Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon Recap, Part Two

The morning of April 19, 2014, I got up an hour earlier than normal, thanks to the Eastern Time Zone.  I had brought my normal breakfast bar along, so I ate that along with a bottle of Nuun, while hubby headed down to the 24 hour convenience store/food counter at the hotel.  Unfortunately for him, it didn't appear that they remembered there was a race that morning, and while he got his oatmeal and bagel in a decent amount of time, the line that formed behind him probably wasn't as lucky.

I showered and got dressed and we headed to the start line, which was just 4 blocks from the hotel.  I knew that a Half Fanatic picture meet up was planned for 7am, and hubby was hoping to meet up with a few of his running friends who were also running the marathon.  We took these start line pictures, and then headed off to find our groups.

I made it to the Fanatic meeting place right as someone was saying, "Half Fanatics get in the picture now" (with the Marathon Maniacs, who had just had a picture taken).  I jumped in and someone took the picture.  A few people started handing her their phones to get their own picture, but I thought if everyone did that, we'd be there all day!  I figured someone would post the picture on Facebook, and I was right! 

We all scattered and I headed for the porta potties.  There were plenty and I didn't wait too long.  While in line, hubby texted me to find out if I made it to the picture in time, though he did not find his friends before the start.  After the porta potty, I headed to my corral, and waited for the start.  Hubby said there was a cannon to start the race (he was in corral C, and I was in F), but I didn't hear a thing.  We gradually just started moving forward until we hit the start line.  It seemed to go really fast, but it was actually about 15 minutes later that I officially started.

I decided to take it nice and slow, but still run my 2:1 intervals.  My first goal was to finish.  My second goal was to finish, and not be injured.  My third goal was time related (sub 3 hours).  I was surprised that I wasn't in too much pain, and just would feel a twinge every now and then.  But I also remembered that two weeks prior, when the pain started, I was fine until mile three, and then it hit hard.  So I didn't want to be overly optimistic and push too much too soon.

The course was very crowded in my neck of the woods, with lots of run/walkers.  I was surprised at the people on the course (we went through several residential areas and people were out on their porches cheering).  There were also a few groups out cheering, a drum line, and a few bands.  The course was also very well supported.  There were many water/powerade stations along the course, and plenty of porta potties.  It turned out by mile 3 my foot wasn't bothering me, but I knew I'd have to find a porta potty soon.  I passed the first ones because the lines were long, and finally stopped just before mile 5, where I only had to wait behind 3-4 other people.

After that stop I felt much better, and kept along at my slow pace.  I was really conservative, because I wanted to finish so badly.

At mile 8, we reached the part of the course I was really excited about.

Churchill Downs!

I took another picture as well since I know my selfie skills are totally lacking!

It was really cool to run on the infield and see such a historic place in person.  There were a few horses, but mostly it was quiet.  (Though I didn't need them, this was a great place for a bathroom stop, as the restrooms in the infield were open.)

Before I knew it we were through Churchill downs and heading back towards the finish line!  I was really happy when I saw the 10-mile mark, because I felt like at this point, I knew I was going to finish.  I even tried to take a selfie with the sign, but you can tell how bad I am at this, because my head is blocking 98% of the sign!

Sadly, I knew at this point that I also would take more than 3 hours, due to the bathroom stop and the slower overall pace.  But I decided to enjoy the last three miles of the race and not worry about my time at all, happy to just be able to be there.

At about mile 12, I decided to run the last mile, thinking if I did, it probably wouldn't be my slowest half ever.  About the time I was about to start running, a lady came up beside me and asked me if I was running "the race tomorrow."  I told her I didn't know about a race the next day, and that hubby and I were heading home after the race.  She was super nice and told me she stopped me because she saw my shirt, and though she wasn't a Fanatic, she was a 50-stater.  She was so nice, I didn't want to say, see ya' I gotta run, so I walked and talked with her for a few more minutes.  After we talked she told me to go and run it in, and I ran from about 12.5 miles to the finish.  

I was so happy to finish that race!!

My time did, in fact, end up being my slowest half ever, but I didn't care at all.  My friend, Katie, who blogs at From Ice Cream to Marathon, was supposed to be handing out the medals, and I really wanted to see her and get my medal from her.  When I got to the medals, I looked and looked, but didn't see her, so I ended up getting my medal from someone else.  (Katie texted me a few minutes later and told me that she had gotten lost on her way to the race, and ended up babysitting Amanda from Too Tall Fritz's children while she ran the marathon.  I told her the people handing out medals probably thought I was weird because it must have seemed like I was avoiding getting a medal, since everytime someone went to give me one, I backed away and kept looking for Katie.)

After I got my medal, I got a space blanket and cup of water.  I had my picture taken, and waited near the finish line for hubby.

After about 40 minutes or so, I saw him.  He PR'd by about 4 minutes, which I thought was great, but he was really hoping for more.  We got our picture taken together, and he got one alone, and then we went to find some water and snacks.

We got a something to drink and then headed over to get our medals engraved.  The line was super long, so we decided to skip it.  We did stop by the beer tent, where the line was not long at all, and got our complimentary beer.

I don't drink a lot of beer, but for whatever reason, it was so cold and tasted really good, and I drank several sips before heading back to the hotel.

After showering at the hotel, we checked out and went to grab some lunch before driving back.  We ended up going to the Bluegrass Brewing Company again because it was close, there was no wait, and we both wanted to try some other things on the menu.

We got a really nice table by the window on the second floor where we had a perfect view of the final marathon finishers about 1/2 mile from the finish line.  It was so inspiring to watch them as they gave it everything they had to finish the race.

While looking out the window, hubby ended up seeing his friends walking by, so he ran downstairs to say hello.

No pictures of my lunch, because I was starving, and I didn't even think about taking pictures, just eating!

We had a wonderful trip, a great race, and found a course that I would definitely do again.  

Half Marathon #8 - Complete!