Lake Placid Half Marathon–Race Recap

Here we are folks, the much awaited recap of my very first ever half marathon!

I left Friday afternoon to head up to Lake Placid with my parents. I took a half day of work and anxiously awaited their arrival.

We took the scenic route up and made a stop to check out this little lake. The heat had finally broken, and it was CHILLY!

We headed up to LP via the route 73 through Keene Valley – holy hills on that stretch of the iron man bike course!!

We stayed at the Best Western Adirondack, which was pretty nice. Best perk, it was like 50 feet from the start line

Tons of room to stretch!

We spent the weekend chillin. It poured all day saturday so there wasn’t much interesting to report. My dad drove us the course, so we could get nice and nervous about the hills, hehe. The final hill – cruel, honestly,

We did pick up our race packets and got our shirts. They are cute!

And my bib!

A shot at the finish – had to have one

We had a big carbo loading dinner that night with Nat. I then proceeded to get a really horrible stomach ache. I was starving and ate too fast, and pretty nervous. It passed quickly but threw me for a loop. Made for a nerve wracked race morning.  ugh.

We suited up and Nat came down to the hotel for final hydrating. And headed down to the start line.

My mom got some great shots of the race start. I have to be honest folks – everything came together for this race. I’ve been waiting my whole training to get the point where the miles “just tick by.” And that happened during the race. I couldn’t believe how quickly the time went by. I was chatting it up with fellow racers. It was awesome. I didn’t really even feel the hills until after the 15k mark – you know when they got nasty, haha.

We looped around Mirror Lake in the beginning of the race, so I saw my parents again at mile 2.5. I screamed “I’m awesome!” at them, they weren’t cheering loud enough.

 

I also was doing my best to see how many chins I could show off in one picture. HOT.

The course was absolutely beautiful. The weather ended up being perfect – mid 50s, mostly cloudy (still got a bit of a burn on my knees and shoulders by the end of the race). The rain held off till I was done! yay! unfortunately, for the marathoners, it down poured quite a bit, just after 11:00.

So, after you come up that bitch hill I showed you earlier, you run 3/4 of the way around the Olympic speed skating track to the finish. This is me rounding the bend to the end. I repeated this move when the announcer said my name as I crossed the finish.

As soon as I stopped running I was quite certain my calves were going to explode, with my hammies to follow soon after. Luckily, they had plenty of volunteers at the finish to make sure you got your medal. I stretched a bit, Nat and I grabbed some food, then we headed back to shower. Finish was close to the start, so just a quick walk to the hotel. My sweetest dad gave Nat a ride back to her hotel so she could shower, and not have to walk a half a mile up hill to do so, hehe. But first, celebratory photos! my parents bought us both car stickers! yay!

We’re awesome!!!!

We headed back to Albany in the pouring rain. boo! 

I gotta tell you folks this race was great! The course was awesome, there were PLENTY of water stops, they handed out gu, bananas and oranges at the later stops, along with water and gatorade. I stuck with water, as that’s all I used during training. I walked through the water stops – mostly so that I could actually get the water in my mouth. At the water stop at mile 12, the first cup had like a drop of water in it, so I grabbed a second. The guy that had the second cup said “you don’t have to drink it all, you know.” UMMMMM. wtf?! I just ran 12 miles, I will drink as much water as I want! I didn’t think there’d be another stop before the end, and my first cup and nothing in it. I was irritated. But, I didn’t let it get me down. I was almost done, and despite the fact that at mile 10.5 my hammies started to tighten up I was feeling AWESOME. I was very excited to finish before any of the marathoners – I wasn’t sure that would happen. Though just barely – the lead marathoner came across at 2:40!!

Official time: 2:36:43

I was so pumped to get across that line, and I can’t wait to run another!! 

I’m feeling pretty good today – my quads are pretty sore from all the down hills, but my calves and hammies recovered nicely – courtesy of foam rollers and recovery socks. Unfortunately, my neck is KILLING me! the pillows in the hotel were AWFUL. I usually bring my pillow everywhere – but I forgot it, just like I forgot to pack underwear, whoops.