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This past Saturday I ran one of my favorite half marathons for the fourth (and final?) time and it sucked! I love this race because it’s beautiful, the weather is usually perfect, it’s relatively small, it finishes within walking distance to any hotel in town and did I mention it’s beautiful?! Sounds perfect, right? It is…unless you do everything wrong like I did.

Before I get into it let me tell you a little bit about the “race”. They changed the course this year by making it a loop, starting and finishing in the center of Solvang, (a tiny Danish town in central California wine country) as opposed to a point to point race. This meant I didn’t need to get out of the hotel room extra early to catch a shuttle to the start because the start was a few minutes away. Yay. Except I was up anyways having not slept much throughout the night (hubby tossed and turned, complained, peed, tossed and turned some more, ugh). No worries though, I’ve run halfs on little sleep before without a problem. Onward.

I went to get coffee at a local shop that opened for the runners. She only had a drop of brewed coffee left so suggested she add espresso to it and I could add hot water, creamer or sugar to taste. Why I didn’t just wait for a new pot of coffee,  I don’ know. It was nasty! I added creamer and a touch of sugar which just made it cold and nasty. Plus I was afraid to drink it for fear of stomach issues from the turbo dose of caffeine. My stomach was already a little queasy, I forgot to get a banana and I didn’t want my Cliff bar.

So let’s recap…no sleep, no coffee, no food. Things weren’t going well but I really wasn’t all that worried. I’m a runner. I got this.

I get to the start and the weather is cool in the 50’s and overcast. Perfect! Let’s get this done. (attitude) Shortly after we take off, maybe a mile or so we go up a small hill and I hear some lady say “Here we go.” and I thought this is nothing (with an eye roll). So cocky I am…until mile five and I’m walking because my legs ache. Mile 5! I knew I would be walking some, with the hills on the course, but at mile 5?! And no obvious hills!? Key word, obvious.

I didn’t look at the course elevation until later when I saw the slow, gradual incline until mile 6.5/7, then there’s a massive hill that I was familiar with and planned to walk up if I had to. I had to.  I was pretty miserable at this point. I called my husband a couple of times (he was eating breakfast and I was wishing I could join him), he offered to come get me. As tempting as that sounded I couldn’t DNF. I would finish this miserable race and get my medal even if I had to walk the whole damn thing! A definite possibility. 🙁

While  walk/running I had plenty of time to wallow in self pity and question my life choices. Of course the first question is, “Why the hell am I doing this?” Because that’s what I do. Okay, move on. “Why are my legs so sore?” Because I didn’t train well. Duh. One hilly trail run and one long run was not enough for this hilly course. “Why am I doing this again?” That question came up a lot. Then I realized that I needed to adjust my attitude. I went into the race with an attitude and could never really shake it. Sore legs didn’t help. And did I mention how hungry I was? But yet I couldn’t stomach my energy gel. Grrrr. I’m not a nice hungry person.

My husband called a couple times to encourage me, he’s my support crew. Encouraging words are so helpful and that brings me to another point, the course had very few people on the sidelines cheering. Even the volunteers at the intersections didn’t cheer. When there were people clapping and yelling “Good job” I found myself picking up the (very slow) pace. It really does help! I knew this race had few spectators but I needed them this time ’round.

When all is said and done I got my medal and a pretty nice shirt. Of all my finisher’s shirts the Santa Barbara Wine Country Half usually has the ugliest. Sorry SBWCH.

My Wrongs:

•  Pre-race ritual gone wrong. No coffee, no banana.
•  Went in with a bad attitude and couldn’t shake it.
•  Poor training. Probably the biggest culprit for my bad race.

What Went Right:

•  Weather 
•  No GI issues (minus the upset stomach but could’ve been way worse)
•  Nice medal and shirt.

After a hot shower, lunch and a solid nap I felt great. Not even a little sore that day or the days following. ??

So glad it’s done, wish I could say it was an amazing race, but such is life as a runner. Some races are great and some just suck.

Have you ever had such a bad race you wanted your spouse to pick you up? Do you check course maps before a race or just wing it? Do you need spectators cheering for motivation?

I’m linking with Kim and Zenaida for Tuesdays Topics. Be sure to show them some love and leave comments!

Thanks for reading!

Keep running!

          Denise