Sunday morning,
Gigi and I woke up at about 6:30 to get ready for the race. Breakfast would be available at the hotel starting at 7:30 so we took our time!
The breakfast set up was nice, it was a shame I cannot really eat much before a half! I grabbed a bagel, and left it plain, which was probably a mistake. It tasted.... off. I don't know what it was, maybe freezer burn? I choked down about a quarter of it, and called it a day!
We drove to the start, mostly because Gigi twisted her ankle earlier in the week, and we were not sure how she would feel afterwards! The start was less than a mile from the hotel.
There was ample parking, which was a nice treat, and we spotted Eileen and Carol leaving the lot, so we knew that they would be easy to find!
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| Thank you, random stranger, for taking this pic of us! |
It was warm out already, so we ditched our
Digital Running jackets right away. Good thing, because it only got warmer! We made a beeline for the port potty area, so that we could find Carol and Eileen. We spotted them immediately, and tried to help them find their friend. No luck, though! Eileen's friend Tom took a quick photo of us.
The waiting area was pretty mobbed, and we waited for the announcement to line up at the Start.
While we waited, Gigi spotted some minions! I was so excited to see that it was Jennifer from The
Final Forty! We
stalked asked them for some photos, and they were super good sports about it! I usually only see Jen at out of state races, but we have gotten better at spotting each other at local races as well!
I couldn't resist a pic of this guy! Who doesn't love Captain Underpants? He was such a good sport, he even posed with a young boy that was a fan of the books! His wife was only mildly embarrassed!
Time to get started! The race started off, and Gigi and I started out with her friend Kim. Kim hadn't been training , though, so she mostly walked the race. We parted at around mile 2 or so, and continued on with a 3:1 run/walk. The first 5 miles had a ton of hills, however, so we walked the hills and did out best to get on track after each one. I must say, the scenery was amazing!
At the start, someone did fall and seemed to be in a lot of pain! I hope she was okay!
At about mile 7-ish, we turned into the park. I couldn't resist stopping to pose! Thanks, Gigi, for taking the pic!
The park was beautiful, and I remember parts if it, a little, from last year. It was also much cooler in the park, which was nice, because there were a few hot spots out in the real world! We turned at mile 7.5 and a bicycle cop told us we were halfway done. Wait. What? This is a 15 mile race? We argued with him a bit but he stood firm. Mile 7.5 is halfway. Okay. Whatever. We also got a glimpse of the faster runners, who were at about mile 10ish, as they ran by in the other direction.
We did come out of the park for a couple miles, and just before we turned back in, they opened the roads. Yikes! We were just over 2 hours at that point, I think, and they closed the roads? There were still runners behind us, and I felt bad for them! Maybe 4 cars or so passed by us before we turned back into the park. Ahhhhhh cool temps again! And horses. There were horses.
So we finished. It was a very.... boring finish. We were given our medal but there was no photographer taking finisher photos. There was no water. There was no food. Just 2 volunteers handing out medals.
Huh?
We started walking towards a group of people before realizing the food was at a gazebo in the other direction, about 5 minutes walk from the start. Behind the start, sort of. And no one was directing anyone there. We just missed the costume contest, where one of the winners was the guy who won last year. In the same costume that he wore last year. Really? There were no other costumes as good as the recycled costume?
Okay.
So there was plenty of food. In fact, we were told to take handfuls of everything because there was so much. Water? Not so much. Spectators were walking around with 6 bottles of it, but none for the actual runners.
We went back to the start to wait for Kim, and cheer her in. Gigi even ran back a ways to run in with her. She was so happy we waited!
Someone brought some small cups of water over, so we finally got our water, about 20 minutes or more after we finished.
We had to rush back to the hotel so we would make our late checkout time. We must have smelled pretty ripe, because the manager gave us an extra 15 minutes! Score!
I even managed to climb the Fitbit leaderboard. I usually hang around #8 or so.
The medal is pretty much identical to last year's medal, except last year Superman was blue.
The race was fun, thanks to Gigi, and beautiful, thanks to Morristown being....well...beautiful.
The race was also poorly run, again, and this will be my last time. Just like last year, I am still hoping for photos, but so far there are none of me or Gigi. I am not optimistic.
BUT
#8 of 14 Half Marathons is done!
Have you ever run a race and just felt.... meh.... about it?
