~~~Race Recap!~~~ On Saturday after a day of football we took the hour and half drive west to Hershey. Got to Hershey around 4pm and went straight to packet pick. Then we headed to the hotel which was less than 2 miles from the park. Got all settled and looked to see where to go for dinner. Applebee’s ended up being the choice. After dinner it was down pouring outside but I wanted to go drive some of the course. The hills that everyone talked about didn’t seem too bad. Got back to the hotel and got everyone ready for bed and watched some TV. I set my alarm for 5:30 am. Sleep seemed almost impossible with a different bed and so much going through my mind. I got a few hours sleep before the alarm woke me. My husband and of the kids went downstairs for the free breakfast at 6 and I stayed in the room and let the twins sleep a bit longer. I ate my usual Clif energy bar (Sierra Trail Mix) and made sure I had everything. Got the boys up and dressed and daddy had brought them scrambled eggs and sausage to eat. We got to the park around 7 and sat in the car for a few minutes. Got to the starting area and I headed around the parking lot for a mile warm up, it was chilly (39*) so I kept my sweatshirt on for the warm up. It was now about 10 minutes before race time so I jumped into the middle of the pack around the 9 minute mile pace, took off my sweatshirt and handed to my husband. At this point my hands were cold and I questioned my outfit of shorts and tank. I crossed the start line 2 minutes after the Ready Set Go! I was feeling really good and trying not to get caught in anybody else’s pace. By mile 2 I was happy with the outfit picked as I was quite comfortable and I hate being hot. At mile 3 we were headed in and around Hershey Park. Miles 4-6 were out going past Hershey Country Club. After a brief time on Hershey Ave, we turned headed towards the Milton Hershey School. Up to this point I felt great and had crossed the halfway point at 58:57! I also knew that to be on pace to finish at a sub 2 hour I needed to hit the 7 mile mark at 1:04:03(thanks coach!), I crossed the 7 mile mark at 1:02 and some change! The streets around the school were lined with cheering kids, this is where I had fun making sure not to miss a single kid with their hand out for a five! These kids gave me a lot of energy! At around 9.75 my left calf cramped and wasn’t going away, this slowed me down some but I told myself that this is what I trained for so I was just going to push through it. I also ditched my music at this point, it was starting to annoy me. It seemed as if mile 11 went on forever! I re-entered the park parking lot headed towards the stadium. I knew I was still on pace to make my goal of a sub 2 hour finish but I was also cutting it close. Once I hit the track in the stadium I gave it all I had left. After I crossed the line and got my metal it all hit me that I freakin’ did it not only finished my first half but reached my goal (1:59:18)! I saw my husband and kids and couldn’t wait to share this with them! It’s with all their support that this was possible. My Garmin read 13.07 at the finish which made me happy because during the race I was also trying to run the tangents well, as others had complained in previous years that theirs read well over 13.1 miles for this course. So I think I also accomplished that mission. Oh and the hills that I read about and had me a little freaked were not bad but for the whole second half just kept coming. This race will always be special to me as I will never have a first half marathon again!
Posted on: Thu, 24 Oct 2013 00:00:01 +0000
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