Inaugural Middletown Half Marathon and Legends 4 Miler

I had registered for the Inaugural Harvard Pilgrim Healthcare Middletown Half Marathon (say that in one breath) so long ago I ended up being a moron and signing up for another race in Danbury the same day! Luckily they gave me a refund for my mistake. This race was being put on by Hartford Marathon Foundation and I was very excited to be a part of this inaugural half in my state, plus I knew Anne lived in Middletown and figured she MUST be doing this race.

After getting to the Quarter Marathon by the skin of my teeth the day before I made sure I arrived early to get a parking spot somewhere close to the Start/Finish line. I was in luck! Ain't nothing better than free parking!

I ended up only being one block from the Start/Finish Line as well as the post race festivities. At 10 am they were still setting up.

I was incredibly excited to meet Jeff Galloway again! I had no idea he went to school in CT AND was roommates with Amby Burfoot! Wow, what a small small world! I had Jeff sign my race bib.

Jeff Galloway, Amby Burfoot and Bill Rogers all together, The Legends.

I was so excited to get my picture with these two! Sorry Bill but I had no idea who you were. Amby holds a record for the most consecutive Manchester Road Races run, I believe he completed #50 this past Thanksgiving. That was how I knew who he was. And of course the adorable Jeff Galloway!

Okay so the shirts....let me first say I loved the Hartford Marathon Foundation truthfully until I found out they only accepted "elite" athletes to their team, how 'well-rounded' is that, (sorry I am a sore loser on this one) AND because lets face it, unless you put sizing instructions on your registration pages how am I to know that it's going to fit my boobs. If that's TMI, shove it because I LIKE to wear race shirts, especially right after the race to show my support and well show off where I just beasted it. I know the guy was doing his job but the douche working the table of shirts was incredibly rude and lets be serious Hartford Marathon Foundation, we BOTH know you are not struggling for money. You got JEFF FRIGGEN GALLOWAY to come to CT. Cut the act. So now I have a race shirt that unless I get a boob reduction I won't be able to wear. Isn't the whole purpose of a shirt to have people wear it and others interested ask about it?! Anyone ever heard of advertising?! Okay. now my rant is over. By the way congratulations to the HMF Team Members!

While waiting for the start Anne and I looked at the Nora Cupcake Truck to see what goodies we might want after.

Kim and Anne were doing the 4 miler and I was in for the half. I love these ladies so much and always seem to have an absolute blast with them! (Congratulations Kim on becoming part of HMF's Team, now SHE deserves it!)

One more shot of us before we ran, Kim, me, Anne and Pam!

Seeing the first aid tent set up made me think of RyRy. Look how Army-esk this is. HOOAH!

Volunteers were still hanging up the medals, blue for the half marathon and red for the 4 miler, as we made our way to the start.

I couldn't wait to cross this finish line.

On our way to the start. The half and the 4 miler would begin together.

Carolyn!!!! AHHHHH Skirt party, Anne, Carolyn and Kim. I wasn't invited but, it's okay. I still love them.

Carolyn and I were channeling Kristy the whole race! We sent videos to tell her how we were doing <3

Carolyn had a great support system with her too, Dyella who I had met at #runnerslove was there cheering her and me on! She took this great photo of us!

Okay so the race...hmmmm, lets see, we ran down main street and immediately took a left, UP. A. HILL. It was absolutely brutal. I had hoped to stay between  the 2:45 and 3:00 pacers but I felt like I had concrete in my shoes. Carolyn and I ran the whole race together with our only goal to beat 3 hours! I cannot remember the last time I had so much fun running and hated the entire course. We chatted and laughed and cursed the hills that just kept coming. We made friends with the 3:00 pacers and had a good time with them as they kept catching up and then falling back. The weather was phenomenal during the race, a little warm but perfect in my opinion. Anne finished the 4 miler and booked it up to the 8 mile mark with Phred her little furry munchkin child! I'm pretty sure I screamed when I saw her! IT was such a huge surge of adrenaline. Shit, this is what #runnerslove is. She just ran 4 miles and instead of relaxing and celebrating, she came to cheer us on. It gave me goosebumps to see her. Thank you again Anne, it really meant the world to me! Ugh, being able to have heart to hearts and seeing friends while you are running, there are few things better than that. Carolyn and I pushed each other and had a great time doing it!

