Divas Half Marathon Recap!

Shelley and I were wicked pumped for a girls weekend!!

We left friday afternoon on the drive for Long Island from western mass, and hit traffic. Yuck. Even yuckier? We were convinced we got stuck behind Derek Jeter.

We wanted to run him down, but instead just wished the Tigers good luck to kick their Yankee butts!!

After check in, we headed out to dinner at Cheesecake Factory. Did you know they have a new skinnylicious menu? They have all the calories listed out & have created menu items that are delicious and healthy.

I started with a pomegranate mojito (not on the skinny menu), then we shared a salmon spring roll appetizer and I had a pear & gorgonzola salad with grilled chicken. We ended our first night of girls weekend relaxing and watching movies at the hotel.

Saturday morning we made a trip to our favorite breakfast spot (PANERA Obviously!!), then headed to the Race Expo. Directions to the exact location were a little lacking, but we followed a car covered in running bumper stickers and eventually found it. 

The expo was a little small, but there were still a few great booths. We picked up our bibs and took some opportunities to pose for photos.

I found a great company called Sparkly Soul who makes fabulous athletic headbands. I made sure to buy one to wear for the race and loved it (Review & giveaway to follow!). I browsed a few other booths, but didn't spend a fortune (what a first!). Next we headed for a shopping extravaganza at the mall. I spent too much at Sephora, Anthropologie, and my new favorite lululemon. The lululemon tank I bought to wear for the race, but I left lusting after the full tilt zip up and their pleated skirts.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed with Starbucks and did a dress rehearsal of our running outfits. I went with my new running skirt, the lululemon tank, my Zensah sleeves, arm sleeves and new sparkly soul headband!

We got takeaway from California Pizza Kitchen for dinner, and after a scary, anxiety ridden trip to Walmart (does that store make anyone else anxious?), we settled in to watch He's Just Not That Into You. 

We woke up at 6:15 to get ready for the shuttle pick up at 7:20. Breakfast, getting dressed, filling bottles with water & Nuun, packing snacks, and getting pumped up. We got to the start shortly before 8 & were soooo glad to have picked the last shuttle time. The porta-potty lines were a million miles long and there was not much else going on. They did have self seeded corrals, and we headed to the 10:01-11 min mile corral.

Waiting for the start!

We started off dodging and weaving around slowpokes. There is nothing I hate more in a race than slow people walking in the first mile, clogging the traffic! It bothers me so much that these people won't start further back to allow quicker people to get by first. I also cannot stand people that don't pull over to walk, or check behind them when they stop to avoid a pile up. I practically plowed over several people because of their inconsiderate stopping.

Shelley really wanted to go for a PR, but I told her we also had to run smart. We had to stay strong for our speedwork and tempo runs this week. We had to keep soreness at bay for the Hartford Half in 2 weeks. But, I also wanted to stay with Shelley, only she was going at a good clip. Our first mile was 10:34, then mile 2 started at 10:15, until I told Shelley we had to slow down. Most of our miles were around 10:30ish for the first 8 or so. My stupid Garmin is not working right now, so I can't see official stats.

A lot of the course was small hills, and parts had slanted roads. The hills and slanted roads started killing my right knee. At mile 8, I told Shelley that I would have her go ahead at 8.5. Then luckily, my knee loosened up and started feeling better. I made it to mile 10 with Shelley, but I wanted to be smart. The Marathon is the goal, and I don't want an injury to complicate things.

A funny house I saw with fake people doing work on it!

The last 3.1 miles, I only walked 3 times, and just slowed the pace down to make my knee happy. Less than a mile from the finish there was an out and back where I saw Shelley!

Middle in the pink!

Then we hit a tiara & feather boa station, which was fun & uplifting, but the boa was sticky and super annoying around my neck. We finished the race through beautiful Eisenhower park, by a golf course, and a good size crowd to the finish! Then I was greeted by a welcome sight...

firefighters!

Firefighters ready to give me my medal! I bothered a random girl to take my picture, then shortly after found Shelley. I grabbed some champagne & my rose, and took some quick shots...

Then we waited in line to have more firefighter pictures taken...

We grabbed some yummy food, bananas, bagel, luna bar, and tart cherry juice. I saved some for later, and we headed out to the lawn to stretch and relax for a few.  It was short lived, since we had to head back to the hotel to check out.

A fun course, that seemed to fly by. My 7th Half Marathon Completed!

2:24:20

1377/2624 overall

247/426 women 25-29