Thank you Cathy and Steph for the feedback on getting my friend an offical time. I passed it on to her! I hope she can get it sorted out.
Awww, Cathy! Thanks so much for looking out for me! With the way my morning was going, i was afraid I might not be able to start! I was so afraid of going to my corral where there are no potties. But as you saw, I made it! It's strange how the chip failed to register at one of the lines but did just fine everywhere else. Did anyone else have issues? After seeing that my DH, friend, and myself all had issues at one of the recording lines (but at all different places) I was wondering if they were having a widespread issue with the B-Tag system.
My race was okay. Not horrible, but not exactly what I was hoping for. My time was 2:43 something. I shaved about 3:30 of my Princess time last Spring, so I did PR, I just though I'd be able to do even a few more minutes better than that. BUT. I have my "proof of time"!!!!! I pushed it the last mile and a half to make it under 2:45. My legs were *so* tired! I cried at the finish (first time doing so out of three races, and I'm a big crier) for a few reasons 1) My pre-race morning did not go very smoothly and I was so relieved to have finished 2) I got my proof of time! Before my first half last year, finishing under 2:45 was something I thought I'd never be able to do. 3)My main goal for this race was so stick to my 4/1 intervals. And I did it! I actually RAN a half marathon! (oh, okay, well, techinically I JOGGED it, but shhhh, don't tell anyone!)
I had major digestive issues pre-race. I don't know if it was nerves or what I ate or a combo... but it did not start the morning off well. We were a few minutes late meeting my friend - major stressor for me. I ate a Jolly Rancher at about mile 5 and that was the biggest mistake I made the whole race. I was trying to cut down on my water intake because I think I drink too much. I enjoyed a few jolly rancher candies last year during the race, but hadn't had them since. Not only did it take forever to eat (thinking about it, I should have just spit it out!) I missed my scheduled GU time, and then for miles I felt like my entire mouth and throat was coated with sticky. Which made me deathly thirsty. I don't know if my digestive issues caused the dehydration (can that happen that quickly?) or if my antihistimine I had to take the night before caused a sever dry mouth feeling. But I just wanted to suck down water the entire last half of the race. So my hydration and nutrition eneded up being completely off.
I did plan to go slow in the parks, but was forced to take it even slower than I wanted to due to the crowds. I decided the energy spent bobbing and weaving wasn't worth it. I did successfully speed up after mile 5, but just didn't feel the umph in me to do the pace I know I can do. I felt so very focused on each step that I failed to take more of the experience in. So I ended up not enjoying this race as much. But I reallly do think my pre-race issue and jitters was a large cause of that. I feel relieved that it is over. I don't like training in the summer. Glad the training for Tinkerbell should be cooler!
An interesting fact: I compared my split times with my Princess race and noticed that out of my 3:30 time shaved off, 3:15 of that came out of the last 6k. For that race, I ran 1:30 out of 5, and for this race, I ran 4 out of 5. I think I pushed my intervals up to quickly during training and as a result my running pace suffered. But I was determined to do a 4/1. I think I'm going to scale back on my running interval to get my running pace back up and then reassess from there. Another lesson learned!Awww - thanks for your concern! I think your DH finished well before me because he was in a better corral. You guys were probably out of there before I crossed the finish line! It would have been fun to see you guys though! Next year I'll try to be faster.Originally Posted by fairestoneofall
I hate to say it... but I think I still like this Disneyland Half's medal better than the Coast to Coast! There is something about that beautiful Disneyland "D" and the castle that I absolutely love love love. I like the C2C one... but it seems dwarfed by the this years medal. And they aren't including the year on bottom of the C2C medals anymore. I'm very proud of it, though! Like you said - not as many people have one!
In general, as for the corrals, they didn't bother me this year. They were set up just like last year except they put F in front of G instead of waaaaaaaaaaay back behind D and E. I was supposed to be in corral E, but didn't head that way until past 5:30. I could see the sign for corrals F and G, but couldn't find ones for D and E. We saw a ton of E bibs and hopped into a corral. We started asking around and found out it was the D corral. We debated moving back, but at that point at 5:45, we decided most of the people were already in place and it wasn't horribly crowded so we stayed put. It is a bummer not being able to see the start line from back there, but at least we could hear it this year. Last year I was completely overwhelmed by the corrals because it was not expecting the insanity of it all. This year it seemed to be the same as last, but I was more prepared for it.
The water stops did seem a little funny to me but I couldn't tell why. I just remember sort of having a general confusion as I passed through each one. I didn't take the energy to think about it during the race. It's true they didn't mark the stops on the map, but they did list them on the final race instructions handout. DH and I memorized the list from that so I felt like I knew what to expect.
Congratulations to everyone who raced on Sunday!
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