Half Marathon #13 for 2014: ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon

ZOOMA Annapolis Half Marathon
May 31, 2014
2:22:35

Welcome to Venus! 13 half marathons in 79 days = FINISHED!!!

Temp: high 50s and sunny, definitely warmer at the end
What I wore: hat, short sleeve shirt, Skirt Sports Happy Girl skirt,
PROCompression socks, and my trusty Altra Intuitions

Race Morning

I got up at 5am and slowly got ready.  I was sharing a room with Sue, so it was fun to chat while we were getting ready.  We ended up walking over to the start instead of driving.  The walk took less than 10 minutes.  I heard from others that parking was a breeze too.  Seems like you can’t go wrong either way.  We met up with the Ambassadors for a photo op and then another one with MRTT and then it was go time!

Race

In a shocking turn of events, I actually had a race plan other than “just finish”.  I knew the course got harder at mile 6 and I knew it was going to get warmer, so I went out “fast”.  The first 5 miles were lovely – through the town and somewhat shaded.  There was a nice breeze coming off the water and I just felt good.  Somewhere around mile 6, we headed up and over the bridge and into the hillier, sunnier part of the course.  I was drinking Cytomax at every opportunity, as well as sipping nuun from my handheld.  By about mile 8, I was really feeling the miles I put on this spring.  My body was just tired and my one toe was sending sharp pains up my leg with every step.  The 2:20 pacers caught up to me and moved a bit in front of me.  I made it my goal to keep them in sight.  At mile 11.5, my body said it was done.  My entire left side was cramping from my shoulder down to my toes.  I’m thinking I adjusted my gait due to the pain in my right foot and it affected every other part of my body.  I ran when I could and walked when I had to  and just kept heading to the finish line.  Finally, I approached the finish line, completely unable to sprint, and burst into tears.  I was done.  I had made my goal!

Post Race

I picked up my awesome medal, downed a couple of cups of Cytomax, and headed into the post race party. I snagged a banana Muscle Milk (tasted good, but I didn’t like the smell), grabbed my lunch box (hummus, pretzel chips, carrots, and an apple, yum), and checked out the vendors.  I ran into Cynthia, Lisa, and Mar and we hung out for the next little while, chatting and picking out jewelry at the Scott James jewelry booth.  (More on that later.)  Then we grabbed a quick cup of wine before we all headed out.

Such a fun, fun weekend.  A huge thank you to ZOOMA for not only giving me a free race, but for introducing me to such awesome ladies and for providing us with such a lovely event!  I’ll be back next year!

The good:

• The organization of everything!  I picked up my packet in Arlington since the pickup location was near my house.  I was in and out in minutes.  It appeared to be just as fast and easy at the Expo the night before the race as well.  I love that they gave everyone options!
• The swag! We got a shirt, a hat and a pair of Feetures socks!
• Meeting up with all of my fellow ambassadors.  Such an awesome group of ladies.
• Getting to the start line was a piece of cake.
• The course was absolutely beautiful, especially for the first 5ish miles.
• The vibe was just happy and positive.

The bad:

• The heat – it was nowhere near as hot as this race can be sometimes, but by the end I was overheating and salty.
• The hills in the latter part of the race.  I don’t think they would have felt as bad if I wasn’t so worn out though.

The ugly:

• The cramping all up and down my left side in the last mile and a half.
• The Bia GPS was long again at 13.64.  Garmin read 13.2. I’m more than a little frustrated with it.

Would I run it again?

Absolutely!  I just loved the whole vibe of this race.  Next time I will likely just do the 10k as that is the better part of the course, but the half was well supported and fun. (And we all know I’ll run the half LOL).  I would love to do this as an ambassador again, but even if I weren’t, it was a great race to do with friends.

And now? I feel sort of lost as I try to figure out what’s next…