USAFit Sugarland Half Marathon

"....pants on the ground, pants on the ground, whatchoo doin' standing there in the rain, wind and cold with your pants on the ground?..."

Let's start at the end of the story shall we?  After finishing what was my most miserable race ever, after grabbing all the freebies I could hold in my hands/arms (bag was in the car), I made it back to my car looking like a drowned rat.  I opened the passenger side back door and the passenger side front door, shielding me from 'most' eyes I assume, I began undressing.  I had to get out of those clothes and shoes (which I swear weighed 10 lbs).  I did have a jog bra on underneath the shirt, but was bootycommando.  Oh how I didnt give a damn.  First came the shoes and socks and then I just bared my butt and wiggled out of my shorts.  I put a long sleeve on first so at least part of my booty was covered, and then wiggled my wet butt into some yoga pants.  Not the easiest feat when you are soaking wet and its STILL raining and over flip flops.  I was so happy to have (somewhat) dry clothes on.  Had I been able to position the umbrella over both doors I would have but I only had my small umbrella in the car.  Besides the wind would have just blown it over I suspect.

So I get up and out the door at 5:15am.  I knew there was going to be rain, but it wasnt raining.  Yet.  About halfway there it started though I just thought eh...you knew this was coming.  After exiting, the cops werent doing a very good job of directing the traffic and it was slow going.  I made into the parking lot and got a sweet spot though so I am glad I left when I did.  I still had an hour to wait for the Start.

Or so I thought.

As I sat in my car, facing University, I could see the stream of cars.  And cars.  And cars.  About 20 min before Start time (or so I thought), I got in line for the porta potty which was right next to my car.  Me and my umbrella.  The winds had picked up and I was already miserable.  While in line the first announcement came.  Race start delayed by 15 min.  Later I would find out it was due to so many people still trying to make it into the parking lot.  So after peeing etc., I get back in my car.  And then I could hear the loudspeaker again so I cracked my window, and yet another delay.  This time 30 minutes.  So now we are at 45 min delay and while I was happy somewhat to be able to sit in my car, maybe it did mess me up a bit.  Who knows.

Finally I get out of my car 5 min before the start time and head over.  Another 5 minutes of delay and finally we were off.

I will tell you right now I dont have splits (I do up until mile 10ish I guess) and the first 6 or so were sub 10, but then I not only turned my Garmin off, but I sat my wet cold ass on the curb, took off my chip and tucked it into my back pocket.  I was seriously considering DNF'ing right here, but I thought about the $ I had spent for the entry and the medal and the shirt.  I also was not hurt.

I was just tired of being wet, cold and the wind.  And I had blisters forming on both feet from the soaked socks and shoes.  I had mentally checked out and my pace started slowing and I also started walking whenever I felt like it.  That just made the miserableness of it all worse though so I would start running again.  I pretty much ran/walked the last 3 miles and when I got to the finish, I went around the side and refused to cross the timing mat.  So I guess in a way I did DNF because I didnt end up with a finishing time (I later found out that it was 2:22 (not a PW but awful for me!!!) but I completed the course up till the mat.  The race director (Patty) saw me do that and immediately came over to see if I was ok.  Yeah I was ok, I just didnt want my time registered.

I got my medal and walked over to get my finishers shirt; talked to a few folks I knew, and like I said grabbed all the freebies I could (3 bottles of Light Muscle Milk, an egg taco, a grilled chicken sammich (left the bun), some water, some fruit) and then began the search for my rain jacket which I had left with someone at the Start (better to have someone have it at the Start than to toss it which I knew I would have; I did end up tossing my visor because the rain dripping off of the lid just irritated me).

Then we began the striptease by the car....pants on the ground, pants on the ground...  :O)

I feel more sore than ever for some reason, I have no idea why either.  My hamstrings hurt like a muther focker and it might be because I really didnt drink much for 3 hours after and my muscles are just wretched.  I knew days ago this wasnt going to be a PR race, but more of a training run with a medal at the end.  Yesterday I actually thought about not doing it (due to the weather that was coming), but I also a) felt obligated since I had begged my way into a sold out race and b) I didnt want to have to run a long run by myself (chances are I would NOT have run today at all in this weather by myself and that would not have been good at all).

So here I sit, still cold and feeling like I actually ran a marathon instead of a half marathon.  But the Golden Globes are today with all the pre-show hoopla and that is one of my most favorite awards shows!

Houston is in 2 weeks, lets just hope the weather cooperates.  I will not run another race of that distance in this kind of weather.  Never ever ever.  I hope that doesnt come back to bite me in my ass...

Old timey cardboard chip...I would be cussing on the side of the road later at my insistence on making sure I had it secure enough so it would not fall off mid-race...grrrr..

Finisher shirt and medal...

Back of the finisher shirt...I like the shirts and they are cut cute for girls; I really liked the Kicked Asphalt logo!

What my clothes looked like before I got out of the house.  Damn those shorts look ginormous!  All Lululemon'd out though!