Boilermaker 2013

It is over! I have successfully completed my second Boilermaker 15k Road Race :)
The Day Before:

 As any girl will tell you, nails are an important part of an outfit. A running outfit is no different! Thus, I introduce my Boilermaker 2013 nails, tailored to match my racing getup :)

 As I was readying myself to hit the hay before the big race, there arose such a clatter! I sprang to the porch to see what was the matter. Nothing was the matter :) The flashes and booms were simply pre-race fireworks that I was fortunate enough to be able to see from my apartment deck.

Morning Of:

 In the wee hours of the morning, I filled in my hopeful race times. Little did I know they'd completely sweat off during the hot race. (okay I did know but I was hoping it wouldn't)

 I got dropped off at the finish line by my lovely fiance, mother, and her beau. After a quick pre-race snapshot I got shuttled to the starting line where I waited about an hour to line up and listen for the gun. During this time I hydrated a bit more, stretched, waited 20 minutes in line for one final porta-potty pit stop, and then myself and the other 13,999 runners were rounded up and scrunched into the starting corrals.

During:

The race was extremely hot and I wound up walking quite a bit during miles 8 and 9. The heat and humidity got to a lot of runners, as you can probably tell by everyone's face in the above picture. Many people dropped like flies and I had the pleasure of avoiding projectile vomiting from one girl on a stretcher shortly after crossing the finish line. Yeah, hot doesn't begin to describe it. (BTW: I'm center in the blue, waving to my supportive homies, hehe). This is me coming into the finish line!

And there I go crossing the finish line! The blue spec with the gnarly knee brace (which severely added to the heat!) After the race I handed my brace to my mother, warning her it was pretty nasty and sweaty. She shrugged saying that I'm her child and she'd hold it for me. About five minutes later she was asking to put it in the bag we carried, because, let's face it: it was so sweaty it was ready to be wrung out!! :p

My official race time was 1:43:19. Not the 1:27:00-1:29:00 I was hoping for. But in that heat, along with my knee issues and the tail end of my cold that developed into a hacking cough, I am really happy I finished with no major issues. I also think I may have over-hydrated. I had to pee the whole second half of the race and my stomach felt a tad sloshy. Those ice chips just felt so good though!

After:

My fiance and I at the finish line after everyone had cleared out.

The largest post-race party around! This is my fiance, myself, and my moms boyfriend and was taken after everything had died down. (aka after about an hour spent waiting in the massage tent line). The ground kept getting stickier and more littered the closer we got to the party. All the volunteers do a wonderful job handing out post-race goodies and mid-race water though. And then picking everything up. Always thank your volunteers!

And finally, my first post-race run. Yesterday I did an easy 30 minute spin on the bike to loosen my legs a bit. Today I did an easy run to keep the blood flowing. Not really concerned with pace on this run or on the next couple runs I'll do. I'm just aiming to keep my legs in motion and my mileage up until my half marathon in 17 days, 19 hours, and 33 minutes... not like I'm counting or anything! (I have a widget on my phone that does it for me :p ) The weather this morning was finally in a more bearable temperature and it felt nice. Once my legs loosened up, the run wasn't too bad. My knee is threatening to hurt again so I really need to force myself to keep up on my physical therapy!

Safe and happy running!