Race report: Flower City Half Marathon

I can't believe I got through it. I completed the Flower City Challenge this weekend, a duathlon Saturday and a half marathon Sunday.

I did the du in 2:29:37. Check out my blog from yesterday. Yesterday I did the half marathon in 2:44:37 (is 37 my new lucky number?)

I've been pretty beat up today but it's well worth it. The best part? My rack of medals is officially too heavy to hold the new ones. Time to buy a new curtain rod!

That morning was icky at best. I woke up in the middle of the night with a stuffy nose and sore throat. My quads were sore and so were my calves. I took some cold medicine and was a little better by the time 5 am came. I nervously texted Megan and played on Twitter as I got my stuff together.

The weather was perfect. I walked to the office, across from the starting line, for some quiet and real toilets before the race. At 7 we headed to the start line and met up with Megan.

We couldn't hear a lot of the Boston tribute because the speakers kept cutting out. I'm really glad they did it though. We definitely crossed the start line to Save A Horse Ride a Cowboy.

You can usually tell how a race is going to go by the first few steps, and I was thrilled that I felt strong.

The first mile took us down West Main Street to the Susan B. Anthony House, where people were out with signs in colonial garb, awesome. We circled back and took Main Street to East Avenue. I still felt strong as we cut to Park Avenue. We took Goodman through the Highland Hills neighborhood, which had by far the best crowd support.

Up until this point we were holding a steady 11 minute pace. Then the hills hit.

Drums took us up the hills in Highland Park. Those weren't bad. Then we went into Mount Hope Cemetery. That kicked my butt. This part was really long, about three miles. I was exhausted toward the end, so the next mile along the Riverway Trail was rough. We came across the bridge to Exchange, and kicked it in.

So proud of Megan for finishing her second half! I walked around the arena and felt a little nauseated.

Got my second medal, tried to wear them both but they were too heavy! I slowly walked back to Corn Hill and collapsed. Several hours later I woke up with a full blown cold. I've been down all day.

But I did it!!