I am not quite sure when we decided to do this race but at some point along the way I felt pretty sure I wanted to do another full marathon. We had all signed up to do Melissa's Road Race in September and in my infite wisdom decided to the half marathon. My coach, who is often (always) my senate ( you know, the sober second thought ) told me that I should do a zone build for the half mary and not "race" the race. And, in my brilliance told her, "uh, that's not within my range of capabilities"...."I'm gonna race it". Well, mistake #1. The race was fine, but I promised I would be carefull with my recovery the week after so I would be ready for my next long run a week after the race. Mistake #2 was running the Terry Fox Run 5km 4 days later with my pretty darn speedy 12 year old son. Mistake #3 came later that day when deciding that my cross country running team had ran enough at the Terry Fox Run that we should play grounders and tag instead practicing. Did you know when you play tag that you have sprint? Yeah, not so smart. Did something to my hip that day, and because of it made the decision to do the half marathon instead of the full. I ended up running with pain up to and including the race in San Antonio (well, that was a long build up, wasn't it?).
So back to San Antonio.... I wasn't the only one in our group having troubles. There were a couple other injury issues in our group and there was a definite feeling of uncertainty. Wondering if we could finish the race, wondering if the whole race would be in pain..... There was definitely alot of mixed feelings about this race. But who can worry about racing when you are staying in town down San Antonio with your best friends and eat every meal on the riverwalk and walk past the Alamo 4 times a day?? We had the best times enjoying the city of San Antonio and especially the downtown area. Absolute beautiful and it was so warm...you could tell who the Canadians were, wearing shorts in the 70's!
Despite all the fun, race morning came eventually. I will sum this race up quite quickly, because, as the title suggests, the trip and time with the girls was (for me) the best part about this race. My hip started to hurt 2 miles in, right after I realized the humidity was super high (it was low 20's but I was soaked by the first mile). I held my goal pace for 5 miles then slowly, mile by mile, started slowing down. I checked and rechecked my HR to see what was going on, and it was right up there. I was definitely going as fast as I was able to on that day. I finished the race more than 5 minutes slower than my personal best and 4 minutes slower than my goal time. I'm not going to lie, I was disappointed at first. It took me some time to take my own advice on races like this....I did the best I could do on this day.....
As it turns out, the rest of the crew struggled in the hummidity. In various turns there were deydration problems, pain from injuries, technical issues, bathroom issues, and an overall "slowness" due to the high humidity (even the locals were slower than normal). But, there was also a couple negative splits, brilliant execution and mental toughness, and some amazing team work and support out there. Lara and Marnie were there for Mel and Jen in more ways than one! And despite being in pain from start to finish I think Lara was the only one that was "happy" with her race.
Now after the race (after we dealt with two dehydrated teammates)???? Let's just say that there are a couple establishements on the riverwalk, Fogo de Chao and Dicks, that will never be the same after 5 post race crazy Canadian gals were done with them. But that's not a story for this blog.... you will have to ask me :)
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