Pre-race routine:
Woke up at 5:00 and slapped on some makeup. (Hey, there are photographers out there, people! Photographers!) Made my normal race day breakfast of oatmeal and peanut butter with hot tea. Sat and checked my email for a few minutes before we took the drive to Oak Harbor, an hour and a half away.
Got lost trying to find the start line since the packet had no indication
how to get there. Finally just followed orange cones and people with orange
vests on until we found Olympic View Elementary. Hopped in the porta potty
line and then went back to the car to keep warm. With 45 minutes to spare hopped
back in the porta potty line. Turned around, hopped in again. By then it was
LONG! Got out with 1 minute to spare!
Event warmup:
Lots of standing in line for the porta potty! Nothing special otherwise. They lined us up by pace and blew an airhorn. The race started on time, which one a windy cold morning, we all appreciated.
Comments:
GREAT run! Tuesday I somehow injured my ankle and in compensating for it,
strained my back! I was so concerned I might not even be able to run, but I'd
cut my mileage back to just a mile Friday and Saturday so I could rest up (without
breaking my running streak that started November 28). Everything felt great!
My ankle didn't bother me once. My back started to twinge a little on mile
9, but some ibuprofen and stopping to give it a good stretch took care of it. 
This was the first race that I used the Galloway Method. It was strange to stop and walk after only a mile. I was careful and pulled over to the side before I stopped and used those walk breaks to take pictures, hydrate, and stretch. I ran a mile and walked 1 minute on every mile until the last three. I ran those in. Even with the walk breaks I still ran a sub 10 min mile, which for today with the hills, was really good.
What would you do differently?:
Not a thing! I was well dressed in three layers; running top, technical shirt from the Seattle marathon, and jacket. I brought enough to drink and passed up most drink stations. I used one gel and two Succeed caps. I think Nancy was right, I needed more electrolytes on my long runs. I didn't push too hard and using the Galloway method I actually did faster splits on my last three miles. Even Toady, my wonderful iPod, didn't poop out on me. I had U2, Jack Johnson, and Tori Amos accompanying me the entire run.
Warm down:
As we hit the home stretch, the last .25 mile, I was talking to a girl in her 20s. We laughed about how after that run we could probably eat ANYTHING we wanted to for the rest of the day! I'm sure we burned WAY more calories than a flat race. We both sped up and I paced with her, really hitting it and passing her in the last 300 feet. I ran across the finish line and was surprised to see 2:09:58 out of the corner of my eye...certainly THAT couldn't be right! A child handed me a tulip and I thanked him, then someone handed me a medal and I said "Whoa! That's right! We get medals! I forgot!! Thank you!" I found Roy and hugged and kissed him. I grabbed a banana and a bagel and some fizzy electrolyte drink thing. Did some good deep stretches for my back, and gentle stretches for everything else. We listened to some music and I threw on some warm clothes. The route was COLD!
What limited your ability to perform faster:
Hills...there were hills and where there weren't hills, there were hills. And then there were hills. Hills hills and more hills. Did I mention the hills?
Event comments:
The only issues I had with the race is that we drove three hours on Saturday to pick up packets (round trip) and then discovered I could have picked it up on Sunday morning. The website indicated that packets HAD to be picked up on Saturday. It was also very difficult to find things. There were no directions to either the start or finish line. Shuttles were provided, but for out of towners it just had hotel names with no directions to the hotels! No shuttle back to start line was kind of strange, but didn't affect me. However, course support was great. While not all the roads were closed, the traffic was well controlled and I didn't have to stop or slow once. (I ran a 12k where we had to wait for a cross light...not cool)
Last updated: 2005-04-09 9:00 PM Running
02:10:01 | 13.1 miles | 9m 55s min/mile
Age Group: 23/50
Overall: 261/484
Performance: Good
Course: Ever run on a roller coaster? This is what this race was all about.
Can you say hilly? Well say it again, and again, and again because no sooner
did we descend one hill than...zoinks! Here came another! I knew it was going
to be hilly, but I didn't know it was going to be HILLY! I started holding
my arms up and shouting "Wheeeeeee" as I came down hills (homage
to the roller coaster). The course was BEAUTIFUL! We ran along the waterfront
for most of it, but we also ran through some farmland, through forests, and
by some beautiful homes. We saw egrets, seagulls, red wing blackbirds, a very
unfortunate bunny in the middle of the road, squirrels, cows, sheep, dogs,
cats, people. It was AWESOME! I brought a disposable camera with me and took
pictures on every mile. I hope they turn out because the scenery was just amazing.
We even saw a bald eagle! This is the third long run I've been on where I've
seen a bald eagle and I have decided that they are a good omen. I saw one on
my first 16 miler, on my 21 miler, and today on my half marathon where I hit
a PR EVEN WITH THE HILLS!!!! Wow! At three points along the way I was so thrilled
to see Roy waiting for me! I'm telling you, nothing makes my day more than
turning a corner or cresting a hill and seeing my honey waving furiously at
me and taking pictures! I wish everyone had such a wonderful and supportive
spouse! He met me on mile three, mile eight, and at the finish line!
Keeping cool Good Drinking Just right
Post race
Weight change: %
Overall: Good
Mental exertion [1-5] 5
Physical exertion [1-5] 5
Good race? Yes
Evaluation
Course challenge Too hard
Organized? Yes
Events on-time? Yes
Lots of volunteers? Yes
Plenty of drinks? Yes
Post race activities: Average
Race evaluation [1-5] 4