Warm Up for Boston- Half Marathon Relay

Regarding weather, this race is so unpredictable. I ran the 10k three years ago and it was frickin' freezing. I never warmed up. Last year, I cheered on some friends, and it was freezing with a side of snow and slush. This year? GORGEOUS! Almost perfect race weather. Capris, short sleeve, arm warmers. It was amazing!



Don't we look warm?! [Dani, ME]

I had a lot of friends running this year. A few of us decided to form 2-person half marathon relay teams. Our goal was to keep the teams even so that we could challenge each other on the course. One of my besties, Amanda, formed our teams. I was matched with Marion who gave us the amazing team name: THE GIRAFFES. Perfect. She's awesomely tall and I have long neck syndrome. I asked Marion if I could run the first leg since my performance nowadays is unpredictable. I figured, if I totally crap out, she can make up for it with her speed. So, I took the 6.1 mile leg and she ran the last 7 miles.

Part of The A-Team! [Christine, Amanda, Marion, Theresa, ME, Dani, Kimberly]

When I showed up that morning, I had NO idea what to expect from my body. I did a two mile warm up and felt kind of crappy. I made a personal goal to try and stay in the low 8's to see how it felt. If I couldn't handle that, I at least wanted to stay sub 9 minute miles. Even though I had that goal in my head, I realized that I forgot to look at my watch at mile 1 [7:43]. I stayed with my friend Dani the first couple of miles and did see my split for the second mile [7:48].  After that, I decided I was just going to go with it. I knew it would stress me out to much to look at my watch. I was just going to listen to my body and let it run at a tolerable pace. I told myself that if I felt stressed at any moment, I would slow down.

A little post race cool down with Dani as we cheered on our teammates.

Shortly after mile 2, I approached the water stop. I knew I needed to keep my pregnant body hydrated (if I was smart, I would have brought my hand held so I didn't have to stop). I actually stopped for a few seconds to drink my water and control my breathing a bit. I think the short stop helped me to refocus, but it did make my split slightly slower than the rest [8:01]. I lost Dani at this point but tried to keep her in my visual field. I knew she would motivate me to keep moving and not give up.

Lots of pics with this gal! Check out that winter sun!

Two more miles passed before I stopped for water again. I figured some sips every two miles would do me some good. At this point, I couldn't find Dani in the crowd but there was a gentleman that I felt a little competition with. The great thing about this race being a 1 mile loop is that you are always passing someone. You have no idea which race anyone else is doing so you can just tell yourself that they are running a shorter race than you! I squeaked in another sub 8 mile followed by a slower one because of the water break [7:58, 8:08].

Only 15 weeks pregnant and my ass has already blown up.

Finally, the last mile! I was so excited to pass off my relay timing chip. I was only disappointed that we didn't get to carry batons...SIKE. My last mile was 7:42 followed by 0.10 miles at 7:16 pace. Again, mile 2 was the only time I saw my split, so I was excited and scared to see the final result on my Garmin.

I can't believe I managed to tolerate a 7:53 average! This was the boost I needed after a week full of slow miles. After a failed half marathon in January, I thought "Why the heck did I register for all of these races while pregnant?!" I know time should not be a factor, but, let's be real...I'M A RUNNER! Of course I care about my times! Pregnant or not, there is always a goal and expectation of some kind. If I can just keep in mind that every run is unpredictable, it will help me be more accepting of the result.

Theresa (who PR'd her half!!), ME, Dani, and Marion post race.

So, how did The Giraffes measure up against the relay competition? Since they (the race people) seemed to have a hard time compiling the correct results, it wasn't entirely known for a few days. It seems as if they finally have the correct time, and The Giraffes placed 1st! Based on their times, I believe our friends were right behind us!!

More celebration shenanigans! [Dani, Theresa, ME]

I have to mention that I am very proud of all of my friends' performances this day! Marion, in particular, kicked butt! She made up for what I couldn't get my body to do. Some struggled and persevered, some felt great, but the common theme is that we gave it our all!

I have a few things planned in March and can't wait to get back on a race course!