Thursday, September 30, 2010

Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 2: Before the Start

 

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PREVIOUSLY:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 1: Traveling and The Expo

 

Ok, so I know I said in the last post that this would be “Part 2: The Race” BUT, I changed my mind 1) because I’ve picked up a few extra hours at work, 2) I chose to watch my evening of Thursday night TV instead of write up my race report, and 3) now I’m tired!

BUT I did promise you that I would take a picture of the “Ultimate Goodie Bag” so here it is:

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The bag came with the pink shirt and a few samples… I bought the jacket and sweaty band.

So, I got up around 4:30am on Saturday Morning (September 25th) and stayed up… shut off my alarm since it wasn’t supposed to go off til 4:50am, and got ready.  I ate 1/4 of a bagel with peanut butter and drank lots and LOTS of water!  I made sure I had everything and we were out the door by 5:30… except I didn’t have everything! We had to go back up to our floor of the hotel because I completely forgot my Nike+ sensor that was in my old pair of shoes (since i was wearing my new pair).  I had no idea if they’d have every mile marked or not… remember its my first half!  Then we were out the door and on our way!

I can’t really remember if I was quiet or talkative on the way there because I was really nervous… maybe I was both… but I was never so grateful to have my parents there with me because I had no clue what I was getting myself into!

We found a parking spot but they had “special event parking” for $15 instead of the $7 the website had told us but we paid the fee and walked around the corner to the start area… we got there pretty early and there weren’t any crowds so I took the opportunity to use the porta pot even though I knew I would have to go again before the start of the race.

The start/finish line was right in front of the Country Music Hall of fame and I thought it was cool how the windows were like the keys of a piano!

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I decided to take a video to kind of introduce myself to you all a bit…  a couple of you have asked me how to pronounce my name this week…

it’s Zuh-net(like a basketball net)-uh … I say it in the video:

Ok then… can you tell I’m really REALLY really nervous?! (and tired) lol  Also, I lied in the video!  I didn’t mean to…I was so emotional and excited and happy and not even thinking about you guys at the finish… sorry, but its the truth… so I didn’t get another video!  Hope you can forgive me! ;)

Right after taking the video I overheard the group behind me say they wanted to pray before they headed to their corrals so I asked if they would mind if I joined them… It was awesome!  Then I took another potty break, but had to wait in line this time for about 5 minutes.  I also decided that I didn’t want to carry my new fuel belt handheld because it had looked like they had plenty of water stations and I didn’t want to carry something like that after only carrying it for about 2 miles before Saturday.  So, I strapped on my SPIbelt with my cell phone and one tri berry GU since they had a GU station as well around mile 6 or so and handed my bag and handheld to my dad.

After getting loosened up a bit and doing some breathing exercises to calm myself (and giving hugs and kisses to my parents) i headed to Corral #2 since my bib was #2203 and I had an estimated finishing time of 2:30:00  … yeah, i totally guessed when I registered cuz I had NO clue what I was doing or if I could even finish 13.1 miles and how long it would even take me!  Spoiler alert… I did finish! Just not in the time I thought…

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After talking to a few people and getting really excited (I think it helped that it was an all women event for my first half marathon) the guy from the magazine did a few announcements and then Jo Dee Messina sang the national anthem…

You can click on the pictures to make them bigger

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In front of me:

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Behind me (and yes, that girl is wearing the same shirt as me):

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AND THEN… after a reminder that the 5k would start after all the Half Marathoners were on their way…

BOOM! We were off!!

 

NEXT:  Women’s Running Magazine Half Marathon Race Recap Part 3: The Race (for real this time)

13 comments:

  1. Love the race shirt!! Too cute.

    I can't wait to hear the rest of story......race recaps are my FAV. :)

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  2. you and your parents are so cute in that video!

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  3. Way to leave us hanging...loved the video too!

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  4. Hahahaha...I love this post. I love teh video. I love your parents...they're pretty hot. And I love how you're dragging out this race report. I already know that you're planning on doing 1 blog post per mile...so bring it on...

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  5. I enjoyed this part of your race report. My upcoming half-marathon is the first one I will be doing alone and it is interesting to read about what you did before the gun went off. I think I will be a lot more nervous alone.

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  6. i love the idea of running with that many women. the pictures of the crowd at the start got me all excited to get out there and run! can't wait to hear every detail of the race :)

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  7. @ heather - Thanks! Race recaps are my favorite too! :)

    @ Q - I love my parents too! lol... and of course they are hot! That's how I'm hot! ;) and no, I will not be doing Part 15: Mile 13 lol... not enough went through my head at each mile to warrant an individual post

    @ The Turtle: oh, but you are not alone! ;) You have tons of people there for the same reason as you! so dont let it make you nervous! also, I dont think I would have been so nervous if I talked to other women more than I did... I pretty much stayed with my parents until lining up at the start...

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  8. Ok I am ready for the next part bring it on, I am all caught up! And yay for me, I was saying your name right in my head!

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  9. You are just too cute!! Can't wait to hear what your time was.

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  10. The "ultimate gift bag" is a bust it appears - liars! So far, I LOVE the recap - it's getting me excited about the Nov. WHM. Can't wait to hear more.

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  11. Okay I am actually nervous now! I think I just got so absorbed in the pre-race stuff, which is when I am always nervous on my own race day, that now I have the butterflies and my feet are in a cold sweat!

    Can't wait to hear about the actual race now!
    ~RR

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  12. cool video
    looking forward to the race details

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  13. Urgh, so NOT 'ultimate'. What a disappointment.

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Thanks for stopping by! I love hearing from you! Have a GREAT day!! :)

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