All I can say is THANK GOD WE
DID THE RELAY! I had tossed around the idea of running the Lake Minnetonka
Half Marathon (LMHM) since the Hot Chocolate 15K would have been a good
training run. And after the Hot Chocolate 15K, I thought maybe I could do a
half marathon. I had the endurance. I just had to get over the mental hurdle. Thankfully Eric and I drove the course and
thought maybe not for my first time half. I’m so glad we didn’t do the whole
thing. I WOULD HAVE DIED. I felt dead when I got the relay exchange point and
that was only mile 5.6. There was still over 7 miles to go
Pre-Start
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| Starting line selfie |
This is a busy half marathon and a driving and parking nightmare. DJ
said she would chauffeur us around which was a blessing. We parked the car and
walked down the staging area. We made sure Eric caught the Relay bus and DJ and
I hung around the back of the pack as I was in the last wave. While waiting for
the Biff, DJ got a call. It was Ethan. His car died at an intersection in
Shakopee (when the mechanic told DJ that car didn’t have much life left, who
would have thought that meant a couple days). So she had to leave me and go
back to Shakopee to rescue Ethan.
The Start
This is the first race I have been in that had pacers. I went with the
2:30 pacer as that was a comfortable pace for me…or so I thought. They walked
us from the staging area to the start line and then bang we were off. I started
off slow. I had almost 6 miles to cover so I didn’t want to go out fast and Eric
wasn’t there to push me. The first mile was fairly flat with a slight downhill
but right before the end of mile one was the first of many big hills. This is
by far the hilliest course I have ever run. Omaha was nothing compared to this.
It was very hard. It was also very humid. I should have worn a tank top and
brought my own water. Bad move on my part. My first mile was 11:41 which I
thought was really slow. Mile 2 had more
downhill than up so my pace for that mile was just over 11. This was the mile I
met Linda. She came up to me and said keep your head up, you are the queen. I
have a horrible habit of running with my head down. Eric tells me to keep my
head up all the time. I just can’t seem to do it. I guess my brain is so heavy
from all my smarts. LOL! Linda ran with
me the rest of the way. She used the Galloway method (run/walk). And to be
honest she was the best person to buddy me up because with all the hills, this
was the best method for me on this day.
The Middle
I really don’t remember much about the middle miles. It was on a
straight road and was constantly up and down. Every hill looked like the next
one. It got so bad before mile 3 we started
walking up the hills. I was soaked with sweet from the 85% humidity. I really
wished it would have rained to cool me off. Mile 3 had the first water spot. It
was a God send. I grabbed three glasses, two to drink and one to throw in my
face. It was refreshing but immediately after the water stop was another damn
hill! This one was doozy, 80 feet in 4 hundredths of a mile. I know that doesn’t
seem like much but at mile 3.1 it was like torture! The downhill of this hill was fun but of
course it didn’t last long as there was another hill. (Do get the theme here?)
My Finish
I wasn’t 100% sure where the relay point was. I mean I know where it
was on the map but as far as the distance I wasn’t sure. I just knew it was
under 6. The last two miles I kept
thinking to myself “Thank God I only have 2 to go.” Just like the mile 3 water stop, the mile 5
water stop had the same thing. It was at the bottom of a long downhill, just
before another horrible uphill. I wish the water stops were at the top of hills
because I can walk up the hill, grab water and sprint down the hill and have
momentum to go up the next hill. By having the water at the bottom of a hill,
all the momentum of the downhill is crushed by slowing down and for me walking
to get water. That is probably my biggest complaint. Anyways, I did the same
thing again, 2 to drink and one over my head. Shortly after that was the relay
exchange. I said my good bye to Linda and wished her well. I was never so happy
to see Eric in his bright lime green shirt in all my life. We did a quick
switch and he was on his way to the finish. I’m not sure what my overall time 1:04
(11:30 per mile pace). I’m pretty proud of that because it was a tough course. Here is my elevation chart:
Eric’s Run
Although Eric’s leg was longer, it was not as hilly and he actually got to
run along the lake so he got some breeze. My leg was in a wooded residential
area with no breeze and lots of bugs. Eric started off strong. I was tracking
him on my phone and he improved my 11:30 pace to almost 11:15 but then it
started plummeting. I was so confused. After two miles the pace was back around
11:30 and every time I looked at where he was at, the pace was getting closer
to 11:40. I was so confused. Eric is a pretty fast runner and he should have
been killing my time but he wasn’t. Something was wrong, very wrong. I was a
bit concerned but he was still moving so I knew he would eventually get the
finish. He sped up a bit near the finish and came in with a time of 1:26. After
the first mile and half he got shin splints. He was in pain for most of the
run. So I died from heat and humidity and he died from shin splints.
Our overall time was 2:32.30 (11:32 per mile pace). I’m pretty happy
with that.
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| We survived...barely! |
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| 2015 Lake Minnetonka Half Marathon Finisher Medal |
Splits and Maps
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