Iron Girl Half Marathon - Clearwater

RACE DATE: SUNDAY APRIL 10, 2011

This race is something that I signed up for on New Year's Day because it was only $35. Who can pass that up!!?! I thought at the very least I could drive over the morning of, to save me the cost of a room... Or Matt and I could make a weekend of it... Or I could find someone to split the cost of the room with me.

As luck would have it, Holly and Sueann split the room with me and Holly was kind enough to make all of the arrangements. On the day of the expo/packet pickup, I met them in downtown Clearwater where traffic sucked! The expo kind of lacked, in my opinion -- Holly and Sueann were able to get their Rock Tape applied, but other than that, there was limited amount of clothing (that i needed) which was surprising since the main sponsor was Athletica. It was hot and there was a small tent for juice samples on the far end of the park that we didnt know about... But if you were looking for a headband you were in luck. I wasnt. After getting a little sun and being a lot thirsty we left for the hotel.

We had our choice of 1st floor with a 'pool view' or 9th floor with no view. We chose the pool view. First, she told us the wrong room - our key didnt fit - then when we did get in our room, our 'pool view' ended up being a 'shrub view' with a pool behind the shrubs, then someone else was trying to break into out room because they gave them the wrong room number too... and then, there was an awesome wedding and party that lasted all night - on the first floor - right around the corner from our room :(

During the evening we went to have dinner with friends that I met of Holly and Sueann's. We had Italian and I had a very large calzone.  I only ate half of it and a salad.  Then Melissa and her daughter Katie came to hour hotel to hang out after dinner.  I was sooo sleepy, kind of a party pooper. 

Race Start

 We decided to walk to the race start when we found out that, even though this was a host hotel for the race, there was no tram/trolley providing transportation to and from the race.   The biggest issue was the large bridge between the hotel and the start/finish line.   It was a lovely walk over.  The morning temp/humidity was very nice.   We were all pretty pumped I think.   Here are a few picture of the race start and us hanging out pre-race.

 

Holly, Suezette, Me (CC) and Sueann

Everybody.

Our matching tattoos

  

Holly, Sueann, Suezette and me started together, and when Holly and Sueann walked for their first 4:1, Suezette and I pulled away. We ran the first 4-5 miles together. Suezette just got out of her air cast, so she needed to stop for an interval at that point, where I trudged on feeling fantastic. The bridges, neighborhoods, etc was beautiful. I haven't really been running like I should (but I have been working out) and I was just feeling spry and ready to GO! I did really well until around mile 7.5-8 where my toes started really screaming at me after the decline on the second bridge. It felt like I was slamming a car door on my foot with each step and by mile 9 I had shed my new Mizunos and was running the course barefoot. Somewhere between mile 12-13 my toes started bleeding and were hurting like hell but I knew there was only 1 mile left! I wasn't so bad off that I didn't pause at the top of the last bridge and take in the beautiful experience. That I am fit enough to run a half marathon, without training, and didn't quit even after I lost my shoes. I got a lil choked up but not too bad since people were looking at me and offering me their shoes. On the last mile I kept thinking the pain is temporary but the pride of finishing would last forever. And I did finish, in about the same time that I finished Disney in January. Honestly, it was harder to finish in January.

I felt very strong finishing the Iron Girl today!
I stood outside the shoot and waited on my girls to finish. 

I'm DONE!  With no shoes :)

Bib: 499 Age Group:

(

F35-39) Placement:

777/1635   Time:

2:25:49   Pace:

11:03