Iron Girl Half Marathon, Clearwater, Florida, April 14, 2013: race recap

Oh, Iron Girl Half Marathon. You made me nervous from the beginning. I worried about your mid-April race date and the set of two bridges I'd need to go over twice. Yeah, you had the potential to be a sweaty, hard mess.

Guess what? You were.

This was the most difficult half marathon I've ever run. I ran an extremely similar course in January, but it was, oh, 15 degrees cooler or so.

Race day was Sunday. GAH!

When we arrived a little after 6 a.m., we could feel the heat (and the humidity).

Me (and my shiny, sunblock face) and my running buddy, Lori

I was already really nervous for some reason (well, I guess that reason was the heat and humidity), and I really, really wanted to drop to the 5K (I don't even know that I could at that point, but it was fun to think about). You know I had to be super-duper nervous if I wanted to switch to the 5K. That is definitely not my favorite distance.

My nerves hit hard. After running seven half marathons this race season, you'd think that would have gone away by now (my last of the season). I think I was more nervous for this half than almost any before (even after training for half marathons since August and doing bridge-specific training for this race). I'm an irrational girl.

But, shortly, I found myself lining up for the half marathon start.

Mile 1 was difficult. It includes running up a gigantic bridge, and I felt the sweat quickly after beginning. I am proud to say that we did run up this entire thing.

The downhill and following miles made things seem a little better. Still hot, but manageable.

When anyone asked about my goal for this race, I said: "Just survive." I wasn't going for a specific time (neither was Lori, thank goodness), so we just wanted to complete this thing and end on a positive note.

We stopped at every water stop. Not stopping was not an option.

We ran up that second monster bridge before mile 5, and I think it was worst than the first, but we ran up the entire way. Woo-hoo.

Around mile 5, Lori stopped for a restroom break (in a nice beach restroom — good move on her part). We kept moving along after, but we felt like something weird happened after that bathroom break. Our Garmin watches were showing us hitting miles a little bit ahead of the mile marker before that point (pretty typical with some dodging and weaving and not following the course exactly). After that break, our watches were way behind the mile markers (like 0.1 to 0.2 miles behind).

This made my head hurt. I could not figure it out. I assumed it had something to do with the restroom stop, but I couldn't figure out why. Then, I assumed it must be because it was cloudy, and our GPS must have lost the signal for a bit. But, for the rest of the race, we'd see a mile marker, and our watches wouldn't hit that mile mark for another 0.1 to 0.2 miles. Really strange.

We took a gel at mile 6, and honestly, I don't remember much after this point. We kept running, and we kept getting hotter.

Unfortunately, the course is an out-and-back, so we had to go back over the bridges on our way to the finish. The second time around, we walked up both of them. Having a bridge at mile 12 is incredibly cruel, but it was nice to have a downhill to the finish.

My finish time: 2:48:35. Yes, that is my worst finish by nine seconds.

But, I really wasn't upset about it. I didn't have a goal, and I wanted to end on a positive note, and I did. I had fun despite the heat and the big bridges.

The race atmosphere was incredible, and it was so well organized. The water stops were plentiful. And, despite the heat and bridges, I loved it.

My previous worst time was a bitter, bitter half marathon. I'm surprised I continued running after that disaster. And, I totally didn't feel that way after this race, thank goodness.

It was fun meeting up with and seeing so many friends at this race. I finally got to meet this awesome girl. And, we found some of our running group friends after the race for photo ops.

With Christine, who rocked out the 5K (Please excuse my hair.
It gets fluffy with the humidity and sweat.)

We have Iron Cores.

After the photo ops, we hit up the food.

Yes, pancakes with bananas and a few chocolate chips.

Then, realized we forgot a photo.

I had to get out of my sweaty, nasty shirt at this point.

Our running group all wore the same shirts: peace, love, run symbols on the front and "Sole Sistahs Rockin' Blistahs" on the back. (I avoided the butt photo by being a sweaty, nasty mess, thank goodness.)

