Virginia Beach Rock N' Roll

On Sunday, I ran the Virginia Beach Rock N' Roll half marathon. I had several goals for my race.

Well, the race sucked. The humidity was TERRIBLE that weekend. I was sweating before I even started running. I can say that I met my first goal- I definitely started out slow.

It was the other two goals that were problems. I had trouble finding a rhythm. I started out at a decent pace, but as the humidity got worse and worse, my pace got slower and slower. Tristan was going to try to break 2 hours, so she started out ahead of me. I caught up to her around mile 7 and we were both struggling. She decided that her time goal wasn't worth it on such a hot, humid day. We ran a few miles together.

Then I started really struggling. I had been pouring water on my head to help me cool off, but that idea backfired. By mile 9, my clothes were totally waterlogged from water and sweat. I was probably carrying around an extra three pounds! Then I started to feel really weird. I was getting chills and felt cold even though I was still sweating a ton. I was also feeling kind of emotional, like on the verge of tears. I don't know what exactly was wrong, but the heat and exertion was definitely getting to me. I decided to walk.

I walked for about 3-4 minutes, until I felt "normal" again- aka the chills stopped, I got a hold of myself, and I felt able to run again. I'm glad I listened to my body. I think those three minutes of walking were worth it. After that I ran the rest of the way, although it was slowly! I was still struggling a bit to finish those last few miles. I didn't really pick up speed at the end. It was all I could do just to keep running. So needless to say, I didn't have the strong finish I wanted.

After the race, I had to sit down for awhile to recover. I drank a lot of water and gatorade and put a cold towel on my neck to help me cool off. Then I got my bag from bag check because I couldn't wait to change out of my waterlogged clothes and put on a dry shirt. That alone made me feel about ten times better!

Tristan and I spent the next few hours resting at the hotel and watching TV. We were such bums after that race; we didn't feel like doing anything! We both had a race that didn't meet our expectations. It was a tough one. But, we made it all 13.1 miles, no matter how long it took us, no matter how painful it was. I think that's an accomplishment in itself. The fact that we are out there testing our limits while some people choose to live comfortably, never challenging themselves. The fact that we have goals that are difficult and exhausting to achieve. The fact that we can look at each race and say "I can do better." There are other races that will be cooler and easier and I'll run faster. But you can never guarantee a perfect race day or perfect conditions. So for this one, I'm just happy that I finished (and got a really cool medal!)

My time. 2:11:41 (a personal worst!)
My stats:
5K 29:28 / 9:29 pace
10K 59:02 / 9:32 pace
10M 1:38:06 / 10:20 pace
Average pace overall: 10:03