Tobacco Road Half and Full Marathon - RunHalf Marathon

Felt fantastic going into this run.Sleep quite well which was awesome, but not normal! I have been on an emotional rollercoaster the past 2 days and I know I am heading into another emotional week with my Grandmother's funeral but I used the memory of her to keep me positive. Original goal was to come in under 2 hours as my last half was 2:20 but I left the watch at home and went totally on feel.

The start was chaotic as usual but within about 2 miles it spread out nicely and I found myself with the 1:50 pace group. I actually didn't want to be around a pace group because I found the group of people to be rather annoying and I knew if I started to drift back I would start to freak out. But as much as I tried to speed up or slow down I ended up staying in that pack so I just went with it. I felt SO STRONG and consistent. I have never felt that great.

I grabbed some Chomps at mile 4 and popped one in, Cranberry Apple...eww! Threw those out and grabbed a Gu at mile 6, dropped it went back for another, Vanilla Bean aka cake icing, gross! But I took it anyways with some water. Maintained the pace with no problem.

My right leg started to tighten around mile 8 but nothing painful which was good. I worked out my form a bit and let it not get to me. Once we were off the trail we had a 5k left and I was still feeling great. I decided to pull away from the group with 2 miles left, which may have been a bit premature as I only finished 30 seconds before the group :) Nonetheless I was able to sprint to the end with jazz hands! Grandma would have LOVED that!

Nothing! This was probably my perfect race, no stomach problems, no major pains and perfect weather...awesome.

Made sure to walk around and re-hydrate, got some sugar and carbs in me so I wouldn't pass out. Then got a short massage and then stretched more. Biofreezed the legs while waiting for the marathoners.


Lots of drink and Gu stations but I saw little to no medical aid stations, during the OBX marathon they were at every other water station, didn't effect me much but I know it effected other which needed vaseline :) Also quite a difference in crowd participation between OBX and this race, I felt like a rockstar finishing OBX but noticed many of the later marathoners came in to hardly anyone.