Nike Women's Half Marathon

Packet pickup

Nike

The best part of packet pickup was the Paul Mitchell school doing hair braids.  I got a boho braid by Michael and it was lovely. 


Race Day
Today was the Nike Women's Half Marathon.  My day began at 4:30am (yikes).  The dogs of course were confused as to why we were awake so early.  Went on our morning walk and gave them breakfast.  I then got dressed, ate, hydrated and headed to the metro. 

Me before the race

I got to the race with about 20 minutes to spare.  A lesson learned from the Rock N Roll Half, got me into the port-a-potty line before the race.  That was a good call. 

The Race
I had a nice race.  I had some left foot pain starting around mile 7, so I stopped and did some stretching and foot rotations.  I had some hip issues starting around mile 10, but by then I was far enough into the race that I knew I would be ok.  I ran the first 6ish miles and then switched to a walk/run to finish the race.

The course was mostly flat which was really nice.  There were plenty of water stops so I was never thirsty while on the course.  I ran with a water belt and didn't even need to use my own water, so I drank mine after the race.  There was also gummy stuff, mini Luna bars and candy on the course.  There were TONS of volunteers and they all seemed genuinely happy to be there.  There were numerous high school and collage marching bands along the course which was really uplifting.

Clock Time: 3:11:43
Garmin Time: 3:09

Also for the record, my Garmin says that I did 13.9 miles.  I know there is usually some discrepancy on the Garmin but almost an entire miles seems a bit off to me. 

Recovery

Post race snacks

Ice bath

I managed to last 11 minutes in the ice bath today.  A new record! 



Bling Bling!
Instead of the usual race medal, this race give out Tiffany's necklaces.  I am of course, wearing it already!

Got my bling

Bling