Heels and Hills and Hail?

In Case of 1/2 Marathon:  Drink!

I competed in my second half marathon yesterday, which was really a nice little race compared to Austin.    Ben and the princess and my little podracer all drove in Friday evening and used the non-running portions of the weekend visiting with Matt and Becky, so that was lovely.  We all loaded up to go to packet pickup; halfway expecting the madness, swamped parking garage and lines of the Livestrong Austin race expo.

This was NOTHING like that.  Ben drove us right up to within steps of the packet pickup.  I walked right up to the table and got helped pretty much right away.  I was handed my shirt, bib and running chip and directed over toward the freebies table.  Kylee picked out a granola bar and the lady handed us some lotion and face cleanser and we were done and headed back to the car in under five minutes.  (There was a protein powder booth and one shirt/gear stand, but I decided shopping with the two year old was a bad plan.)

Mustang Statue

After packing all my stuff into the bathroom in preparation for five a.m. on race day, I spent a nice quiet evening finally getting to watch Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 1 with Ben (we'd tried twice with babysitters to see it, only to get half an hour in and have to go home, hence DVD.)
And into bed early.  After praying that the 100% chance of rain (yes really, 100%) predicted for the hours of the race tomorrow was perhaps wrong.

Lots of pink, tutus and rain gear

After a breakfast of oatmeal with peanut butter and bananas on top, I got all of my gear on and drove over to Irving.  It was easy to find the garage we were intended to park in and I got a spot on the second level.  On leaving the garage, I realized that although it hadn't been raining much during my drive over, that it was now truly, steadily raining.  So I walked back up the garage to my car for Amy's Nike jacket (THANK YOU!!!) 
I arrived at the race site about an hour before our start time and wandered around a bit snapping pictures and visiting with the other racers and trying to stay under the eaves of buildings to keep my mesh topped shoes dry for as long as possible.

Me, Casey, Kristen and Positive A

The rain let up several times, making me second guess the whole coat situation.  I was on the verge of taking it back to the car for good when my race mates showed up.  I've known Casey for, goodness, it's been over a decade now, but it was a treat to meet two other ladies who I've only known through the blogosphere.  We all made a last run through the portapotties (much cleaner than Austin, and shorter lines, too!)  Then had the pleasure of watching all of the adorable kids competeing in the one mile fun run.  They were so cute!  Hmmm...maybe I will let the podracer "run the marathon" (one mile kids turkey trot on thanksgiving) this year.  Something to consider anyway.
We all split into our various pacing groups and got under way just as the first of many brief rainfalls began.  The run location was lovely, after a mile or so on the street, we wove up along the river through the Campion Trails parkway.  I lost my pacer (2:35) when she had to stop and tie her shoe at exactly two miles in when the rain and wind started to pick up.  Although I pace myself poorly enough to have seen both the 2:30 pace group and the 2:40 pace group a number of times through the course of the race, I never did see my pacer again, so that was a wash. 

raining but beautiful

I will say that as much as the headwinds (strong on the first half of the race) and rain (alternating between steady and non-existent) were challenging, the course itself was beautiful and almost without exception very flat.  If Austin gave me one thing, it's the ability to respect real hills and laugh at small hills.
My legs held up through the whole thing, never complaining once and warming nicely over the first couple miles.  My hands, however, were another story.  Around mile two I was telling myself, yes they're cold, pull them into your sleeves and they'll warm up as you run.  By mile five, I was actively looking for a medical tent in search of some HotHands, as I had lost nearly all feeling in my fingers.  By mile ten, they briefly tingled when shaken , but were soothingly numb the rest of the time, so I'd taken to running with my hands wrapped up under my arms (probably why my shoulder feels odd today) and realized that there were going to be no medical tents until I got to the finish line.

Spectators and Joggers gathering in the pavillion

And that next water stop was when things got interesting.  We all got told by the volunteers that we had to seek shelter under the pavillion as HAIL (really?  In May?  In Texas?)  and severe storms were heading into the areas and that the race was "paused" whatever that means (they didn't stop clocks or anything, so I don't get the term).  As one of the first people waved into this particular shelter, I ended up hanging out under it for near onto twenty minutes before the all clear was sounded.  Since we were all dripping wet, most of us were jogging in place or huddling together to try to keep our legs from turning into cramped up blobs.  On the positive side I could feel my hands together after a fashion, but after we were released onto the track again, my quads tightened up painfully and I realized if I wanted to run again anytime soon (or walk for that matter), I would be walking the last three or so miles to the finish line.
On the glass is half full side of life, I did get to talk to a lady who'd come in from Arkansas only to get a bum knee and end up walking the last leg (no pun intended) with me.  It was quite enjoyable to be able to encourage each other and discuss future runs we'd like to do and analyze how we wish this run had gone versus doing our very best under the circumstances.
When they posted the results for the race they came with the following disclaimer:  

Due to severe weather, for safety reasons, depending on the time when participants hit certain checkpoints on the course, police may have delayed them or had them complete a shortened version of the course. Below is reported the official time participants crossed the finish line timing mat. We appreciate all participants respecting the decisions by the police and medical who worked so hard to keep both participants and volunteers safe during the event!

I ended up finishing in 2 hours and 53 minutes, which isn't bad, given I had walked for the last forty minutes or so and spent somewhere in the range of fifteen to twenty minutes standing around waiting for a storm to pass.  Maybe even a PR, who knows, I didn't keep track of my "pause" time well enough to know. 
Takeaways for next time: 

• bring your gloves (your little popsicle fingers will thank you)
• don't forget your headband
• don't rely on a pacer
• don't stop midrace or your legs will cramp up (not that I'd doubted they would, but I really didn't have a choice)
• do talk to those running around you
• do your best considering the conditions and be willing to drop goal times in the face of extreme circumstances
• do be encouraging to those you can
• do continue to bring your own pre and postrace snack food/Gatorade flavor of choice
• do check that there is gas in the car the night before

Anyway, I'm not too sore so I did a little recovery run this morning and feel great...let's see what should I do next.
Hmmm....
Any suggestions?