Some background on this race, is it was a new location for a racing series call Best Damn Race. They are in a couple cities in FL but are branching out. We have done two of their races in Jacksonville before. They use to do registration blitzes where the first 10 people get in for $1. I was lucky enough to be one of those 10 people this time.
The race was starting at 7:30am, so we were up at 5:30am. We got ready and headed to Louis Armstrong park. I was feeling nervous about running this half. Mainly because I had not run a half since November. It felt like ages. I also knew that it was going to be hot and sunny with highs nearing 80 at the end of the race.
I wanted to give it my all and go for a PR. Looking at the 5k and 10k PRs I had recently gotten it wasn't going to out of the question to get at least a 5 minute PR. But I had my eye on 2:45. The plan was going to try to run an even 12:30 pace. Thinking back on it I don't know why I choose this strategy. I had been doing well with starting slower and then going faster as the race went on. I think I am still trying to find the line of going out too fast and going out too slow.
We found parking without a problem, pinned on our bibs and walked to the starting area. I got in the porta potty line and then went to warm up. DH and DSs warmed up with me. We stopped for a picture.
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I said goodbye to the boys and headed for the 12:30 flag.
They counted us down and we were off.
Here is a look at the course
Right out of the gate there were soooooo many people passing me. I was kinda shocked because of where I put myself at the start. It was making me even more nervous. I kept telling myself to run my own race and not go out too fast. Then the 2:50 pacer reached me. I couldn't believe it. Was I really going that slow? My watch was telling me 12:30 on the dot so what was up. So the whole first mile I was doing math in my head. Was I wrong about what pace I needed to be at? I hadn't done the math lately but I was pretty sure I was right when I had done it before. Running math was proving to be hard but I was still coming up with what I was running the right pace. The group was doing a 4-1 so I kept leapfrogging them. Then I heard a guy say is that the 2:50 pace group to his wife, she said yes and then he said they are going really fast. THANK YOU!!! I knew I wasn't crazy. After mile 2 I finally lost them.
I was keeping pace doing well. It was starting to heat up. I came up on the first aid station and took a few bits out of my Cliff bar and then grabbed what they said was Gatorade. I immediately yelled out NOPE. It wasn't gatorade at all it was NUUN. I should have known better because NUUN was the event sponsor. I am not a fan. I threw it out and grabbed a water. I kept on. We were running in the downtown area at this point. The buildings were nice for shade but it was a bit boring so I decided to pull out my earbuds. My stomach started to hurt but I was doing well.
We were going into the Garden Districts. There were lots of trees lining the route but it was still getting hot. At mile 6 there was another aid station. I grabbed water and stopped for a minute. My stomach still wasn't feeling good so I was trying to think of my next move. I ultimately decided it was something that would go away and pushed on. I was almost to the turn around. And more than halfway! Mile 8 came and went and then it was time to turn around. Less than 5 miles to go. I was extremely hot at this point. The houses were so pretty in this part of town so I tried to tell myself to make sure to take it all in. Where was half marathon bingo when I needed it?
I came up on the mile 9 aid station and stopped again. My stomach still wasn't right. I decided not to eat anything else because I didn't think putting more carbs into my system was going to help. I pushed through again. I was still doing pretty good. I was keeping pretty close to pace, I might have dropped a little from all the stopping. Then I saw a gift from God, one of the homeowners was standing out on the street with a hose!!! He was spraying everyone and It felt sooo good to run through that water. After that all I could think about was the drink waiting for me at the end. I knew that they wouldn't have sports drinks because of NUUN being their sponsor so I texted DH and asked him to find me a blue Powerade.
Mile 11 yes!! only 2.1 to go I was so close but still so far away. Then I broke down. My stomach was not going to cooperate anymore. I had passed all of the aid stations for awhile so I ran into a nearby bar. When I came out I felt like I had failed. I decided to walk for a bit. I was convinced any hope for a PR was dashed now. I wasn't thinking straight because if I would have kept up the pace I would have still gotten a PR. Then the 2:50 pacer from earlier passed me. That was a huge blow. I briefly thought about joining them but I didn't like the interval they were doing. I decided to run when I could and walk when I wanted to. Did I mention I was hot? Feeling down on myself I started to think about Darkside and why I wanted to run that race because it was going to probably be even hotter than this race. I passed through the last water stop before mile 12. We were back in the downtown area with building shade. I decided to run the shade, walk the sun. But I told myself I wasn't going to do a give up walk but a power walk. I was watching my pace on my watch and I was at 16:05. I have never walked that fast in my life. DH knew I was struggling and called me to ask where I was. I couldn't even think about that. I was just putting one foot in front of the other.
Half a mile left! I could see the park! Then DH and DSs appeared with blue Powerade
They came up next to me and walked with me for a bit. I was looking at my watch and I noticed that I was going to be close to my PR. I decided to just go for it. I sprinted that last .3 miles to the finish. I knew by the clock when I crossed the line that I had barely missed my PR. I grabbed my medal and water and found a spot in the shade. My family found me and I finished the rest of the blue Powerade. When I felt better, I went to the food tents grabbed a banana and a Coke and we headed for the car. We needed to get back to the room to shower before check out time.
I told DH all about the race in the car on the way back to the hotel. I was so upset with myself for how things went. I was just rehashing it over and over again. DH dropped me and DS10 at the front door of the hotel. We walk to our room and DS10 started talking to me about the race and then he said to me, Well mom at least you finished. I knew he was right. I did finish. For as much as I wanted to give up because it didn't go my way I didn't. Kids have the best perspective sometimes.
Here are our medals, mine is as big as my hand. They really did a good job with them.
Writing this recap has helped me realize that the race was not as bad as I thought. My official time was 2:57:08. So I missed my PR by 1:01. I am kinda bummed that I was so upset about missing my goal time that I gave up. I really would have been happy with any PR and I lost sight of that. According to Garmin my moving time was 2:51:00 so I know I have a PR in me. The first 10 miles of the race was a PR for that distance, taking 5 minutes off my last 10 miler in October. Thinking back on my racing history I have never had a bad race like this so I guess I was bound to have it happen sometime. The biggest thing I have learned from this is that I need to work on my racing strategy and that destination races are fun but hard to pull off when you want to do/eat it all
Thanks for reading my long recap
This is one reason pacers confuse me. Isn't it supposed to be and EVEN pace, and that's when you'd finish? Or...start out too fast, walk for EV er and then book it to the end? 
LOL 
I can just picture this. Also, to quote DS3, "YUCKO"
(that's kind of a Mardi Gras joker guy. Right?)
Still one of the strongest runners I've ever met. 
I had the same thoughts, earlier start AND familiar territory is going to help A LOT. Plus Disney. 
But I am not going to cry about it I am going to use it as inspiration. I am going to prove him wrong and run the marathon. I am going to use this journal as a way to hold myself accountable during the next 9 months. Please join along and feel free to comment.
