Event review: Pajama pancake run - San Antonio

Today was the big day--the 10-mile run I signed up for on a whim a month ago :)

The thought of not only running 10 miles but doing it in the daytime, when I usually run at night, had me pretty intimidated before the start of the race. I know I normally feel more sluggish if I run first thing in the morning, and since my longest training run had been 8 miles, I was nervous I would spend the second half of the race on the brink of collapse and feeling like the end was nowhere in sight. And while I did feel on the brink of collapse for the last 2 miles, it wasn't really in a bad way--if that makes sense, lol.

I made sure to be as physically prepared as possible--I spent all of Friday hydrating, ate a proper pre-race dinner, and then woke up early enough to shower (yes, before a pajama run), have coffee, and even eat an egg before heading downtown. The goal was to trick my body into thinking it wasn't first thing in the morning, and for the most part, that worked. Apparently what's the most wrong with morning running, for me at least, is doing it on an empty stomach. I need fuel.

The scene at the starting line was everything that makes me love races--friendly strangers, music, costumes. I had to wonder about a few runners I saw there; one dressed as a slice of bacon, with her head completely covered with the top of a bacon strip that ended dangling not too far off the ground, while another had an actual mini BED that she held around her waist with the aid of two shoulder straps. I loved the costumes but couldn't imagine running in them! (Bacon Girl ran in costume, but was doing the 5k...Bed Girl did the 10-mile, I think, but ditched the bed before running.) They fired up the pancake griddle, led the crowd in prayer (while I don't mind it, that still surprises me every time it happens...) and then we were off.

The course started out beautiful and flat, and I counted off miles like I was crossing them off a list--one down, two down, without considering how many more there were to go or what fraction of the race I'd completed. I was so glad I was able to keep myself from focusing on the remaining distance, because if I had let myself think about how far there still was to go, I might have turned back with the 5k runners :)  Three miles, four miles...I stopped to grab a gu packet from my camelbak at the four-mile mark and took some gatorade from the aid station, but otherwise didn't stop once till I hit the turnaround. Miles five and six were along the same part of the Riverwalk as my March 5k, so I both enjoyed the familiarity with the course and hated that I knew I had hills (well, inclines) in store. At the sixth mile mark/turnaround spot, I stopped for nearly a full minute to catch my breath, have more gu, and rehydrate. From then on the race just felt different. My legs felt fine the whole time, but I felt both like I was running on empty, and like I was way too full of water. I started walking the hills/inclines, and after a couple more miles, it felt like I was walking more than I was running. (My split times don't indicate that, though--the last few miles, other than when I stopped at the turnaround, all had splits just a minute or so off the rest.) Hitting the 8-mile mark was a huge mental milestone, since I knew that the rest of the way was longer than I'd ever run before (thankfully at this point I found that motivating). By 9.5 miles I was done...I willed myself to keep running till I reached the end of a series of lamps, then realized I could see the finish line from where I was, so I didn't walk after all. I ran...I finished...I GOT PANCAKES.

I don't know that this race convinced me that I can run for 13 miles...if anything, it showed me I really CAN'T keep running past a certain point. But it showed me I can finish, even when I'm long past the point of being able to run non-stop. I learned there is a very fine line between being hydrated enough to keep going, and being too full of water to feel comfortable while running. I am 100% sold on my compression socks and have settled on a few flavors of gu that don't taste like vomit. So all in all, I consider this a successful pre-half-marathon run.

Which is good, since I signed up yesterday, before knowing if I'd survive a run of this distance. Which defeated the entire purpose of this run...but there was a one-day-only discount, and Impulsive Me couldn't pass that up!

I am now predicting a time of around 3 hours for the half marathon based on my (unofficial since apparently my timing foam thingie didn't work at all, boo) time of 2:15 today, which completely sucks, but I don't think I'm going to get half an hour faster in the next month. I also think this might be the only time I ever do a half marathon, because the training runs are so very long and sucky...but at least I'll be able to say I did it once!