At mile 12 we realized we could make our goal a reality, we stopped for a photo op and pushed it the last 1.1.

Going down the very same hill we went up at the start of the race I found a woman walking, I told her to keep moving and although visibly winded she said "all right"! and picked up the pace. I asked if this was her first half marathon and she said yes, she looked like death and looked miserable, (hell I'd probably be too if this course was my first half!) I told her she could do it, only a little bit more to the finish. I told her finishing, not just her first half but THIS COURSE under 3 hours would be something she'd never forget and told her to keep running! The children in the background are hers, when they saw her on main street, they all ran out and finished the race with her. Thank you again Dyella for an awesome picture!

Carolyn although a fluttering, flying beast throughout the race, she slowed down before the finish and I caught up with her, we grabbed each others hand and sprinted to the Finish Line! We did it! We hugged and accepted our medals! I love the proofs we have and might actually have to buy a photo or two.

After I crossed the finish Anne was there waiting, every piece of my body hurt from my forehead to my toes. I knew I wanted to get Amby Burfoot to sign my bib so I quickly met up with him.

Although I can say, very confidently, that I will NEVER run this course again, I will give the 4 miler a try possibly next year. The overall event was too much fun to pass up.

And I got to meet Chris Trotta, we both follow each other on Twitter and got the chance to meet in person! He's incredibly sweet and down to earth. Congratulations to Chris on his Team HMF acceptance as well. (See I'm okay with him and Kim.)

After saying our goodbyes and noticing there was little to no food left, okay there was greasy pizza. Anne and I needed a drink. 

I was incredibly disappointed that I was unable to get a cupcake from Nora Cupcakes, the ones that they had for the runners, post race. Another negative check for HMF. However, a plus was Eli Cannon's pulled pork that was left, if I could have bathed in it, I would have been a happy girl. It was THAT good.

Anne suggested First and Last Tavern on Main Street and we walked, well I hobbled, to the bar. We sat and talked for I think and hour and a half. I had such a good time with her. It's always enjoyable to spend time with Anne. If you get the chance, do it. She's incredibly easy to get along with.

After two margaritas I headed back home to have dinner at my parents house. I needed to change out of my running clothes and shoes A.S.A.P.

I love my medal.

As you can see I got just a wee bit o' sun during the race as well.

I got to hang out with my girlfriends.....and Kemmy...

Finished another half marathon for 2014 AND got color....

And had my baby fall asleep on me at the end of the day.

You find a better Sunday. I dare you.

Savin Rock Half Marathon Race Recap

When looking to actually make 14 half marathons in 2014 possible I started looking around the state. I wish someone would just put them all on one website and make my life easier...but anyway, I found the Savin Rock Half Marathon in West Haven. It's only about 60 minutes from where I live so I registered very early and pretty much forgot about it...

I set my alarm fro 5.15am knowing I would forget something and need extra time to scramble for it. I don't know about you but I'm not really good at preparing for local races. I don't lay my clothes out the night before, and make sure everything is in one place? pfft, don't make me laugh... So I grabbed my Running Princess Glass Slipper shirt off the couch in the living room, grabbed my New Balance leggings from the basement couch, Miguels Nike long sleeve from the dryer, whoops left my socks on the floor on the side of my bed...sneakers? Shit. Where are my sneakers? Oh, hmm on Miguel's side of the bed, weird... runDisney Princess 2013 jacket, on the chair in the bedroom, Gu/Powerade Gel in the kitchen, rain jacket in my closet...back upstairs. Back downstairs into the kitchen to grab my powerade from the fridge...

(Ignore the hot mess that is our room...)

Are you as exhausted as I am!? I really need to start runDisney preparing my races around here.

The drive was actually pretty quick. Packet pick up, start and finish line were all at the Savin Rock Conference Center. I don't know why I didn't realize it but we were RIGHT ON THE OCEAN. How gorgeous is this view!

Bib numbers had been emailed on Friday which was another first for me, for a local race. It looked like a large number of people were running the half. I went and told the volunteers my bib number and was given my shirt. I was a little more than a little disappointed that they were not tech shirts. Okay, IF you are doing men's and women's sizing, tech material is the only reason to have separate the two. Anyway...it's a cute shirt.

