today i ran the women's fitness magazine half marathon. unlike the last women's race i ran, this one was one of the most positive running experiences i have had, as far as the sportsmanship and support of the other runners. the positivity was palpable and it felt great to finish 13.1 miles.
unfortunately, at the last minute, officials changed the race to an unscored, untimed "fun run," something i am sure they would not have done were it a men's or mixed race. they cited the heat as the deciding factor in this decision... this was also the given reason for completely cancelling the full marathon event earlier in the morning. a lot of the women were unhappy with this, as many of them had traveled from out of state to compete. a woman next to me at the start told me she had come from minnesota to run the marathon and it would have been her first. (those that were expecting to run the marathon were encouraged to run the half instead.)
that aside, i had a great run. i felt strong until the half-way mark, where my muscles felt impossibly heavy and i slowed down quite a bit... but i regained my speed and form around mile 8 or 9, for a strong finish somewhere in the 1 hour 50 minute area. and for the first time ever i took advantage of almost every fluid station, as it was a little warm out. i think that took a bit off my time, but since we weren't being scored, i guess it didn't matter.
anyway... this race put me back on running... i have been going through a rough patch... feeling mentally off during my training runs, and thus becoming physically off. this run felt great and i am so happy to be excited about the sport again.
also congrats to divya and victoria for strong finishes as well today.
on another note, my camera broke, so i was unable to take photos... i really wanted to... there were sooooo many runners today... the estimate was around 7700... there were also soooo many spectators... and some excellent cheering sections, which really helped, especially in the later miles.
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