We might should refer to this year's RnR as the WnR... WALK and Roll half marathon. Because at a blazing 13+ minute pace, Mendy the Hottie Neighbor and I crossed the finish line of our 4th 13.1 at the 2:52 mark. Ha!
Of course, if you're a blog follower, then you've doubtless heard my ranting and whining about my stupid calf injury... a tibial stress fracture that kept me out of my Asics for more than two months. And poor Mendy's knees were cracking like celery stalks after our masochistic pursuit of Insanity workouts. So, even though we'd registered for this year's RnR half marathon at last year's expo, we were skeptical that it would be a reality for us. In fact, I had two different trainers advise me to leave this one alone.
But then I got a wild hair. And Mendy is loyal to a fault, (and had probably been thinking the same thing). So when I said, "Ya know, maybe we could just try to do the RnR... even if it's at a walking pace." She was like, "I'm IN!" (Always my precious eager beaver, she is.)
We immediately began an expedited training mission, and managed to build up to a ten mile run/walk two weeks ago. My ten SUCKED. Mendy's were GLORIOUS (bitch). I'd resigned myself to a 3:15 goal of finishing.
So the expo rolled into town. There was packet pickup, and upon reviewing our original registration, we saw how optimistic we were last year that we'd be able to finish in 2:15. That time put us in the 12th corral. We decided to stay in it for shits and giggles.
And then it was race morning. Ugh. The hardest part of any race day is getting myself out of the bed at 5am. My dogs didn't even get up to go out. Ruby the super Pom basically flipped me off and curled her tail over her eyes to block out the light. Diva.
I opted for an all black ensemble, and my calf compression sleeves... to help hide my fat roll, and give me some extra support, respectively.
Getting downtown was a dream because our pal Sid taxied us down in the Silver Rocket. We were joined by Jill, who was running her first FULL marathon today (she's a badass, finishing just a few minutes over the 5 hour mark!) And before we knew it, we were standing in the chilly morning, in a sea of zombie-like, sneaker-clad, masochists like ourselves.
We're damned sexy in our Goodwill outerwear. Meow.
Thank God it's not a beauty contest.
We milled around with the crowds, took dumbass pictures and waited for our turn in the wave start.
The folks in our corral were chatty, and we met a super cute little running duet named Megan and Elizabeth. They're in their twenties, adorable, and were doing the full 26.2.
As the corrals in front of us took their turns at the starting line, we had a panicky moment when we realized that Mendy's earbuds had given up the ghost for no reason other than pure bad luck. But she sucked it up and committed to three hours of torture sans tunes. Poor friend. I'm pretty sure this is where I was supposed to give up my own music. After all, she did it for me last year. But I am evil. And greedy. And she had new shoe inserts that were as soft as clouds wrapped in kittens, so she didn't really need music too, right?
We decided to run a song, walk a song (via my brand spankin' new Ipod... I lost mine last week, wth?) and took off with our fellow corral twelvers at about 7:30am. I ADORE this race course. Miles 1- 3 fly by like a fart in the wind (literally... the westside has a tendency to be a bit stinky b/c it's the industrial district.) And miles 5 - 8 meander through beautiful downtown Savannah.
People line the roads with signs and beers and bloody marys. Not to mention the lovely line-free porta potties in one of the squares that Mendy spotted out of the corner of her eye. GLORIOUS.
And then miles 9-11 rock through Gordonston, such a supportive neighborhood filled with onlookers ringing bells and holding signs. It's so fun! There was another porta potty stop for us at mile 11, and then we were in the home stretch. My calf felt excellent, Mendy's knees were smooth as silk. Our feet were hurting, and my lower back was expressing its displeasure with the extra TEN FRICKIN' POUNDS I've gained, but other than that, life was great! I think it had something to do with the fact that I knew I was almost done, where this time last year, I was just branching off to cover another 15 miles on the full marathon course.
I love turning the last corner onto Drayton and seeing that finish line!
We were both really tired, and our lack of training was showing loud and clear, but we finished happily with our 2:52.
There's not much better than conquering a challenge with your bestie. I love my little mustang!
Such a good one. Yay us! :)
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