Riverboat Series Half Marathon – Kentucy
April 12, 2014
2:39ish?
Temp: 50+ at the start, high 60s by the end, super humid
What I wore: hat, Swirlgear short sleeve shirt, Athleta Relay skirt (this is an affiliate link),
PROCompression socks, and (of course) my trusty AltraRunning Intuitions
This race can be described with 3 words: hilly, hot, humid. I was absolutely not ready for this kind of weather and my legs quickly informed me that they were not quite recovered from Charlottesville’s hills. At mile 2, my legs told me that they were done and I was on my own for the rest of the race. Hence, this is my personal underachievement race (to quote Kim) and I honestly thought I was going to be slower but did manage to run the last loop instead of walk it.
The good:
- The course was lovely with amazing views of the Mississippi River.
- As expected, the race was incredibly well organized and the food options were awesome.
- Everyone was excited to be there and in a great mood.
- Real bathrooms. Always a favorite.
- The nearby campground had showers. If not for that, I would have had to do a “Walmart shower” with baby wipes. I’ve never been so happy about a concrete shower with cold water.
- Seeing Kim and her friends frequently on the loop course.
The bad:
- The course was challenging to put it mildly. There were a couple of significant hills and a lot of smaller ones.
- Part of the course was pavement, part was trail. I’m not good on trails and it was muddy. Amazingly I never fell.
- My legs. They hurt pretty much from the beginning.
The ugly:
- The mud in the trail part was pretty awful. There was one spot where I was pretty well convinced I would wipe out at some point (we ran the loop 6 times). Amazingly, I stayed on my feet the whole race.
- The humidity and heat. I drank one bottle of water in the first four laps and 3 bottles of gatorade in the last two. I was completely covered in salt at the end.
- My mental state. As soon as it started warming up, I went to a negative place mentally. My mind convinced me that I was incapable of running a half marathon. It was not pretty.
But I finished it! Kentucky = done!
Make sure to enter my 5 things giveaway for the five half marathons in five days!!! And the winner of the Road ID is Laurel C. Please contact me at mcmmamaruns at gmail.com!
1 down, 4 to go!
Wow, 6 loops would drive me crazy! Especially if you weren’t feeling the hill the first time! But still, great work!
I don’t mind the loops, but I could have done with not doing the big hill 6 times…
Wow – that sounds pretty brutal. I know you’ve done a couple more since then – I hope they have been easier!!!
Kim recently posted…Failing Is Just one Step on the Way to Success
way to pull that out! The heat is tough — 50 degrees is my optimum running temp (with no humidity, of course!)
Courtney @ Eat Pray Run, DC recently posted…Cherry Blossom 10 Miler Recap
6 loops is tough mentally. Good job! Humidity must be tough change to the weather you’re used to back home lately. Nice! Good luck with the rest of the week.
Deborah Brooks recently posted…It was Hot, it was Sweaty, it was Hard…The Revovle DC Blogger Ride
Thanks! Yeah, the humidity sucked.
Congratulations. 6 loops is a hard ask. It would have done my head in.
It was actually a good distance. Much better than the 1 mile loops…
I think this is an incredible time considering the elements. I always figure an extra couple of minutes per mile extra when running on trails, but muddy trails? Oh boy….looking forward to the rest of your recaps! Pretty incredible that you can crank out 5 halfs in 5 days!
Jolene recently posted…Weekly Chase 6.0
Thanks! Muddy trails were not my friend LOL.
I can never decide how I feel about loop races…there’s a loop marathon in Indiana I keep peeking at. Did the loops drive you nuts?!
Heather recently posted…Training 4.14.14
Yeah, I was wondering about the loops too and whether it was driving you crazy by the 4th or 5th loop. It seems like a lot. It does look beautiful and congrats on finshing strong with all the difficult conditions like the muddy trails.
Chaitali recently posted…Tasty Tuesday – Dinner at Del Campo
Thanks! Other than the fact that the first one was just plain hard, I really didn’t mind them.