I can honestly say that I have NEVER, EVER slept so well the night before a race. I guess the long travel time combined with a day of sight-seeing left me with no other choice. And it was delightful. Our 4:30 am wake-up didn't seem insane. Probably because we were both fast asleep before 9 pm.
My pre-race ritual is to wake up; enjoy coffee, a banana, and a peanut butter chocolate chip Larabar; and then get myself "ready" for the run. This process includes stuffing 3 Gus into my bra in a manner that doesn't irritate me, filling my hand-held water bottle, and getting dressed and bibbed up.
We walked out the door of our awesomely placed hotel-thank you fast running friend-and headed to the start line. Despite lacking in the communication department, the Nike Women's Half was extremely well organized. My fast running friend was in a faster corral than me, so we snapped a quick picture together (with her phone I think...) and parted ways.
Each corral was super well organized with its own set of porta-potties and gear check. The only waiting I did that morning was for the race to start and then for my corral to be released! I don't run with my phone (blogger fail, again) so I snapped a selfie and had a random new friend take a picture before I gear checked my phone.
Yes, it was dark for the start of the race. The first corral took off right at 6:30 am and it was right about 7 am that I crossed the start line. I had three goals in mind...I always have three. Goal #1 was to beat my last half marathon time, goal #2 was to finish by 9:00, and goal #3 (which I told myself I was not serious about, but maybe I was) was to PR. That goal seemed a bit far-fetched since this course was super hilly and what not...
I have zero course pictures because I run phoneless; however, the course was gorgeous, full of support and awesome runners! The water stops and fuel stops were amazingly well run and had tons of volunteers working to make everything go smoothly. Again, despite their lack of pre-race communication, Nike sure knows how to put together a great race. And the race includes free photos!
Here's a selfie I took after retrieving my stuff from gear check.
And this is my official finisher photo (or one of them at least).
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