Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Flower City Half Marathon

Day 2 of the Flower City Challenge....
Flower City Half Marathon
This race is sentimental for me, 
in 2010 it was the first time the race was put on,
and it was also my first half-marathon ever.

My first Half-marathon ever...
Flower City 2010
WOW I look young!
(sister on left, me on right)
[My time 1:44]
Flower City 2011
Running with KT tape for ITBS
[My time 1:43]


Okay, okay, enough of memory lane.
On to this year's Flower City Half-Marathon.

I really had no idea how fast I was going to be able to run this, 
since I raced pretty hard the day prior at the Flower City Duathlon.

I decided to run to the race to get some extra miles in,
it was a little over a 2 mile warm-up.

announced a few days prior that there would be a Boston tribute prior to the race.
Nothing better than warming up at the start line,
listening to thousands of runners singing "Sweet Caroline"
(I wish I could find a video of this, someone HAD to have taken one).

The first few miles were smooth. 
My legs felt good.
My heart was racing.
Crowds were awesome.
Ran next to my friend Thomas for a little while,
whom I hadn't seen in forever which made me smile!
I felt inspired to be running on streets I love & call home, 
and running a race that was once a big first for me.
Me rounding a corner early on, with my friend Thomas right behind me in the red.
Don't ask me why my mouth is open, I have NO idea.
[The outfit: Tank top (Saucony Ignite), shorts (Saucony Ignite), Sneakers (Saucony Kinvara 4-release 5/1, so happy I was able to get them early!)]
It started to go downhill quick,
& unfortunately I am not referring to the elevation profile.
My legs quickly reminded me that they were tired from the day prior.
Pace slowed, and I generally just felt blah.
I kept going and just trucked along best I could.
I knew I wasn't going to get a PR,
but I also knew it wouldn't be my slowest half either.

Shortly after mile 10 we got on the Genesee Riverway trail...
(ran it twice yesterday for the du)
I saw some people I knew cheering, 
I tried to put on a happy face despite how drained I felt.

Then my fiance...oh what a man he is...
pulled his bike over...
got on side of path in front of me,
and let me give him a slap on the tush.
Sounds silly, but it made me giggle and helped me put a smile on.
(Thanks babe for knowing when I needed a boost)



 [Singing to myself on the course,
while trying to thumbs up and smile for the camera]


I pushed forward, turned onto the Ford Street Bridge
trying to hold pace as best I could.
John was up there cheering, and so was my friend Joe.
Seeing familiar faces was much needed.

Final turn onto Exchange street, I knew it was the home stretch.
John was riding next to me at this point,
just cheering me on and pushing me forward...
I gave it what I had left and pushed through to the finish.
1:34:21 (7:12 average pace)
Not a Half-marathon PR.
BUT it is a PR on this course, by 9 minutes.
So we will file this under..success.
Closed my eyes, catch my breath...I was DONE :)
20/1347 Females
8/263 AG(25-29)

I quickly grabbed some water, and found my man.
Gave him a huge hug and thanked him for being support.
He then went back on the course to cheer and support the many others we knew running.
He is an amazing person and is a great support at races,
I can't wait until his knee's are healed and he can race again,
so I can support him and do what he does for me.

I mosied inside Blue Cross Arena looking for food and ice.
Within minutes my back was spazzing and so was my calf (same one as yesterday).
Fleet Feet had set up a "Recovery Zone" which was AMAZING.
Food, water, fuel, foam rollers, masseuses, chiropractors...
After getting my back and calf worked on,
I came back out and cheered for runners as they came in,
& caught up with some friends I ran into.

Finally I found John again, and we started to make our way home.
(He was on the bike, and I used the 2 mile jog home as cool down)
As we made our way through the city,
we were just out of sight from the finish when we saw it...
2 fire trucks and a HUGE police communications truck.
There were lots of people in suits, and uniforms.
As we went by we could see people on phones and computers in the big truck,
we had no doubts about the reason for all of this.
It's sad that we have to have more security like this at races.
It was nice to see that they kept it close enough,
yet far enough where most wouldn't see it though.
I'm sure that kept people more calm and less likely to panic.
Being the distance that it was, 
also made it less "intrusive" to the race atmosphere.

We made our way home slowly,
I was tired and hot but I knew jogging home would be a good cool-down
 that my body needed (I wouldn't have cooled down otherwise, that much I am sure of).

It was an insane weekend of racing, and I loved it.
FF/YJR really know how to put on a race.
I finished my first duathlon and my 12th half-marathon.
Crazy hectic weekend: 100% worth it
I can't describe to you how well I slept Sunday night.
I'm pretty sure a tractor trailer could have ran through the house,
and I wouldn't have flinched.



Have you ever done back to back big races?

What was your first Half-Marathon?

Have you run the same race multiple times before(any distance)?

17 comments:

  1. Congrats on a course PR and doing back to back race days!

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  2. Congratulations, Laura!! You did great for having done the duathlon the day before, my legs were definitely feeling it too!

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  3. I'm loving the medels this year. Anyways-I'm really proud of you and I know I've said several times but that course is absolutely no joke. I still stand by the fact that is indeed the hardest half marathon I've ever done in my life.

    I'm glad Jon is so supportive of you and seriously awesome job.

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  4. Wow, two big races in one weekend...Congrats! Closest I've ever done to something like that is two 5Ks in one morning. One started at 9 AM, the other at 11. Luckily the start/end lines for each were just under a half mile from each other. They weren't connected, just bad scheduling.

    My first half-marathon is in about 3 weeks, so we'll see how that goes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Before this I hadn't done big races back to back... but I had done b2b 5ks or 5k &10k on same day or b2b days... it was a different experience for sure.

      What half are you doing! First half is so exciting, you will love it!

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  5. Congrats on a course PR!!! You are sooo fast! You finish your half marathons an hour before I finish mine lol! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Mindy! Doesn't matter how long it takes, the fact is everyone crosses the same finish line! :):)

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  6. Well done for an amazing race and a new course PR. I am afraid of having 2 big races within a month so I don't know how you managed to do what you did but it's inspiring. It gives me the nerve to do a half-marathon 1 month before my marathon in Athens. If i get injured or something doesn't work out, I will have you to blame :)

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    Replies
    1. I used to be afraid of it too. I ran my 2nd half marathon within a month of my first. Since then I have learned how to do races closer together... lots of hydration, smart training and stretching. Over time you learn how your body will respond. I respond much better to close races than I used to!

      Doing a half a month before your marathon is actually a great idea... it will be a good tune up!! (I do halves while training for fulls because if anything it's a great workout!)

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  7. Just amazing, and so cool to be TEN minutes faster than the first time you did it!

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    Replies
    1. It was cool for sure... amazing to see how far we have come over the years with hard work!

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  8. You are a superstar! Congrats on a great run and course PR. Nine minutes is huge!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! Amazing to see what a few years and hard training does for you! You'll see that with yourself too (you're always saying you don't have fast twitch fibers in you, but you've been PR'ing and getting faster like crazy!!!)

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  9. Awesome!!!

    My first half was in September 2012. I had an awesome time! So an amazing experience!

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  10. Wow again!! Back to back races is intense... I don't think I've ever done it, and I know my legs wouldn't have held up as well as yours did. Another awesome time- way to go!!!

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  11. I really enjoyed reading. Thanks for sharing.
    Mia

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