Monday, July 19, 2010

Half Sane? or Half Crazy?

Half & Half Race Report/Recap

The whole idea of this HALF & HALF RACE was that people would run the race on their own schedule, and choose the coolest day to go.  Yea.  About that.

So, on Friday the heat index was forecast to hit 105 by noon.  Uh huh.  And yet, we still met:  me, DeNeice, Kty, and T at 5:30 am to start our run.  5:30 sounded plenty early, and the photos proved it was plenty dark.  But, you know what?  It was still hot.  HOT.  We were maybe a little Crazy to go ahead with the plan, but we've already proved that we're Runners First, Logical Thinkers Second - so before we start to question our sanity, let's assume we're at least Half Sane.

At mile 3, the course wrapped past T's house.  KTy had an issue and called Parcheesi - settling for a 5K instead.  She had a good reason, it's not mine to share.  And to be honest, by mile 8.5 through till around mile 11ish I was darned jealous.  Jealous may not be a strong enough word.

The course wound through Glen Allen, through a Civil War Battlefield, and back to T's house.

By mile 9ish we were talking DeNeice into either sticking it out or bailing out...  she had to choose soon though.  The last few miles took us furthest from home.  She stayed and ran with me & T until pretty close to 12 when she ran ahead to stretch her legs.  Right around 12, T says, "I'm going to turn here and pick up my extra mile".  In my heart I knew I shouldn't let her go alone.  We were all bordering on dehydration, I was feeling really bad, and I didn't like the idea that she was out there alone.  Just seemed wrong.  But I didn't protest too much when she sent me home.  That was a mistake, immediately after T left me, DeNiece turned a corner, I'm now alone, and a wave of chills washed over me, rendering me supremely dizzy.  I thought, "I could walk... but then it will take longer", so... I ran through the dizziness.  Slugging along at a dizzying 11:30 pace.


Pretty sure, that Running 101 has something on "running through dizziness = bad", but whatever.  

DeNiece apparently had a psychic moment and turned around for me with a half mile to go.

We got back to T's house/the end of the race in 2:19:28 - my third worst Half Marathon yet... or, my third BEST Half Marathon yet - depends on how you look at it I guess.  T finished her 14 miles about 10 minutes later.

Thanks again to all the participants.  I'm getting caught up on everyone's races, and will have the results/awards posted as soon as I possibly can!

9 comments:

Running Diva Mom said...

Hey -- I just posted my virtual race report

http://runningdivamom.blogspot.com/2010/07/my-first-triple-half-half-virtual-race.html

Thanks for hosting and keeping me motivated!!!!! Great job!

Pam @ herbieontherun.com said...

You ladies are rockstars for running in this. Give me a big fat DNS for mine. My plan fell through. I was GONNA use the first 3.1 of my 7-miler Saturday morning as my 5K, but when I got out there and saw how freakin' hot it was I knew if I sprinted the first 3.1 I wouldn't survive the last 3.9. :( I'm logical thinker first and runner sec- .... well, maybe not second but it's down the line somewhere. LOL

Shellyrm ~ just a country runner said...

Glad to see you all made it through okay. Running when your lightheaded is no fun!

Alanna said...

Got home from vacation late last night... will post as soon as I can, but today's my 7th anniversary so probably won't be tonight! Hopefully up in the next couple of days.

I feel kind of guilty even writing about mine since I had to wear a toque and gloves!

Anne said...

My race report is posted! Thanks for hosting this :)

Congrats on your race...you guys are wild!

Unknown said...

Here's another:

http://cynsspace.blogspot.com/2010/07/where-is-my-mask.html

I bet you never thought you'd end up with one of these!

labriek said...

Just sent you mine :) thanks so much for organizing! What a good motivation.

Alanna said...

Posted a pictorial for now... can't wait to read the others!

http://running42km.blogspot.com/2010/07/neurosis-of-sahm-of-3-virtual-half-half.html

Julie D. said...

oh my word. I don't know how you guys run in that heat. Glad you are okay and you finished it!! Amazing!