The New Year's Day Half Marathon: Starting 2011 Off Right

Erik and I did something new and different this New Year's Day...we ran a half marathon. Race director and friend Libby announced this race on Facebook during the early fall. It was one of those word-of-mouth kind of things and was limited to 200 runners because Libby had her 2nd child on December 1 (Hello!) and knew that the race would have to be manageable in order for her to do it. Erik and I were numbers 193 and 194 out of 200, because a New Year's half marathon was a bit of a hard sale to Mr. Kennemer. I loved the idea of having 13.1 miles on the calendar on the 1st day of January and Erik agreed to join me in my enthusiasm.

We had a lovely pasta dinner with my brother Michael and sister-in-law Mikki on New Year's Eve and then it was off to bed. I can't remember the last time I wasn't awake to usher in a new year, but I just couldn't stay up that late and run early the next morning. Texas weather is crazy and it was 60 degrees on New Year's Eve....and then 28 when we woke up on New Year's Day. Gotta love it! However, the winds were very light and the sun was shining brightly and I consider this perfect for running. We arrived early to pick up our race packets and were surprised to find not one, but two technical race shirts in our envelopes (one long sleeve and one short)...sweet! Because the race was small we had little problem parking or finding the starting line. We huddled and shivered as we waited to start and then we were off!

I was wearing my brand new Garmin GPS running watch and found that I started off at a brisk pace. I soon settled into something a little more manageable and tried to enjoy the scenery. This race went through a wooded area in Allen, Tx and I found it to be quite beautiful. Because it was an out-and-back course, I was able to see some of the fastest runners as they headed back to the finish. It is always so much fun to see these super-star runners, they are amazing. I also saw Erik when he passed me as he was running a bit ahead of me during this race.

As you know, I have been on vacation for two weeks now and during this break my nutrition has been...well...not so great. I have enjoyed all kinds of cookies and desserts and have not always been good about eating my fruits and veggies. I really began to feel this in the 2nd half of the race. My legs felt like lead at times and I was overcome with straight-up fatigue. I even found myself standing still at the mile 11 aide station in order to eat my gel and enjoy some gummy bears. This is something that I never do, but I had to take what the day gave me. I got the message loud and clear...nutrition is IMPORTANT! Back to my leafy greens, fruits/veggies, and healthy carbs PRONTO! I also had some wonkiness from that hip of mine and was slowed a bit by that.

This course was somewhat complicated and had lots of little u-turns and cul-de-sacs, etc. Add to that the small field of runners and I found that I really had to pay attention to where I was going. Somewhere between mile 9 and 10 the runner in front of me because unsure of the route. We backtracked about 50 yards before I decided that I was right and headed back in the direction that I was going. This rattled me a bit mentally as I became worried that I had missed a part of the course and would finish without doing the full 13.1. I was reassured at mile 10 when I checked the mile marker against my Garmin. Whew! A later review of the race map and my Garmin map shows that I was correct after all. Earlier in the week I discovered that a runner named Michelle would be at the race cheering for a friend. Michelle and I met on Daily Mile and found that we had much in common including a mutual acquaintance. Michelle was waiting between mile 12 and 13 and was such a great cheerleader...I really needed a boost right at that time as I knew the finish was close but not yet in sight. It was super cool to meet another Daily Mile/Facebook friend in person.

I was hoping to finish in less than 2 hours, but ended up with 2:01:47. So there goes my streak of sub 1:55 races...looks like I will have to start again! My little detour might have added to my distance because my final mileage reading was 13.4 miles. Erik had a great race and ended up placing 2nd in his age group and scoring a nice trophy...a champagne flute with the race logo on it! I came in 5th out of 21 runners in my age group.


Erik shows off his 2nd place award

The race ended up being quite difficult and reminded me that no matter how many times I run a half marathon, it is still a challenge and the distance should be respected. I am not sure that I had my game face on yesterday and fought some mental battles. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to run a half on New Year's Day, looks like a new tradition is born as Libby is already promoting the 2012 edition of the New Year's Day Half Marathon. A special note...I now have 2 race medals with special dates on them-the 10/10/10 Tyler Rose Half and now 1/1/11 New Year's Day Half.