Done, state #12 and my second race of 2013. This is the first of many Rock ‘n’ Roll races I will be doing this year.
I arrived in Phoenix on Saturday morning and took the light rail to meet up with my friend L at the motel. From there we went to the expo. I love, love the expo!! As mentioned in a previous post, I bought lots of goodies.
Race morning came and I was up at 5:30 am. I got dressed, made coffee, and ate a Clif Bar. I was still hungry so I also ate a waffle. Doesn’t it look delicious?
It was dark when I arrived at the start line. I got in line to use the port-a-potty and then checked my bag. I was cold. But ready or not, I was going to rock ‘n’ roll!! It was such a beautiful morning once the sun was out.
My goal was to set a PR (2:20:00). I got a little ambitious and decided to run with the 2:15 pace group. See, I even had a cute wristband to help me stay on pace. I was doing good until about mile 4.25 when I stopped to eat a Gu. I then tried to keep up with them but they were about 15 seconds ahead of me. Do the pace leaders ever stop to drink water or gatorade or eat a Gu? I ate another Gu at mile 8 but by then my legs felt like lead so I decided to take a walk break.
See the cute Bondi Band headband? It fell off at mile 6. Yeah, I was disappointed. I felt it slide down and then turned around to pick it up but by then there were other runners coming towards me and I was not about to cause an accident there. On the website it is advertised as “no slip”. Hmm, that was not the case here because it did slip. Oh well, I think for next time I will secure it with bobby pins.
The course was flat and I was very happy about that. There was a slight and long incline around mile 8 but I hardly felt it. The sun was shining but it wasn’t hot at all. I don’t remember much about the course except that it was flat. I wish I had taken more pictures but I guess I was focused on staying on pace.
Did I PR? Nope. My finish time was 2:20:49. I missed it by less than a minute. I am disappointed but yet happy at the same time. However, I did run faster than the Mississippi Blues Half Marathon. I know that I ran strong and I will PR this year in another race.
Overall, it was a great race with perfect weather. Flat course which is always a plus! The volunteers did a great job and the crowd support was AMAZING! I am not a big fan of RnR races because of their prices but I purchased a TourPass which gives me “free registration” for their races this year. Next race is in St. Petersburg and it is advertised as “flat and fast”. Looking forward to it!
Just Keep Running!
