed something, but I hope it works!

Tina @GottaRunNow said...

On second thought, seeing my splits is fun - if I sped up!!!

Laura said...

Ok. I was going to tell you how to see your splits- but, looks like that is already covered.