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Comments: Ok! So after hours of standing around and walking back and forth between transition areas and the start/finish line, I was finally off. I took off feeling surprisingly strong and quick, and felt bad for passing the slower marathoners, some of whom were obviously struggling at that point. I told myself not to push the pace too much early on, but I had been so anxious to finally run that it was hard to reign it in. I quickly warmed up and was glad I was wearing the running skirt and short sleeve shirt. Wasn't too warm but was definitely humid, and the clouds were beginning to break up and the sun was peeking out (glad I wore my sunglasses!). Cruised along, enjoying being out on the course finally. Right arch was hurting a bit, but not too bad. Kept running. Ate 1 shot blok about 2 miles in, and continued to eat one blok at each mile thereafter. Got water at most of the water stops (which were also roughly at each mile). Easily passed a lot of marathoners (who were probably cursing me, but I was wishing I had the fitness to be out there doing a full marathon myself too!) and a couple other relay runners. After about 4 miles I was starting to drag a little and my metatarsal area of my right foot was bothering me (I think now it was a combination of all the standing and my shoes being too tight). Unhappy about that and wondering again why I thought running a half-marathon in 2 weeks was a good idea. But I kept seeing those marathoners struggling to keep moving, knew the rest of my team (and Travis and Mark) was waiting for me at the finish line, and knew I had to keep running. It had been hard to tell exactly what pace I was running since I didn't start at an exact mile marker, but from what I could tell I was averaging around 9:30-9:40, which I was happy with. Soon, I reached the marker denoting that I just had a 5K left. I told myself, "5K is easy! HTFU and run!" By now the sun was shining and while my legs were tired and my foot hurt, I was getting close and knew it. Adrenaline was starting to take over. Soon I was running along the boardwalk and then on it, and I knew how close the finish line was. The crowd picked up again, too, which helped. About .25 mile out I started giving it all I had, trying to look and listen for the rest of my team as I passed the crowd along the fence. Finally, less than 25 yards from the finish, I heard my team shouting for me. Waved and pumped my fist to them as I cruised to the finish line, smile on my face. We did it! What would you do differently?: Perhaps not retie my shoes so tightly. Maybe sit more while waiting to run, but that wasn't really an option.  Post race
Warm down: Walked through the finish chute and collected my team's finisher hats and medals. Met up with Travis and the rest of them and went to the food tent. Legs were tired and a little wobbly but I kept upright and moving til we got back to the car (about 20 or so minutes later). Did take my shoes off soon after finishing and put on flip flops - and boy did that feel good! What limited your ability to perform faster: The standing and walking around before my turn to run, mostly. But I loved running the anchor leg and crossing the finish line for the team, so I wouldn't have changed that. Event comments: Very good race. Very well-organized and went smoothly. Last updated: 2007-12-29 12:00 AM
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** Warning: Read at your own risk. This part will be long. **
On Saturday my mom, Travis, and I went to the expo to pick up our stuff. It was CRAZY windy at the beach there and we were rather concerned about what the race would be like if it was that windy on Sunday (as it was, the forecast was calling for rain). Met up with Tom (TC117), which was awesome. Chatted for a while, then we all headed out.
That evening the rest of my relay team (friends Lauren and Heather) and a couple other friends came over for a carbo-loading pasta party. Earlier in the day my mom and I had prepared lasagna and baked ziti, and we had salad and bread. Drank a TON of water, too! Lots of laughing. Good times had by all.
Sunday morning I planned to sleep til 5am, but a text message from Lauren wondering what running bottoms I was going to wear (answer: running skirt) woke me up at 4:37am. Got out of bed at 5, ate a banana and peanut butter on a slice of WW bread, and drank soy milk. Left the house around 5:30 and picked up Lauren. Drank a cup of coffee on the way.
Arrived in Long Branch and parked after sitting in some traffic. Walked over to the start area and met up with Heather and her boyfriend Mark (who was to become our team sherpa). Thankfully, though it was cool and very cloudy, it was NOT raining and wasn't too windy. Drank some more water. Stood around while my mom (who decided to run the lead-off leg of the relay) and Travis (who ran the half-marathon) queued up at the start. After a few minutes of delay due to traffic problems, the race got under way. We hung around til it appeared that my mom had crossed the starting line, then walked over to the first transition area for the relay.
While waiting at the transition area, we saw the lead half-marathoner and marathoners go by, and then eventually also saw Travis and cheered for him. Lauren got ready to run and we kept an eye out for my mom. Soon, she came running in and Lauren took the chip (on a really scratchy ankle band) and took off running for her 7.7-mile leg. My mom reported that she felt great after her 5.2 miles. She grabbed some water and then we all walked the block and a half or so back to the start/finish area to watch for Travis.
More standing around ensued. I was getting hungry, so I ate a Pria bar and another banana. Eventually, my mom suggested that she and Heather walk down to the second transition area to wait for Lauren while I waited for Travis to finish the half. A couple minutes after she, Heather, and Mark headed for the transition area (.25 mile away), I saw Travis approaching and yelled out to him, snapped a picture, and took off running toward the finish line myself so I could retrieve him from the mess of people. He PRed by a ton and felt good after he finished, which was awesome. I was very excited for him. Walked with him to the second transition area, where Heather was getting ready to run and my mom was keeping an eye out for Lauren coming in. After a little while, Lauren arrived and Heather swapped the chip to her ankle and ran off for her ~5.4-mile leg.
The rest of us slowly headed back over to the first transition area (about .5 mile away). More standing around. By this point, my feet were hurting and I was beginning to feel tired just from all the standing and walking. Finally, decided Heather would soon be arriving, so I got ready to run. Ate one shot blok and drank a little water, tightened my shoelaces (maybe too much as it turned out), jumped around to stay warm (after having taken off my sweats). Soon, my mom yelled out that she saw Heather coming. She ran in and I grabbed the chip and wrapped it around my ankle and took off.
See above.