13.1

Race: Gopher to Badger Half Marathon

Date: August 10, 2013

Time: 2:23:17

Pace: 10:57

Place: 865 of 1048 finishers

Just a brief re-cap. The race didn't go quite as well as I would have liked, but in general I am quite pleased to have finished it (and to have run the farthest I have ever run!). A week and a half before the race my right knee was a little sore after my last long-run before the race (to clarify it didn't hurt while I ran, but became sore by the next day). Unfortunately a week straight of vending followed, thus my knee did not have time to fully recover before the race. I considered not running it, or just running the 5k, but as it was not bothering me while vending the Vikings game the night before the half, on Saturday morning I thought I would give it a shot, knowing I could always stop. Well my knee ended up feeling tight after just a few miles, and had a dull pain by about mile 6. I stopped to walk and get some gatorade at mile 8, hoping that a brief rest would let my knee recover enough to finish the race. Walking hurt much worse than jogging did and after looking around and not seeing any event staff/ not knowing what to do if I decided I couldn't finish, I decided that I would try to run the last 5 miles as I would never make it to the finish line at the rate I was walking. I started my jog back up, knowing that if I had to stop to walk again I would be done. Miles 8 and 9 were extremely difficult, but by the time I saw the 10 mile marker I knew I had it in me- I just took it 3 songs (or 1 mile) at a time.

This race was much harder than the 10 miler we ran a few months ago. It was obviously 3 miles longer, but it was also much warmer and sunnier (there was no shade, running on county roads for about the first 9 miles), and it was much hillier (not steep hills, but long, slight inclines). This combined with my sore knee led to a very physically and mentally tough race. Even David, who finished with an average pace under 8 minutes and who has run a marathon said it was a tough course/ race for him. And in case you are curious he finished in 1:44:11, which was 186 overall.

The race itself was a lot of fun- it went from Stillwater, MN to Hudson, WI  and was supposed to be a "border battle" between the two states. Each runner had a bib color that corresponded to their home state as well as their state initials written on the back of their calves (presumably to motivate the runners behind you not to let the opponent finish in front of you). There was music, snacks, and massages at the finish line. And since this race was approximately 7x bigger than the last one I did, crossing the finish line felt a lot more festive. Oh, and during the race there were a lot more fans/ spectators/ cheerers than the Mississippi 10 miler, due to size of the race, and accessibility of the course, which I enjoyed a lot more than I thought I would. From now on when I drive by a race I'll be sure to start honking my horn!