Half #4: Anthem Half Marathon in Virginia Beach / First Oiselle Meet up!

Really quick recap of it all.

Oh my goodness, it was such an excellent weekend and I direly needed the laughs and good times.  I've been cracking on my dissertation proposal lately and seriously stressing about the future, so for the past few weeks, I've been sleep deprived.  After I made a push and sent my first paper proposal to my advisor, I decided I could reward myself by leaving town early to hitch a ride with my favorite Oiselle teammates.

Photo credit to Ellen! Clearly, I did not get the stripey runfinity memo. Fail on me.

Despite 4.5 hours of sleep and nearly 0 for Allie, I had such a great time chatting it up with these ladies.  You know you're in the awesomest company when you don't really feel tired during a 4 hour car ride and coasting on a similar number of sleep hours!

Expo fun, haha! Photo credit and collaging credit again to Ellen!

As fun and exhausted as I was on Friday, I overdressed for bed and woke up sweaty. I thought it might have been 3 am or something close to the 5:30 wake up time. No. It was somewhere between midnight and 1 am and when I began to think about all that needed to happen in the next month and year, I could not fall back asleep.  This meant I only got 2 hours of sleep!  That made our shake out run tough. Despite it all, I really enjoyed being around these ladies and meeting our team manager, Kristin, who is absolutely charismatic in person!  Again, the only way to cope with a stressful life is to be in presence of the most spirited, fun-loving, inviting company.

Shake out run. Don't know who to cred this pic to. :(

The 8k cheering crowd! Windy, windy weekend. Photo credit to Ashley!

If this isn't the most bad ass racing pic ever, I'll be a monkey's uncle. Allie the running warrior. Photo cred to Ashley!

After, we went back to the hotel and then got lunch at Panera.  I was able to catch a 20 min (pre-Panera) and 2 hour nap before the team dinner at Bravo!  Our group was so large we filled 4 tables, haha.  This is where I was reunited with the Wangs!  I convinced Megan to leave the comforts of DC and her local RnR half marathon to run VA Beach instead.  I'm so glad she did, because I had so much fun and was delighted to spend time with her that short weekend.

Credit for this awesome collage goes to Ashley again.

We sat at the end of the table, near Prianka and her fiancée, who apparently is spiritmates with Megan. They both work for the DC public school system, coach girls middle school basketball, know the same people, live in the same neighborhood... the resemblances just kept going on and on...  Uncanny, haha!

Team photo. Credit to Courtney!

Megan, Herman, and I drove to the h(m)otel, which was very conveniently located close to our start and finish line.  I managed to pass out early and grab almost 7 hours of sleep (never happens the night before a race, haha).  It was a chilly 40 some degrees in the morning, but luckily warmed up.

So, the race.  I had few expectations for myself, as I've been focusing on my end of May marathon and the other aspects of my life, but set a loose goal of 1:45.  I positioned myself near the pacer (first time I've had a pacer in my race!), but realized early on that he was running slightly faster than the predicted time, so I kept him in sight but wasn't determined to chase him down or maintain my pace against his.  I pretty much ran my own race.

Around mile 4, I caught up to my teammate, Phyllis, who was also aiming for a 1:45.  We ran side by side together for 6 miles, battling the 20 mph winds together and the toughest part of the race, IMO, at mile 7 and 8.

Running buddies. This is probably the only race that I will have such good race photos.

As you can tell from the picture, I felt pretty good throughout.  I really conserved my energy, keeping it steady at an 8 min/mile.  At Mile 10, Phyllis and I separated as I decided to push it harder for the last 5k.  Even then, I don't feel like I killed myself in other races.  I really have to give credit to our program coach, Jerry Reckart, for putting me on a modified training program to increase my speed.  I could really tell that it helped from even a year ago, when I ran my last half.

I didn't really check my watch throughout the entire race. A few times here and there just to pace check the current mile, but mostly, I just let myself feel my way to the finish. The funny thing is, I managed to catch our speedier pacer right at the finish line.  I had a nice finish that left me slightly uncomfortable but still feeling good!

Thanks to Katie's fiancée, Drew, for the most amazing race pic ever. This pic is a unicorn.

This was about .3-.4 from the end and you can just see people making their last surge through the pain. For me, it was also the most uncomfortable part of the race as well, but I felt strong and composed.

In the end, I made my time goal and some.  And I felt strong.  I know these moments are few and far between, so I am cherishing it.  After I finished and went through the finishers' area, collecting all my swag and goodies, I tried to get in line to collect my bag.  The line was long and I wanted to meet Megan at the end to finish with her, so I walked over to our hotel.  Luckily, they let me in without my ID (soooo nice!) though I tried to give them facts that would confirm I am indeed the person who was renting out the room.  This allowed me to change my clothes in time to catch Megan at the last 1.5 miles of her race.

Trying to distract Megan from the pain.

She looked good when I saw her and she finished so strong!  I could see her making the surge towards the end.  There were times when I tried to block the wind for her, but she clearly didn't need it.  In the end, she finished way below her loose time goal and even under 2:30!  What a beautiful finish for her first half marathon and a season of turbulent weather!  I am so happy I got to share these moments with her.

So yeah, it was a magical weekend for me and one I direly needed. It's amazing how a wonderful weekend can refresh you and make you ready to deal with hell again. Thanks to my +Oiselle teammates and Megan and Herman for restoring me and bringing me back to life.

About the race: J&A Racing was impressively well-organized from expo/packet pick up, to pre-race, race, and post-race.  Well supported, very efficient.  I am seriously impressed.  Despite this and the course being flat, I don't think I would run it again unless a bunch of my friends were going.  I don't think I like Virginia Beach very much and in the future, I might stay away from coastal races.  This is the second race I've run where I've dealt with heavy winds, gah.

Race Results:
Time: 1:43:53, pace: 7:56 (major PR)
Entire field: 735/3891 19th percentile
Gender: 203/1877, 11th percentile
Age group: 44/367, 12th percentile