American River Parkway Half Marathon

13.1 miles is far. I already knew this but yesterday I knew for sure. It was a great day. The weather was perfect, the course was through beautiful green trees. (I got teased for saying that Sacramento was full of "Big tall short little bushy trees" and while my words were scrambled...I was merely saying that they are so different than palms and I appreciated them). I especially enjoyed the banjo band around mile 4 and the curious band of senior citizens dressed in green and white who were assembled to play for us as we passed mile 8. I wanted to slow down long enough to talk to leader of their shindig. They were darling.

While the day was almost perfect, there was a glitch, which in this case means a big problem. We discovered about 2 minutes before the race started that running was prohibited. Yeah, so I registered for the walkers half thinking I'd run part and walk part...but apparently that was foolish thinking. Walkers are serious about walking and discriminate against those who run. Lis (who was registered to run but decided to come with me after having knee trouble and warnings from the physical therapist) and I figured we'd get a few miles in and run anyway. Yeah, that didn't work so well. I laughed when I heard the ladies behind us scream "WALK LADIES, WALK!!!!" I could hear them even over my music and it was both disturbing and comical. So in all we ran less than one of our 13.1 miles and were both really disappointed. I did over 120 miles of running to train...and didn't plan to be not running at all but whatever. It probably won't be my last half-marathon.

Around mile 10 I started feeling done with the idea of it all and I later warned Lisa that I was tempted to punch the cheery girl at the water station near mile-marker 12 when I heard her high-pitched enthusiastic squeals aimed in my direction. But instead of violence I nicely took the dixie cup o' Gatorade from her little hand and said "Not more excited that I am" when she said "I'm like, so excited that you are almost done!"

We finished in just over three hours which put us 65th out of 394. I'll take it. For the first (and maybe last) time ever, my name was on the FIRST PAGE of race results. Maybe I should ditch running and become a professional walker. I may have some real potential. Never. I'd rather be a slow runner. Forever. I just have to try not to think about the fact that some runners can complete a FULL marathon in the time it took me to do a half. I will get that thought right out. Let's be honest, some Kenyans could complete a marathon in the time it might take me to chug through a 10k. Whatever. They're from Kenya. It's not my fault I'm from Kaysville.

I'm grateful for the experience. It was a nice weekend. I slept every time I sat down (even before the race) and I'm pretty sure Chandra's parents wondered about their daughter's new narcoleptic friend. Not sure why the severe sleepiness but I'm hoping a good 9 hours tonight will get me back on track and ready for the real world ahead. Thanks Lis for loving me even during miles 9-13.1. I'm sure you could have found a nicer exercise buddy for those miles but I'm glad you stuck with me.

It was a good trip and I'm beat. I'm taking a few days off and then will get back to training...my next goal is to complete a 10k race with a decent time.

Photo 1: Hazel, Me, Lisa, Chandra. Hazel and Chandra did the 5k and had a good time. They were nice enough to take us early and wait for us after their race.

Photo 2: My race number and finisher's medal.

Photo 3: Lis post-race chilling (literally, ha!) with frozen hash browns which apparently are just as nice as ice.

Photo 4: Lisa and I. Note the "I love Mom" shirt. Yes, do I own 5 dry-fit shirts? Yeah. Do I use them, Nah. My $1.34 shirt(s) (I have 6) from Old Navy is tried and true. I don't even care about the random people who make smarty pants comments.