After all of this sweatiness, I needed steaming hot coffee. Yum.

This half marathon was my worst time-wise, but not attitude-wise. I managed to have fun, and I felt pretty good for what I accomplished on this day.

Is attitude more important than time? How did you feel when you got your worst time at a race? Did anyone else who ran Iron Girl come up with a short course (or is that just me — my watched showed 12.9 miles at the finish)?

Pretty things

Lately, I've noticed a lot of pretty.

• If you're going to have a torture device, why not make it pretty? My coach had this brilliant thinking and made this massage ball for me. Awesome, right?

• Speaking of pretty things, take a look at this masterpiece. My incredibly talented friend drew this with chalk over three days at a Tampa art show.

• Securing tickets to the concert of one of my current favorite artists was pretty sweet! Now, I just have to wait five-plus months ...

• Another beautiful thing: Swedish Fish Jelly Beans. My running buddy, Lori, rocks for introducing them to me (and for a whole bunch of other reasons)!

 

• And, one last pretty thing: the sunrise on an early morning run. This makes bridge running worth it ... well, and the fact that I'll be trained to run the bridges in the Iron Girl Half Marathon in April.

Have you seen anything pretty lately? Do you use a massage ball? Have you tried Swedish Fish Jelly Beans?

Tips for running hills

Living in super-duper flat Florida, I don’t know much about running hills. When I say “I don’t know much,” I basically mean I know absolutely nothing about it. Every training route I run and almost every race I run has no discernible hill.  

Until this race. And, I was petrified of it. Never running hills combined with basically knowing absolutely nothing about it and being faced with two gigantic bridges that I had to run over twice was scary. But, I actually made it up and over them and loved it.  

Of course, I’m probably lucky I did this without getting hurt and loving it as much as I did. Why?
In our training for the Iron Girl Half Marathon (which involves the same gigantic bridges), our coach gave us some tips for running uphill and downhill. Surprisingly, I followed all of the uphill running tips without even knowing them. Score!  

Tips on running uphill

• Lean into the hill 
• Shorten your stride 
• Increase your cadence 
• Look forward, not up the hill 
• Use your arms

But, the downhill tips are a different story. 

I wasn’t even worried about the downhill. I just thought I needed to control my speed by leaning backward. I knew you could get injured running downhill, and I just figured it was from going too fast. Turns out, I was wrong.

Tips on running downhill

• Lean forward, getting the body over the hips and ankles 
• Use your arms any way necessary (to help have a sense of balance) 
• Have a light touch with the foot 
• Have a higher cadence

It's just natural for me to lean backward to "brake" myself while running down a hill. This is exactly what I shouldn't be doing (hello, quad injuries waiting to happen). So, I'm retraining myself to lean forward. Instead of fighting momentum, I'm going to give into gravity and let it take me downhill. Seems so wrong, but it's right.

Do you follow these tips when running hills? What works for you? Do you have the urge to "brake" while running downhill?

Running randomness

I'm pumped that I was able to at least focus my randomness on one topic. This is progress:

• Our running group started bridge training for the Clearwater Iron Girl Half Marathon this weekend. In other places, this may be known as "hill training." On the West coast of Florida, there are no such things as hills. We met at a local trail and ran overpass repeats for 50 minutes. There were three overpasses in a small area, so you can cover a lot in a short amount of time. It was tough. Probably the most difficult 4.3 miles I've ever ran. I'm hoping it gets easier.
• During this training, it was extremely humid. Being the sweaty girl that I am, I sweat ... a lot. Since I knew this was going to happen, I wore my hair in a braid to try and avoid the sweaty, tangled ponytail I usually get. Instead, I got a tangled braid (how does this happen?!?). Any advice on how to avoid tangled, matted, nasty, sweaty hair?
  
  

Ponytail and braid end in tangled, sweaty messes. (Yes, I like purple and making funny faces.)

