Columbus Half Marathon Weekend

Ahhhh, where to begin...

We had a great weekend. I started off from my house at 6:30am Saturday morning and picked up the other 3 chics that were running.

It was Angie's first Half Marathon and Shanna was attempting her BQ. At 21 years old, she had to run a 3:40.

I had gotten the primo hotel at the Hilton, for only $100. Yup, I'm an expert at sniffing out the deal. We ate at the restaurant in the hotel. The food was yum, and there was no 2 hour wait like there normally is before a marathon in many cities. Afterwards, we all four sat in the hot tub on Saturday night in extra running clothes that we happened to bring along. Nobody brought a swimsuit.

Sunday morning, Angie was up and about at 3:30am and took a bath and put on her full make-up. It seems she couldn't sleep. *snort*

The rest of us got up between 4 and 4:30. We ate breakfast and dealt with getting dressed while trying to find a weather forecast on the local tv stations. No luck on the weather. We had to wing it from the weather forecast the night before. It was COLD! We left our hotel at 6:30am for the 7:30 start. Had no trouble parking the car and getting to the starting area, but then stood in line for the port-a-pots for 40 minutes or so. By the time we got out of there, there was no finding the pace team for Shanna. She had to run ahead and try to find them after the race started. She caught them by mile 6 (!!)

On to my race experience. It was so cold, I was glad to get started so I could warm up. At the start, it was in the mid-30's. I had worn my race ready shorts so I could stash my camera in the back pocket. Then, I proceeded to run the entire race without taking a single picture. Ugh!

When the race started, Garmin could not find the satellites. I didn't turn him on until I came out of the port a pottty, so it's partially my fault. The satellites weren't located until about 0.8 miles into the race. I did start the timer when I started and hit the lap button at the 1 mile mark, so I have all my split times, but I don't have the entire distance. Ah, well.

Angie and I had planned to run together, as long as she could get by without pain. We were together until around the 2 mile mark, then she told me to go on. At the next water stop, I caught up to her. She had somehow passed me! I went on ahead again, and caught her at the next water stop, again. So, I told her that we may as well just run together. She stopped at each water stop as she was still having pain and was trying to run through it. We were together at the 10K mark, and that was when her pain got to be too much. She walked in the rest of the race, and I went on ahead and finished.

I felt great the entire time. I think the cool weather was a big contributor to that. I wound up finishing in 2:16 and change. Not my best Half, not my worst. Considering the minimal training I'd done leading up to the race, I was very pleased with this time.

I waited nearby for Angie to finish. She wound up finishing in 2:48 and change. An automatic PR, since it was her first! We then sat in the sun for a bit before going to watch for the other two. Shanna finished the marathon in 3:40:48, a BQ!!! Barbie came in next in 3:52 and change, also a BQ for her, that's her second this year!

I used my camera to get a couple of "after" shots...

Here's me and Angie after our Half

And, Barbie and Shanna, the 2 BQ'ers!