I Thought This Race was in Arizona?!

Hooray for me. I haven't failed at my New Year's Resolution of running a race a month. One down, eleven to go!!!

I had my doubts. I really did. I registered to run the PF Chang's Rock n Roll Arizona Half Marathon (what a mouthful!) but my training has been non-existent. I have been in a running slump since my marathon in November. I had one little brief high moment when I ran in the Tucson Marathon Relay back in December and then promptly returned to slothdom and a life of leisure and very little exertion.

Seriously. I think I've run a total of about 6-7 times in the last month. With my longest run being 4.5. Um yeah. Let's go run a half marathon. Whooppee!!!!

Anyway, I had a friend with me (who has also been on slacker mode) so we just decided to enjoy the day. We ran our typical intervals of 4 minutes running, 1 minute walking. I knew I'd be able to finish...I just didn't know if it would be a good run or a bad run.

We have had unseasonably COLD weather here in Arizona. I never expected to be able to wear pants and a long sleeve shirt and STILL be cold but I was. It was 28 at the start and 40 at the finish. While some of my friends will laugh at my woosiness, please just play along this time. For when you live in Arizona, 50 is cold and 28 is like living in the Arctic!

The race started 30 minutes late and then it took us 20 minutes to cross the start line. So, 50 minutes of standing around in the cold, allowing our muscles to tighten and get colder and colder. Nice.

Once we started though, the race was uneventful for the most part. We just ran slow and steady. They were serving Accelerade (fruit punch) and running through the aid stations was an olfactory experience. There was so much fruit punch all over the ground you could smell it. It was kinda gross at the end. One aid station has high-schoolers who totally did not read the Accelerade directions and it was like swallowing cough syrup. Gag.

The bands were fun. The course was crowded and there was a lot of dodging and you had to pay attention. My partner needed a port-a-potty and we ran from mile 2-nearly 7 in search of one. Finally, at 6.8 there was a small bank of FOUR port-a-potties for 14,000 half marathoners. Not sure who thought that was going to work out just swell but it was a five minute wait and then we were back on our way.

I felt good all the way until just past mile 10 and then I was tiiiii-rreed! I didn't have any aches or pains but was slowing down and just slogging along. I guess that should be expected with my, uh, lack of training, eh?

Crossed the finish line mob at 2:29:15 which is, officially a PR for me. Wahoo! (I haven't run a half since 2004, which I finished in 2:52, although I've improved as a runner significantly in the last 2 years.)

My legs immediately cramped up (I don't run well in cold weather--I wasn't this sore after the Richmond Marathon) and it took nearly 30 minutes to get out of the race chute and find my family. We then had to walk nearly a mile to the car (actually a good thing since it helped me walk off my pain).

I thought this was a fun race but I much prefer smaller races. There were just too many people and I hate crowds. My family didn't get to see me finish and I hated having to dodge people traffic all along the course. I can't say I won't do this again (hey, the medal is really nice!) but I'll stick to smaller races when I can.

All in all, a great race and now it is time to get my butt in gear and start actually training. I have my eye on a sub 2:15 time for the Arizona Distance Classic in March...