Oh where to start! I will sum it up: Disappointing. Pretty much, we didn’t have a real August day until today. The humidity was high and the temp shot up. But was I said yesterday, my slowest half marathon is still faster than not running at all.
But to go back to the beginning, how about we start with a cute picture of Peyts? We love this new tank top. You can’t see the picture here, but its a pirate. We like to call him pirate Peyts because he does this pirate eye thing, though not so much anymore. He likes to say “arrrr” though. So this tank is perfect. Not to mention he looks like a cute little thug.

After carb-loading at Pizzeria Uno, we headed home and made signs. Allie was very excited for the signs.

Then it was time for bed. Mama went to bed at 9 but stayed up until 9:30. I didn’t have trouble falling asleep and I slept well. I felt good when I woke up! We got all ready and headed out the door. We left a little later than we would have liked. But I remembered all my stuff (including my shoes… I had a couple dreams where I suddenly was at the race start without my shoes). Dada dropped me off a short walk from the start. I got there and found a long portopotty line. Luckily I just barely made it in and out as the race was starting.
The plan was for Dada to drop me off and head over to see me run past on State Street by the Overture Center. I figured they’d see me around 7:30 because I thought the Overture was at mile 2. It was closer to mile 1 and I was going faster than I expected and we just missed each other.
I started out well. I ran 4 miles before I stopped for a walk break and fuel. My pace was right around 12 minutes, a little faster than my normal but I felt good, I didn’t feel like I was heading out too fast.
There were some slight up hills in the first 4 miles, but I ran it all and still felt good. Even when I stopped I probably could have kept running but I wanted to get my fuel in. Mile 4 was right outside the zoo. I texted Dada where I was. He texted a few minutes later that they had gotten to one of the side streets near the zoo… and just missed me again. Darn it!
After the zoo the route headed into the arboretum for a portion of the “arb loop.” It was this loop I ran twice for my 13-miler two weeks ago. I had run the other direction and remembered the big hills going this direction. So I was planning to stop. I passed a bunch of people who were walking by this time through mile 5. I had planned to stop every other mile. When I got to mile 6 I kept running because I knew the big hill was coming up. I took my walk break around 6.5 and that is when it started falling apart.
Unfortunately this hill was really two in one and it was long. So I walked longer than I liked. Then I started running again… but it was getting really hard. There was another long hill just past the visitors center. Then we went down… it didn’t seem to do any good. I couldn’t get into a good rhythm. And when I did get into a good rhythm there was an aid station. The problem was the heat, so I made sure to stop at the aid stations.
After the arb loop we turned left to head up what was deemed on the route map, “cemetery hill.” It was actually before the cemetery and it was huge. But I was walking anyway. I was really really upset at this point because I just couldn’t get going. My back was hurting and my stomach was upset. This had started just outside the arb before I’d even taken my second fuel.
I realized why it was so hard as I approached the mile 9 marker. The flag had been changed from green to yellow. The flag system was green meant conditions were good but yellow meant take caution. It was the heat. The temps were in the upper 60s/low 70s, but humidity was near 100%. I stopped feeling so upset about my sluggishness at that point. Everyone around me was walking and I became more aware of ambulances and medical personnel on the course. I asked one of the volunteers and he said they’d changed the flag about a half hour before. I hadn’t noticed the change but that was when I had started feeling so bad.
I was still hoping at this point that I might finish under 3 hours. And I was also anticipating finally seeing my family. Doug had said they were just past mile 10. I passed the area I thought they were and thought I’d missed them again. But he texted where he was and then I saw them a short time later. I was so excited!
Dada took these pictures before I got there:

Above is Allie’s sign and below she’s holding Dada’s sign.


Peyton held the sign too, but he didn’t quite get the idea.

And there I am! As always seems to happen, Doug gets a nice action shot and there is nothing in the way, and then suddenly someone or something is in the way! Today it was a skateboarder. Its too bad, I actually look happy in this picture!

I suppose I still look happy here too! It was because I saw my family, certainly not because I felt good running!


I stopped for a few minutes to give everyone kisses and take some pictures. Then it was time to go again. I had about 2.5 miles left and I still thought here that I could finish under 3 hours. I didn’t feel too bad, but that changed fast.

