(alternately titled: “Beer is Good” or “The best race ever!”)
Reasons why it should have sucked:
- I’ve been injured since October.
- Since then I’ve ran *maybe* 20 total miles.
- My longest run since October was 6 miles.
- I’m currently “not allowed” to run per my PT.*
Reasons it didn’t suck:
- Mainly, I had the best running buddy ever, Lesley. We had registered back in June, with hopes of a sub 2. Well, in the mean time I got hurt and she signed up for a 50 miler less than a week after 3M. Excellent reasons for us to take it easy.
- The second reason it didn’t suck was the beer running. Any day that I can combine my love of running with my love of beer is a good day.
- Oh, and I was RUNNING (ok,parts of that definitely wasn’t a run,more of an amble)
Pre Race:
Lesley spent the night with me Saturday night. After the most efficient packet-pickup experience of my life (great job 3m!) and a mini-blogger meet up, we checked out our loot. 3M has been voted in Runners World as “Best Swag” and I guess if I were into office supplies then I would agree.
We decided for a low key evening of pizza,beer and chick flicks. We went to bed fairly early (10ish?) because of the early race start time. Like with any other night before a race, I couldn’t sleep. I finally gave up and got out of bed at 4:15am. The rest of the house got up at 5am. I had toast with honey and coffee for breakfast and then I started working on getting my race hydration together. Yep, we filled our handhelds with Shiner beer.
It was cold! I had been begging Mother Nature for a cold race day (thinking it would keep my knee from swelling) and I was so happy to have that request fulfilled. It was probably around 37 when Charles dropped us off at start. Brrrrrrr…..
We matched! We wore a Super Star skirt from RunningSkirts.com and a half zip from Athleta. I was super thankful for those capri’s and the lined shirt, this Texas girl isn’t used to the cold!
We got to the start area about 30 minutes prior to the race and immediately jumped in a porta-potty line and waited. And waited. And waited. In fact, the only real complaint for this race (other than the hideous shirts) is that it didn’t have enough porta-potties at the start. As we waited, THE RACE STARTED WITHOUT US. Obviously we knew it was going to start, but since we didn’t have a time goal and were just there for fun we decided it would be more fun to run with emptied organs.
About 10 minutes after the official start, Lesley and I started our own race.
3M is known as a fast race with a net elevation loss, it has a few gentle hills in the beginning and one stupid one at the finish but other than its flat or slightly downhill. The course doesn’t even pretend to show you a scenic tour of Austin, its really just laid out to be fast.
So we ambled along, chatting. Sure I hurt a lot some. Yes it was hard at times, but overall it was AMAZING.
Beer: So for the first few miles the beer in our handhelds seemed like a silly idea. I mean, it was EARLY and guess what happens to beer as you run-yeah it gets all fizzy. Periodically to keep our bottles from exploding we would release some air or suck down some foam.
At mile 7 though, we were LOVING the beer. It was just ok before, but at mile 7 it was our best friend. So tasty and just what we needed, man I love Shiner. We soon ran out and took to asking for beer from the spectators. Hello, its Austin, where was the beer people?!?! We were offered mimosa’s and bloody mary’s, but decided mixing drinks like that would be tempting disaster.
I think the most fun was had between 7-13.1. We weren’t stressing a time, we were enjoying our beer, and just generally having fun.
Sundays race was my SLOWEST half marathon ever, but it was easily my most enjoyable. The whole race was just about having fun with a friend, and basking in the joy found in the simple act of ambling running. It’s ok to pick FUN over SPEED.
*I don’t recommend running while injured. In case you haven’t noticed, I am NOT a doctor nor do I play one on TV. I was super cautious and took it easy,what works for me might not work for you..Carry on.