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Comments: The first mile I made an effort not to go out too fast. Running through Old Town Scottsdale was nice. The buildings had an old west look. Around mile four, we veered onto a dirt path by a man-made corridor of water. This must be the canal I always hear my Phoenix friends talking about. The dirt wasn't deep, but I could feel it taking a little of the zip out of my legs. A woman blew by me, then started walking shortly after. I heard her yell to a friend, "OK, now we walk for 15 seconds." I wondered if we'd be switching leads throughout the race, but after I passed her I didn't see her again. A man wearing a tuxedo bodysuit and a top hat passed me. The course crossed over Temp Town Lake and you could see the finish line around mile seven. It was strange to see it knowing that there was almost 6 miles to go. I decided to have a few Sport Beans around here. I do a pretty good job of eating and running, but it probably slowed me down a little. As I ran over another bridge to cross over Tempe Town Lake again, I wasn't sure what side of the cones I should be on. It seemed like two lanes were blocked off, but there weren't very many runners. It was a good climb and I started seeing a few of the lead runners coming back the other way. By the time I did the turn-around and came back over the bridge, there were scores of runners. Now I understood why there were two lanes blocked off! I kept checking my watch to see if I would be able to break 1:40. I knew I had a chance, and pushed. Heading back toward the starting line, I passed a camper that had bunch of people with signs thanking the runners for supporting breast cancer research. There was also the strong smell of tobacco smoke. Ew. I kept pushing myself to try to keep pace, but I was really starting to feel the effects of the distance. I ended up passing tux guy. There wasn't anyone running next to me, and the closest person ahead was a few hundred meters off. It was kind of strange to be running by myself in such a large race. As I pulled in sight of the finish line, I gave it everything I had left, but came up just short. What would you do differently?: I think for the most part, I ran this race really well. Maybe I shouldn't have bothered with the beans. Maybe I should have started just a *little* bit faster. One thing I did decide was that I really enjoy the Half Marathon distance, and I signed up for the Surf City Half shortly after finishing this race. I am going to continue to train and hope that I will increase my fitness enough to go comfortably under 1:40 next time.  Post race
Warm down: I walked a for a little bit and got some fruit and a Luna Fiber bar. They didn't have the regular Luna bars available. I saw some of my friends cross the finish line and talked with them for a while. It was not a short walk to get back to the car. Event comments: I enjoyed this race and will try to fit it into my plans next year. The medal was pretty sweet :) Last updated: 2012-09-14 12:00 AM
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United States
Women’s Half Marathon
Sunny
Overall Rank = 47/2559
Age Group = F35-39
Age Group Rank = 13/529
I drove up to Phoenix the day before to pick up my packet and check out the expo. The expo was nice, but I didn't end up buying anything. There was a Luna Bar table and they were giving out samples. They were also giving free bars away to anyone who could guess the flavor of a mystery bar. Too easy. I've been eating Luna bars since the days when there were only four flavors (Chocolate Pecan Pie, I miss you!). So, no matter what happened at the race the next day, I was already a winner ;) I signed up for a bus to the start. I thought 5:30 fit the early-but-not-too-early bill.
When the alarm went off at 4:20, I had black tea, Greek yogurt, berries, and granola in my room. It was a quick ride to the parking lot and a short walk to the buses. When we arrived at the starting area, it was pretty empty.
**************Skip if you don't care about potty details**********
I went to one of the many empty port-o-potties and hoped that something would happen. Since there were so few people there, I stayed inside for a while. Nothing major happened. Came out, saw some friends. Tried again. It still wasn't very productive. Came out again, and saw some Phoenix friends that I had met at running camp. The race started in 20 minutes and I had my caffeinated Chocolate Cherry Clif shot. NOW I had to go. It was starting to get crowded now and the lines at the potties were long. I made it through with a few minutes to spare. I am beginning to notice a correlation between "high" levels of caffeine and BMs. I am not a coffee drinker and the black tea I sometimes have on race morning isn't quite enough to get things going. The Clif shot has 100mg, which is strong for me. I don't want to have it too much earlier, though, because if it's in my system and I don't start exercising in about 15 - 20 minutes, I feel kind of weird.
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I ran the short distance from the potties to starting line and did a little jumping and high knees in place.