Mercer Island Half Recap

I'm blaming the three day delay on the lack of an efficient home computer ($&#@*&% thieves!). 

First off, meet my new Garmin: Gus 2.0, aka Augustus, but "Gus" for short.  Catchy huh?  I definitely see the similarities...

Augustus Caesar, and my Gus.  Yes, the resemblance is astounding!

 Augustus image found here

Let me just say thank goodness Kerrie was kind enough to pick me up and carpool with me to the race.  It was fantastic!  We left my house a little after 7am, and got to Mercer Island fairly quickly.  Not a whole lot of traffic and we parked at a covered lot near a bank.  Score!  We milled about, walked to the porta potties and decided to get warm in the car again.  We had a decent amount of time left and Kerrie forgot something in the car. By the way, butt-warmer seats in the 'Bu are fan-tas-tic. My fave!

We headed back to the race area at around 8:35 for Kerrie to use the potty again (after my horrible Seafair fiasco last August, I never have to use the bathroom before a race--bladder of steel perhaps? hehe).  I shivered under the big tent while Gus II found a satellite and immediately was confused by all of the HR monitors in the area.  Oops.  Then, I got a text from Kerrie and Mel saying that they were all by the porta potties and I should meet up.  THERE THEY ARE. :) 

*By the way, all the pics in this post are courtesy of Kerrie and Amanda!  I didn't take any? What? 

Thanks for sharing, ladies!*

Jill (in the orange dot Bondi Band), Kerrie, Mel and me

I didn't realize this at the time, but Kasey and her man were standing right next to us and I totally didn't introduce myself.  I'm so sorry, Kasey! :(

We heard the three minute warning and rushed to the starting line...which was cramped, narrow and down a barked hill.  How funny would it have been if I completely brody-d in front of a couple thousand people?  Arse splinters!  But, I didn't slip or fall, thus the picture to the left was taken by Ker.  And we're off!

My ultimate goal for this race was to pace Kerrie to a half marathon PR (under 2:25).  So, my plan was to stick to her like Body Glide without giving her a mental headache blister. Trust me, I was planning on being the hill drill sergeant coachy type.  I was planning on making her mad at me to keep running.  I was hoping that she would forgive me at the end!  And hey, it worked!

Honestly, I really can't remember much from the race in terms of detail.  All I know is that I was completely enjoying the sights: the Lake, the gazillion dollar homes, the spectators, the AMAZING volunteers along the course, and the actual runners.  For instance, around mile 4ish I heard a familiar dude's voice just jabbering away behind me...then the dude passes us and OHMYGOSH, it's banana dude from the Million Inch Run!  And...he's wearing the same awful light grey running tights as before.  UGH.  I immediately poked Kerrie and pointed him out.  Definitely could have done without that mental image again, but it made me laugh for a while. 

We found Jill and ran with her for a little while.  She was easy to spot with that cute orange polka dot Bondi Band!  About 7 miles in, I noticed that my left foot was getting that stupid burning sensation that I loathe so much.  And it didn't help when I stepped on a large piece of gravel right on that sweet spot.  Crap.  Kerrie was hurting too, so even though we both weren't feeling 100%, we had come more than halfway...we had to finish.  I kept encouraging her through the hills to stay focused by looking down and using her arms.  Those hills were killer!  Seriously they never ended.  But, once we got to the top, it felt amazing!  I did warn her that I was going to be annoying! :)  She's a tough chick.  

With less than a mile left to go the course was a wee bit bottle-necked on this three-person-wide sidewalk for awhile.  Kerrie was in the middle, with me and some other woman on her sides.  Apparently there was a guy that just HAD to be somewhere and rudely came up right behind us and exclaimed (with hands up, by the way) "Oh, come on!!"  Just imagine that whiny annoying tone...it was just that.  Rude dude decides that we are in his way and barges right between Kerrie and the woman on her other side.  WTH?!  Really?  So, being the calm/in control/noncompetitive lady that I am, I wanted to chick this guy so bad.  Even though my plan was to finish with Kerrie, I pleaded "Pleeeeease, can I just get that guy?"  and she said "go for it."  DING!  Off I went.  I had him in my line of sight.  That bright green cotton tee just drenched and that stupid black sweatband around his head.  I came up on him quickly, had to jump out of the way of the crazy hula hoop lady and kept up that little hill with the chutes to the finish.  Zing!  Passed him.  Almost turned around and said "You got chicked by a girl in a skirt!" but decided to just get past the finish line instead. People on the sidelines were yelling "Great kick!" and "Good sprint!" and "Go! Go! Go!"  It was a rush.  The funny thing is, if I do have a picture from that part of the race, I've got the look of determination on my face or, it may just look like I'm constipated...either way, I wasn't up for a Miss Photogenic award. ;)  

Final Stats:

Mileage - 13.21
Time - 2:13:30
Overall - 1688 out of  2141
Division Place - 153 out of 216 (F25-29)
Sex Place - 746 out of 1063
Pace - 10:06

After finishing, Mel found me right away and handed me the most refreshing water bottle ever. Kerrie was right behind me and Jill followed.  We walked up hill to get some grub from the tent (yup, you read that right...UP the hill after running 13.1 miles...ergh), then met up with PR Princess & Birthday Girl Amanda and Brunette on the Run's Sarah (& little bro too!).  Photo ops ensued:

Amanda's friend, Jill, Amanda, Mel, me, Kerrie, Sarah and her little bro Casey

And us, jumping...or trying to. ;)

This is when it started pouring rain.  Kerrie and I half jogged to the car because we were freeeeezing and Red Robin fries awaited us. 

The rest of the afternoon was spent laughing and eating at Red Robin then attending Trav's Uncle's funeral.  It was a busy busy day.  For a better recap of the lovely birthday cake for Amanda and the heavenly hot chocolate, check out the recaps from these ladies:

Amanda
Kerrie
Jill
Mel
However, since my recap is days late...you probably already know what happened. ;)
Thanks for recapping with me!  Bring on the next!