Around after mile 11, I was ready to be done. I had many thoughts of “why do I do this?” and was considering quitting. I actually thought about going to medical personell and hitching a ride to the finish. I wanted them to change the flag to red, which means the race is canceled, hitch a ride to the finish. I had a side/front stitch. My legs hurt. My back hurt. My stomach was hurting worse every time I tried to run. I had stopped sweating, which I knew was not good at this point. I did more walking than running from this point on.
Those last 2 miles were soooooo long. I texted Doug a few times that I just wanted to be done. I knew by this point I wouldn’t make it under 3 hours. My time after mile 12 was 2:47:something and I was not going to run a 13 minute mile at this point. I managed to run a little more in mile 13 than I had in mile 12. But I had to stop when I felt like I was going to hurl, which was often. I was also having a hard time catching my breath. That had been a problem since around mile 7.
Finally I saw a sign for half a mile to go. They had photographers at that spot. I wonder how those pictures turned out? I think I ran a little and then just kept walking. I was going to run to the finish so I had to decide when to get back to running. I started running a little later than I thought I would, I was waiting for the 13 mile marker but there wasn’t one. But I was rounding the left turn to the finish and I just booked it, my fastest sprint of the race. It would have been to finish strong, but at that point it was just to finish.
I didn’t know until later that Doug and the kids had made it to the finish, albeit kinda far away. We weren’t counting on them being at the finish because of traffic and parking. That was why they were trying to see me in three places along the course. But they did make it and Dada even managed to get a picture! I’m in the middle of the yellow in the blue shirt and orange bondi.

I sprinted through the finish, couldn’t breathe, and a wonderful volunteer put me in a wheelchair and took me to the medical tent. I’d figured I’d need to go to medical but thought I’d be able to walk. I just needed to sit down and to get cooled down. I was most worried about getting my medal, which one of the medical staff went and got for me. And even though a half hour earlier I wanted them to call the race, I asked and found out the race was still going, wouldn’t be called off and I’d get my official time, as slow as it was.
I ended up being in the tent about a half hour and glad I had my phone to let Doug know. He said it was weird because he saw me finish and then didn’t see me again. They weren’t able to get to me in the tent with the stroller so they just waited by the lake. I downed some gatorade and chocolate milk in the tent, laid down with some ice under my neck. I was there longer than I thought I’d be but I was dizzy when I’d lift my head to take a drink. Finally I was ready to go and I went to see my family. I was glad to not be hungry at this point because everything was finished and there was no food left other than a few granola bars and bananas.

Then it was time to walk to the car, which at least wasn’t too far away. Allie was pretty beat by this time, and of course I was. So we walked slow. We picked up McDonalds on the way home. I wasn’t hungry at all but figured I should eat. I was actually nauseous up until dinner time tonight. I still am a little. That heat and humidity really ruined me today. After lunch and a shower I took an hour and a half nap… didn’t do much today after that either! I still feel a little nauseous but also a little hungry. My body was feeling a bit better earlier but the soreness came back after I sat for awhile. I’m glad I at least didn’t get a headache today!
So I don’t know what happened to me out there. I expected the heat to become an issue just because of the timing of the race. I ran my long runs between 6 and 9, finishing right as the day was heating up. So I knew running between 7 and 10 would be warmer. Then we have this crazy humidity and the hourly temps just kept going up. I did stop at every aid station but one, and in the later ones I took two cups of water. My water bottle had Propel for my electrolytes. I was pretty hydrated leading up to the race. I suppose I could have taken some Gatorade at some of the aid stations, but I have never done that in a race and that may have upset my stomach worse. I’m sure it wasn’t just my hydration that led to this.
I guess long story short, it just wasn’t my day. I admit my disappointment. I really didn’t meet any of my goals. This was my slowest half by far and I certainly wasn’t smiling when I was finished! My official time ended up 3:08:07, overall pace 14:26. My splits tell the story. There were timing mats at 5 miles and 10 miles. My 5 mile time was 1:03:20, a 12:40 pace, which is quite speedy for me. My 10 mile time was 2:15:42, my pace slowed down to 13:35. Then my last 5K time (mile 10 to 13.1) was 53:11, a 17:11 pace. WAAAAAY slower than even my slowest 5K.
But what’s done is done. If the race was two days ago when it was nice and cool the result may have been different. But it was today, the first real August weather day. I wanted to do the Madison Mini once. It was a cool route and I suppose fun enough, but I won’t do another half marathon in August!
I’m planning to run the Madison Marathon half on November 9. In fact, I might sign up soon because I have a discount code. That run will be better. I will be better trained and it won’t be August! Time to make my training plans… but I’m taking it easy first. I probably won’t run a ton of miles the rest of the month.