Little Rock 1/2 Marathon Recap

I just want to get this out of the way so I can talk about Cheryl and the rest of the Cruisers.

Yesterday was not my day. I had high hopes for the 1/2, I have been training with Cheryl for a marathon and I really thought that would parlay into a great 1/2 marathon time for me. Unfortunately that did not turn out to be the case.

I had a couple of rough runs last week, Thursday night was especially rough and I actually started feeling a little nauseous just before we got back to Michele's house. I can't remember if I already blogged about it or not.
I had also felt nauseous while working out with Andrea earlier in the day on Thursday but really didn't think too much of it even after the run. I knew I had two days of rest so I put it out of my head. Friday was a rest day, or as restful as it can be when you are entertaining a very active almost 5 year old. I picked her up around 3:00 and she kept me on my toes the rest of the day. We spent the evening dancing with "Dancing with the Stars" (I have last season still on DVR). We got to bed late and then she had me up early. I finally got to sleep in a little on a Saturday and miss doesn't usually get up until 11:00 decides this is the morning she is waking up early! But let me tell you there is nothing sweeter than waking up to that sweet little voice. She was very excited to go to the Little Rockers race and watch the kids. We did a LOT of walking on Saturday between the Race, and the Expo. After a full day on Saturday I took Kylie home about 6:00. I had to stop at Kroger on the way home and pick up a few last minute things. I was really feeling fatigued by then and thought I would be in bed by 8:30. Nope that didn't happen. It was probably about 10:00 by the time we made it to bed.

Sunday morning up at 5:00 took a quick shower had 1/2 of a Strawberry pop tart. That was probably my first mistake. Breakfast before a race is hard for me, I am always so worried about my stomach and I'm afraid to eat. For short races it is ok but I have got to figure something out for longer races.

We met the Cabot group at the school and we all caravaned to the Race. It was very exciting, all I could think of was Cheryl. Her big day was here and I was so excited and nervous for her all at the same time. We spoke on the phone several times, she had called to let us know where to park.
Once we all got parked and had our stuff ready we headed towards the start line. Either I called Cheryl or she called me and we met and she showed us where some real bathrooms were. I had taken one of the anti you know what pills on Saturday night and then I took a second one at 7:00am. They worked like a charm! I was able to take care of business at home and never had another issue with it.
There was so much excitment in the air... we had a ton of Cruisers! Jane and Coach O were running the full Marathon too.
Pretty soon the gun went off and the race began, it took us a little over 3 minutes to cross the start. I felt ok during the first part of the race... never good but O.K. Kelly, Bailey, Michele and I were running together. Arland had pulled out ahead of us from the start but we eventually caught up and passed him. Kelly poor thing had to make a pit stop in the first mile actually probably first 1/2 mile. It didn't hold her back for long by mile 3 she had caught back up with us. Kelly has really become quite the runner she is very fast and strong!!! I have to say that I believe that Walkers have as much right at the marathon as anyone else, but I DON"T think they should line up at the front. We were having to weave around Walkers for probably close to 3 miles. I'm not blaming them for my miserable race but we did have to use a lot of extra energy weaving in and out of them.

Bailey kept us entertained the first 5 miles... she was so full of energy just chatting away! I think it was soon after the Broadway bridge that she broke away from us, which had been her plan.
Michele was sticking with me and Kelly was kind of hop scotching us, she would pull ahead and then we would get slightly ahead of her and at times we were all together.
By about mile 7.8 I was starting to fatigue, and had to take a walk break. It was a quick one and I caught up with Michele pretty quick. I was really mad at myself for giving in. A little later maybe around mile 9 I can't remember I let Michele go, it was an uphill portion but I got a little second wind and I was able to catch back up with her for a little while. Finally around the end of the 9th mile I had to let her go. I had let my brain take over and I was taking walk breaks. It wasn't all mental, although I think if I could have kept my head on straight I might have been able to make my legs keep going even though they were really getting heavy!

Right at mile 10 Arland caught up with me.. I was SO happy to see him. We walked together for a second and then starting running, but I just couldn't keep going so I sent him on his way.
Around mile 11 I saw Vicki coming out of a port a pottie I knew right away something was wrong. I passed her and said hello but I know she prefers to race alone so I kept on going. It was run walk run walk over and over. A couple of minutes later Vicki caught up with me and said come on Annette we can do this. She told me she was having cramps and had to spend quite a bit of time in the port a pottie. We ran together for a couple of minutes and then I had to let her go too. I was really just falling apart. I struck up a conversation with one lady or I should say she struck up a conversation with me. She had a full marathon bib on and when we had split off from the full marathoners earlier I was a little worried about her, but she told me she wanted to do the 1/2 but they were sold out so she signed up for the full so she could run. I wonder if she got a medal at the end. At the meeting a couple of weeks ago Geneva Hampton made it very clear that anyone signing up for the full but only running the 1/2 would NOT get a medal. I didn't say anything to the lady, mostly I just didn't have the energy for it!
Oh and let me just saying having two 12 mile markers was just cruel. I knew when i saw the first 12 mile marker it didn't seem right, my Garmin had been showing almost a .5 mile difference for several miles so when I finally looked and it showed 11.82 I was just mentally screwed up. I wanted to believe it really was mile 12, but then we finally really got to 12 I was so relieved I just didn't care anymore.
The finish was great, you went under the Peabody Hotel and there was a huge crowd there, they were so loud and i was feeling great.... and then I looked over and realized they were cheering for the Marathon leader!! LOL

After I crossed the finish line I saw Vicki getting her chip taken off and I got in line to have mine removed. And then there was beautiful Sonja handing out medals. It was so awesome to get my medal from her. Michele, Kelly, Bailey and Arland were grouped together waiting for me. That was nice!! A few steps later I got my bag of junk food and then we were ushered out of the finishing area. Several of the Cruisers were waiting for us. Jackie told me she had been looking for me during the race. Poor thing was sick and had an even worse race than I did, although she still finished ahead of me! We got her to a place where she could sit down before she passed out. I found us some chocolate milk and brought some back for her. She really never did feel any better.

So this is the conclusion of my race report... next post will be much better!!!