Race Report- Zooma Austin Half Marathon

Normally, I whip out race reports the same day I race like I've done so many races- HA!.

This one, I needed to soak in a little more because it was so emotional for me, for lots of reasons.  If you've been reading for any amount of time, then you know the last 2 months have been difficult and stressful and my training season has been less than stellar.  I have done my runs, but not much else.  The few days leading up to the race, my stomach was a mess and I was seriously wondering if I would be able to run the race without shitting my pants.

Yeah, I said it.  I know, it's gross, but true.  I really thought I was coming down with a stomach virus.  I didn't feel like eating (this is a big deal for the girl who loves to eat), my stomach was emptying itself (a lot), and it was so knotted up that it physically hurt.  A LOT. 

It turns out that I had an awesome case of nervous-ness and anxiety, even though I didn't feel nervous and anxious.  Friday night, I took some tums, did some yoga and then I watched this youtube video and I cried.  I decided right then and there to let IT ALL GO (IT = everything holding me back in my mind) and to just really enjoy the race, to revel in the marvels of what my body can do, and to be happy that I finally was going to run with my BFF Christy.

I woke up Saturday morning with not one knot in my stomach and a peaceful calm had FINALLY settled over me.

FINALLY.

Before we got started on our 13.1 miles, we said good-bye to Ann.  Ann is a fellow Shrinking Jeans Sister and made the trip down from Dallas to run the 5K portion of the race.  It was my first time to meet Ann face to face- we had only been friends online thus far.  I am pretty sure that she still likes me even after meeting the *real* me, lol. 

Ann, Christy, and me

This race was so much more than I thought it would be. It was harder and more challenging than ANY run I have ever done, and I seriously thought at one point- why the hell am I doing this (Christy, that was around mile 5 when we had to walk up that super-steep hill- GAH!).


Play by Play
Miles 1-3: A nice, slow clip, sang to songs, and I made Christy twirl me at one point.  We stopped to stretch twice and another stop to re-ty the shoes.  I poked her in the arm every so often and yelled- can you believe we are finally running together?!!!!  We are running a half marathon and we mother-effing rock!!!!

Miles 4-6:  Who the hell signed me up for this race?  I should have paid more attention to the elevation because O-M-F-G, the hills are killing my legs.  17 hills in the first 6 miles.  Man, this is tiring.  Although, this was definitely the most beautiful race course I have ever seen (I wish I had taken pictures of the course but I didn't- I will next year).

don't let the smile fool you- I was only smiling because we were heading downhill!

Miles 7-9: flattest part of the course and I'm so thankful for it by this time.  We saw a ton of Team in Training runners and Christy and I cheered for every single one of them, their purple shirts reminding us of our own awesome TnT experience back in San Diego.

Mile 10: Nothing special, just getting it done.

Miles 11-13:  Outside of the hills, these miles were the hardest because they were on a golf course path, as in winding up and down, up and down, up and down the course.  You could see exactly how far you had to go and how many people were ahead of you.  At that point, my legs were so damn tired, I was hot and sweaty and thirsty and I just wanted to be done already. 

But then it lead to the finish line and by then, I was over the moon happy to be done running for the day- yippee!!!!

Striking a pose

I cannot speak highly enough about the Zooma Women's Race Series.  It was fantastically put together, held in a wonderful location, and promoted and celebrated the beauty within ALL of us.  I absolutely loved the feeling of race day- pre, during, and after.

Fellow Zooma Austin Ambassadors- Ashely, me, Tricia, and Erika (Jennifer not pictured- boo!)

Perfection all the way.

I know there will be more half marathons in my future- could there be a full marathon as well?!

For the race junkies:
Overall time- 2hr 44 min 47 seconds with an average pace of 12:34 min/mile (almost a full 5 minutes faster than my San Antonio Half Marathon time in November 2010- woot woot!!!!!).  This means I have a new PR for the half : ).