What an AWESOME race today! Here I was, hoping to just get under 2 hours for this race, and I ALMOST got a new PR! Only 37 seconds off my PR! Wow! If this is only the first race of the year, I have high hopes for the rest of the summer! I felt great and most of my miles were between 8 and 8:30 min/miles. Wish I could have run just that much faster, but I gave it my all.
Okay, complaints. I was very disappointed in some of the organization of this race. Some instructions were not very clear, like packet pick up times. Also, I missed about 3 mile markers. And, yes, I WAS looking for them. The first one I missed was mile 2, but I thought I might have just missed it in the crowd. But, I also missed 2 others when there wasn't the hordes of people around. Very frustrating when you are trying to time your miles. They had the roads blocked off so well, I don't understand why they didn't just put the mile markers on the road, instead of hiding them on the sidewalk or who knows where.
The aid stations - they had them set at odd locations. I love the races where the aid stations are set at mile markers. This was not the case here. So, that kind of threw me off a bit, too. And, no Gu! I brought my own, thank goodness. For such a big event (and for the price!) they should have at least had these in 1 or 2 locations. Also, there were A LOT of people racing this morning. I am a competitive runner (not so much against other people, but against myself). It's frustrating trying to get out of the crowd to find your pace. I wish people that were running with each other wouldn't run 2, 3, or even 4-abreast! It's so hard to get around them.
My other complaint was not with the race itself, but my music! Just as we were getting ready to start today, I went to turn on my music and it WOULDN'T START!!! Never have I had a problem with my ipod before! My husband, who was running the full marathon, just laughed because I'd actually have to run without my music. MEAN! (I think I'll blame my lack of a new PR on the lack of music :) ) I know some people think it's silly to have to have it, but I honestly believe it helps me. Helps keep my mind off the run, especially when I'm getting to the end :) However, the good news was, after the race I was able to go into an Apple store and find out what the problem was - a simple fix of resetting it. Who knew?? Maybe I should read the instruction manual next time. Glad it's not broken, though. All in all, though, it was a perfect day for a run. The weather was great (why did I wear a long sleeve shirt???) and the temp was perfect. What a great race!
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