I follow rivers

Finishing up the race. The entire run was along the ravine of the snake river. 

     Yesterday I ran in the Snake River Half Marathon. I kind of waited in the very back at the start. I've found that starting last is best for me so then I don't push myself too hard in the beginning being around faster runners. I even had Craig give me a back massage at the official start time while I was waiting for everyone else to clear out, and a minute or so later I crossed the starting line. In the beginning, there was a pretty wicked head-wind, and the first half of the race, my eyes were watering from it. It may have appeared like I was crying, but that was definitely not the case. I really enjoyed the race.


     One of the perks was that there was supposedly only about a 20 foot change in elevation the entire race. Also it was also pretty dang warm out. The race didn't begin until 10:00, and weather this month has been unseasonably warm, so it was something like 50-60 degrees out. I was actually almost too warm in a t-shirt and leggings. I think I might of even got a bit of a sunburn. Super strange for March weather.
     I have been dealing with pain in my rib cage (i.e. shoulder and chest) for the past couple of months, and I told Craig that if the pain got substantially worse, I would stop. There was actually a helicopter on sight, so that anyone injured could be air-lifted to Spokane for medical attention. That's how in-the-middle-of-nowhere this race was. Lucky I didn't needed to be choppered out during the run! I ran the entire thing.

    The river was beautiful.  However, entire race, the landscape didn't really change, except there were a few times where you would go around a corner of the ravine. Without significant landmarks, it was was more difficult to tell when I was getting close to finishing at the end. To push myself, I would just make a goal to make it around the corner. 

     The return trip, I must have had a tail-wind, which helped keep me going I think. Towards the end, my brain turned off a bit, in a way I don't normally experience. It was like all the blood was in my legs, and I was able to keep running at almost my normal pace, even when others around me had slowed down or started walking. I figure the no-thinking thing is probably how super-fast runners feel the entire race, when they're running like 6 or 7 minute miles. No blood to the brain. 

     Anyways, you can see from my splits that the miles 9-12 where a bit slower, (11:02-11:16) but thats only about 20-40 seconds off my fastest mile (10:39). I'm pretty happy with my official finish time, 2:24:58. I was quite a bit slower than my PR (2:12:44). However, I'm still rebounding from a case of runners-knee that I had October-December of last year, so I am hoping to get faster this spring, and I definitely improved from my December half, when I finished in 2:28:54!

My split times. I don't think there was much change in elevation, so this seems wrong. Weird.

   

Happy after finishing. Although this is maybe 15 minutes after.
The first 10 minutes after I wasn't smiling.

     I felt a bit queasy when I stopped running, which happens when I push myself hard during races. It took maybe 15 minutes for me too feel better. There was a bunch of sugary donuts and cookies at the finish, but the thought of eating seemed disgusting! The car ride home, I was super excited, though, and felt myself, talking to Craig about any thought that popped into my head. I even had enough energy in the end to eat out at my favorite restaurant in town, and amazingly I was feeling so not-nauseous, that I finished my entire plate, including 6 ebelskivers, which are the best things ever for breakfast! They kind of taste like pancakes, only round and doughy. I call them 3D pancakes.

3D Pancakes! aka ebelskivers or little balls of soft sugary goodness