Hartford half: the recap

Meet my newest bling.

Spoiler alert! I didn't PR but I finished and it was a pretty good race, despite some stomach cramping issues. (Official time: 2:40)

The morning started out pretty cold. It took four miles for my toes to thaw and for me to drop my gloves. In hindsight it probably would have been better if my toes had stayed numb because toward the end my feet were up to their normal antics and the balls (haha balls) of my feet were in pain.

Alyssa doing her best baked potato impression.

The crowd support at the race was amazing, as was the race course. We ran mostly through neighborhood streets in Hartford and there were very few hills. My kinda race!

Things seen during the race:

• A girl wearing underwear that said "LOVE PINK" across the butt. The only reason I know this? I could see them through her tights.

I hope she was getting paid to advertise.

• A sign meant to show drivers what speed they're driving clocking runners' speeds.

You'll be happy to know no one was caught speeding.

• Lots of spectators with dogs, which I really appreciated.

• A dude running dressed in a full Flash costume—mask and all.

There was a ton of music along the course, including bagpipers! I listened to my music for most of the race until the end and I was amazed by the number of runners who talk to themselves while running. As usual there were people all through the course yelling that we were "almost done." It's a good thing we were busy running or those people were dangerously close to getting gut-punched. No, at mile six, we are nowhere close to being done!

I had a side stitch for most of the race, which I attribute to feeling like crap the day before the race and probably not fueling efficiently. I was able to push past it until about mile 10 when my stomach cramped up and running or walking upright was a challenge. I did a lot of walking for the majority of the last three miles and knew a PR just wasn't in the cards for me for this race. I was ok with that.

I've decided my mentality around running is that I am running for, and against, myself. Feeling inadequate to others is just a huge waste of energy. Yes, I want to improve and that's my overall goal but I'm also not going to beat myself up over falling short of my goal, whatever that may be at the time. There's always tomorrow.

Third half marathon? Done!

 
After the race Kari's friend, who is a massage therapist, came over and gave us all 20-minute massages. That was, by far, my favorite part of the day. She addressed the recurring pain in my lower back and asked why I haven't been seeing a chiropractor. It looks like it's time to loosen the purse strings and just make an appointment. Today most of the pain is in my calves. Walking down stairs today is a special kind of torture.

I've already been hooked into running another next month, which is close to home so a PR should be in the cards.

I'm so easily influenced.