I spent about an hour in my car trying to warm up. I don't know why I felt so cold but my teeth were actually chattering uncontrollably just walking from the car to the conference center and back to the car. I had a really close spot too. I relaxed, listened to music to get myself into the zone and people watched. About 7:40, 20 minutes before the start I thought I'd pee just to be safe, I didn't know how the course would be set up and if there would be port-o-potties but I knew I really didn't want to stop unless I had to.

The line for the outside port-o-potties was dumb, like almost 30 people deep. There was no way I'd make it. I remembered seeing a bathroom inside. There were only 15 women in front of me there. I thought that seemed safer....NOPE. This is where I am slightly unfriendly at races. Unless you are disappearing to Narnia in the bathroom there is no reason to take 3 minutes to go. If you need more, maybe running today is not your best health choice. Luckily there were 2 ladies in front of me running the 5k which started about 15 minutes after the half. They let me go in front of them and I made it to the start line at 7:59. We didn't start on time so I had the opportunity to snap this photo. <3

Start Line.

I didn't know what the Shoreline Sharks Race Series was at the time, but I'm so in now.

I positioned myself in the middle of the pack. I was hoping I'd be able to find someone to keep a pace with. Well, let me tell you, these are some FAST runners. I ended up trying to stick a woman in a Shoreline Sharks long sleeve shirt on, it had an IronMan logo on the back. She had a GREAT pace and here stride seemed effortless. The first 4 miles were along the ocean. It honestly felt like we were moving like molasses. I kept thinking mile 3 was coming up...nope that's mile 2...At mile 4 we took a right up a hill. IronWoman, we shall call her, powered up the hill, I tried to remain close but could not keep the arms reach pace I had before. I stayed about a house or so behind for the next two miles until...oh wait...what's that... ANOTHER HILL. I tried to catch up while she was walking but nope.

At mile 6.2 I sent a photo to Miguel, Kristy and my parents with a very vivid expression of how I was feeling about the hills...

This is Mt. Everest. This is the hill that killed me. I tried my best to go to a run/walk/run method. I had only run prior to this point. I would run from cone to cone and then walk from cone to cone. It didn't feel good but helped a little. The downhill on the other side was pretty steep and covered in gravel...not cool.

Miles 8-13 Were tough, there was one, maybe two more hills thrown in the mix and once you hit 10.5, the last water stop it was all flat from there. The whole race I had kept my Nike SportWatch on pace to keep myself under a 13 mm. I glanced at the distance a couple of times but mostly was concerned about pace. Right before the last water stop at Mile 10.5 I glanced at the elapsed time. I had less than 3 miles left and I had been running for 2:04!! I knew with a little bit of perseverance I could PR.

That's when I passed by a cop directing traffic. He held his hand out like he wanted a high five, so being on the high I was...yup....I high-fived him. He looked confused at me and I kept running hahaha. Sorry Officer!

Then Mile 11....I hit the wall. Every part of my body hurt and I felt exhausted. Although we were running by the ocean again I could only muster to enough energy to go back to my run to cone, walk to cone method. I think one of the worst parts of running towards you goal is you know it's there, but it seems SO FAR away. I think it mentally messed with me. It wasn't until the end of Mile 12 when I saw this.

I knew I owed it to everyone in the Armed Forces. What I was doing although painful, paled in comparison to what they had and are going through. Touche, Savin Rock, touche...

 A quarter of a mile later I crossed the finish line to have my name called and glanced at the time clock. 2:41...2:41...2.41! I did it!

I PR'd. I took 9 minutes off my ING Hartford Half Marathon time which had previously been my best time to date.

(Sadly this is probably my best race photo to date, and it's a forced smile haha)

I took my photo with the ocean to my back, how awesome is this medal! It's a RUNNING SHARK! As much as Disney races mean to me it's hard to put this race on that same level...this medal probably means the most to me out of all of them so far...

Not only did I lose my job at the beginning of the month, but for the first time in my life (well since I was 14) my future was up in the air... What would I do? Where do I go? How do I handle this? 

For the first time in a long time, I can truly say I am happy. I cannot remember feeling this amazingly calm and happy. It's hard to describe. I'm not stressed. I'm not angry. I'm not feeling negative. I feel like myself, the person I'm supposed to be. I had a lot of time to think during this course and I know my life is finally on the right path, even if I don't know where it goes, I know I'm happy.

I have the most amazing support team...that's all of YOU out there. Those who are constantly rooting for me, cheering me on, just showing me love. I'm eternally grateful and can only hope to return the favor for all of you.

Thank you.