• Speaking of purple (when do I not speak of purple?), I will soon have these beautiful babies in my possession. I got the last pair in my size (allegedly), and I got them on sale. Score!

Source

• In other exciting running news, my dad is running! He's run before (he played college basketball and was in the military), but not in a very long time. He walks 3 miles a day at the gym, and he decided he wanted to add some running. I sent him the Couch to 5K plan and told him to take it easy, not overdo it and not get discouraged. He's decided he wants to do a 5K with me when he's here in March for some spring training games. I'm so pumped!

Baseball and running? Awesome!

Do you do hill/bridge training? Has it helped you? Do you like it? What is your favorite color? Have you ever run a race with a family member?

Winner, winner, chicken dinner

I wrote the title to this post first. That never happens. That is always the hardest part for me, so it always comes last ... until this post. Since I'm posting the winner of my Iron Girl Clearwater Half Marathon entry, this popped in my head and reminded me of a "Two and a Half Men" episode. 

So, I started searching for this episode on YouTube (Alan gets friends and family to invest in a Ponzi scheme, and in the process develops a cocky alter ego who uses the phrase "winner, winner, chicken dinner" ... please tell me someone else knows what I'm talking about). Well, I failed in finding it. But, I did manage to end up on Whitney Houston (how does this always happen?), and I got lost in jamming to "How Will I Know" and "I Wanna Dance with Somebody" (and being sad that she is dead).

Anyway, that is totally not where I was wanting to go. Maybe there is a reason I usually save the title for last. But, I'm going to try and pull it all together. Stick with me.

Don'tcha wanna run with somebody? With somebody who loves you?

OK, I tried. I realize it's not really working. 

But I do want to run with all who entered. I do love you.

Unfortunately, there is only one winner. And that winner is:

Winner selected through Rafflecopter via random.org

Congratulations, Caroline! I'll be in touch about your half marathon entry to the Clearwater Iron Girl!

If you didn't win, I still want to run with you! And, you can register for the Clearwater Iron Girl Half Marathon and 5K and use the coupon code TBBLOGGERS13 to save 10%. Hurry, though. This coupon code expires February 28.

I hope to see all of you there!

If you didn't win, you're still going to run Clearwater Iron Girl, right? Right?!? Are you a "Two and a Half Men" fan like me (Charlie Sheen episodes only)? What's your favorite Whitney Houston song?

Every girl has an iron core

Since it's Valentine's Day, I want you to show some love ... to you.
 
How?
 
Join me, along with many other empowered and awesome women (and many Tampa Bay bloggers), at the Iron Girl Clearwater Half Marathon and 5K on April 14. Let's run this and rock this together!

It doesn't matter if you run super fast or at turtle speed. Iron Girl empowers, encourages and supports women of all athletic abilities.

I've never run Iron Girl, but I did run a race with a similar course. I know I, along with many others, was scared of the bridges.

But, do not be afraid. These bridges are big; they are difficult to run up. But, you'll feel incredible when you get to the top. You'll feel empowered. You'll realize you're stronger than you realized. You'll feel like an Iron Girl.

And you'll have an incredible view.

You know you want to come to an all-woman running party. You know you want to start your journey today to become an Iron Girl.

Since it's Valentine's Day, I want to show some love to you, too. How about starting your journey knowing you have a free half marathon race entry? Pretty rockin', right? Enter, win and run with me! (Well, you don't have to run with me ... we'll just be at the same race (if that's the way you'd prefer it)). 

Here are the race details:

April 14, 2013
Clearwater, FL
Women's-only half marathon and 5K
7:00 a.m. half marathon start
7:30 a.m. 5K start

Enter to win a half marathon entry here:

a Rafflecopter giveaway
* Iron Girl is providing a free half marathon race entry to one woman. The giveaway ends February 21 at 11:59 p.m. EST. My opinions are my own and were not influenced by any form of compensation.