Emerald Bay Half Marathon

Or the race I thought would be easy and wasn’t.

I always say this: A half marathon is never easy.

But the Emerald Bay half marathon at Lake Tahoe was advertised as a net downhill run so I didn’t think it would be too hard. Even though I had barely trained and had just come back from a month long trip to Italy, I still thought I could run this race in close to 2 hours.

Boy, was I wrong.

My mom and I took the shuttle to the start at Inspiration Point and waited around for an hour in the cold that was quickly becoming not-so-cold. I ended up shedding all my layers and running in a t-shirt. It was unseasonably warm for October.

The race started out downhill. My plan was to take advantage of the downhill and bank some time, ignoring the other piece of advice I normally adhere to, which is “don’t start out too fast.” I ran the first two miles in close to 8 minutes each, and by mile 4, I knew I was in trouble. I felt terrible. It felt like I wasn’t getting enough oxygen, my heart was beating out of my chest, and I felt nauseated. I had to stop and walk by mile 4. I don’t think I’ve ever had to walk that early in a race before!

I ended up walking a little bit each mile from 4 on. I just couldn’t run an entire mile for the rest of the race. I continued feeling poorly the whole time. The course was a nice path along a bike trail but I couldn’t really enjoy it. All the great views of the lake were at the beginning of the race. After that, we ran through woods and then along the road until finally turning towards the beach!

I was just so ready for the race to be over! I made my way to the beach and sat down for a long time to recover. I still felt nauseated. I made it back over to the finish area just in time to snap a picture of my mom as she finished! (My mom did great, and did not have the problems I did).

On the way back to the car, I felt so sick, I had to stop several times to breathe and quell the nauseous feeling in my stomach. I threw up on the car ride, then immediately took a two hour nap when I got home. I’ve never felt so bad for so long after a race was over! I blame the exertion at altitude along with my insufficient training. It was my worst race since Michigan.

It was one of those races that shredded my muscles and I could barely walk for the next 3 days. I had muscle pain in my left IT band and hamstring with every step, along with some calf soreness.

So the lesson here is that I need to go back to my original game plan! No race is easy, and I need to be consistent with my running. Some people can run races without any training, but I can’t. My two most miserable races were the ones I trained for the least. I don’t like being sore and unable to walk after a race. When I train adequately for a race, it’s much more enjoyable both running and recovering!

Even though it was a terrible race for me personally, it was a fun laid back race with gorgeous views at the beginning, a later start time, not too crowded, and it is a net downhill (though after the first 3 miles, it's rolling hills with plenty of up AND down). My mom and I enjoyed exploring Lake Tahoe. We got to check out the restaurants in Heavenly Village and do some sight seeing during the off season when crowds were at a minimum. Lake Tahoe is beautiful and peaceful in October!

Official Results: 2:18:16