The Race...

I got the awesome opportunity to run a half marathon with my best friend Lyndsay on October 30th.  In my last post I was picking up Lynds in Sacramento at the airport to go to Yosemite, and after a few days we headed to Bothe-Napa Valley State Park.  We woke up to overcast skies and damp weather the morning of the race, which was perfect for us.  After getting ready and going to the bathroom it was time to line up at the start.  This was a smaller trail race, I think with about 300 participants total between the marathon/half/10k.  The marathoners got going first and after about 10 minutes they started us off.  The course for our run was running a loop twice, which started off with a slow incline and turned into uphill battle after uphill battle.  Once we reached the high point of the first loop we started heading down on the muddy and rocky terrain with a few more uphills mixed in.  There were a some fallen trees to duck under and leap over and a couple stream crossings on the course, which really spiced up the run.  As we started the second loop I was beginning to feel a little tired in my legs and started worrying about the uphill battle we were about to face again.  The first hill felt like a blow, and then the positive self talk kicked in and I was bullying myself, repeating in my head that "I will not break, I can endure this, suck it up, embrace the fatigue".  I put my head down and pushed as hard as I could.  We reached the high point again and were excited to get to the downhill again.  The mud seemed thicker and the rocks slicker, but overcoming the first wall of fatigue was exhilarating.  Now the race was getting really fun and we were going for it.  As we got closer to the finish line we picked up our pace and moved our legs as fast as we could, confiding in each other that we couldn't move any faster and just hoping we would last until the finish line.  We crossed the line at 1:50 (40 minutes faster than what I thought I would run it in) and walked around until we caught our breath.  It was such a blast and I can't wait for our next run.  Maybe a marathon??  We'll see!  

(I have a video clip Lynds and I took on the run, and I have been sitting here for no joke, 3 hours trying to upload, and needless to say the internet connection can't handle it.  Better off poaching in a Starbuck's parking lot than the free wifi in Curry Lounge!  The product of being in nature...no high speed wifi.  :)  So, some day soon to come...running footage from the race.  And it will come because we carried my phone 13.1 miles just to take a video for this purpose!  Photos to come as well!)  :)