Sarasota Half Marathon 2012 Recap

I seriously wish I could just forget this race.  And I use the term “race” loosely because I certainly didn’t perform like I was “racing”.

Lucky (or unlucky?) for me, my Garmin ate the data from this event, so part of me wants to pretend this race just never happened.

But I’m a big girl and I’ll own up to this craptastic performance.

But before I get ahead of myself, lets back up…all the way to Saturday night…because that’s when I got to hang out with these girls:

That’s me (obviously) with Michelle and Paula at Café Epicure in downtown Sarasota. Ryan was with us, but he was playing photographer here. (BTW, I totally stole that picture from Michelle’s recap)

We all chowed down on Italian food and gelato and water. It.was.awesome. Both the company and the food.  Michelle and Paula are seriously fun & it makes me sad that we don’t get to hang out all the time.

Once we all said our goodbyes, it was time to head home and get in bed. Thanks to the time change I knew we needed to get in bed by 10 (because it was “really” 11 in my book) so we could be up & at the race site by 6am without being total zombies.

Sarasota was the event that my Karna Fitness running group was training for so we all met up before hand for a group shot and then paired off for running the race.

My plan was to run easy, finish the distance and try not to freak out.  Seriously. That was the plan. This may have been my 13th 12th half marathon – and 5th time running SRQ – but it was a whole new game for me.

This was my first long distance race during the weaning process – and it was a “no medication day” so I wasn’t sure how my body (or mind) was going to respond to the distance. 

I felt great for the first 6 miles – over the bridge, around St. Armand’s circle, and back over the bridge again. I was running with Kristen and we were having a grand old time chatting about anything and everything while we watched the miles tick away.

And then my stomach started bothering me.

I’ve had an upset stomach off & on during this weaning process, so I wasn’t surprised.  And it was a super humid day (read: lots of sweating) so I was drinking a lot of water which definitely didn’t help the situation.

I managed to get to the 9 mile marker in decent shape – slow, but I still had a smile on my face despite not feeling very well.

Proof that I really *am* normal…or the course conditions were…you be the judge…

Shortly after that picture was taken my stomach situation got worse & I felt pukey with every step I took…and that made my “analyze” the situation even more…which lead to throwing myself into a mild state of panic.

“Can I get through this?”

“Is my heart rate too high?” (Yes, that one again…)

Just before mile 10 things got really bad – I seriously felt like I was going to vom and despite taking walk breaks every 2 minutes, my heart rate was not recovering and was in a constant elevated state. (Nothing like a self-fulfilling prophecy, right?)

AND THEN I WALKED 3.1 MILES TO THE FINISH LINE.

I definitely cried when the 3:00 pacer passed us, even though Kristen kept telling me I was NOT a failure even though I felt like one.

And I definitely cried when I crossed the finish line with a chip time of 2:59:15…because I felt like a failure…

But I didn’t puke.  And I finished the whole 13.1 miles. And I didn’t have a full-blown anxiety attack on the course.

I was still feeling extra sorry for myself when I found Michelle and Paula in the beer tent.

But they quickly convinced me that beer Michelob Ultra solves everyone’s problems.

They were right.  (Yep, another picture lifted from Michelle’s recap.)

And they may or may not have convinced me to run the OUC half in Orlando this December, provided I make it through MCM without wanting to swear off running forever.

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As for the race itself, I really have no complaints.

Sarasota is a very well organized race with great volunteers.  There are plenty of water stops and lots of medics on the course.  Plus, the course is challenging and has some great views, but isn’t crowded with around 2,000 runners. 

The “expo” was lackluster…but this year was the first time in 3 years that they even had one (was just packet pickup before) so it’s a step in the right direction.

And I don’t care what anyone else says, I think the medal is pretty nifty, even if it isn’t life sized.  It’s big and shiny and heavy – that’s about all I could ask for when it comes to a finisher’s medal.

The one “gripe” I have is really only about the results – because I tweeted and sent FB messages to find out where “Split 1” and “Split 2” were taken – but I never got a response.

I vaguely remember crossing timing mats around the 5k mark…which would put “Split 1” at an 11:45 average pace. A little fast for me for a long race.  

Rumor has it that “Split 2” was either at the 10k point or at the 1/2 way point. 

If it was at the 1/2 way point (6.55 mi) I was still clocking an average of 11:45 per mile, again much faster than I’d normally run for a half marathon. So that could explain why my stomach started bothering me so soon. 

But if it was at the 10k point, that means an 12:24 average pace.  So that really doesn’t explain anything because that’s right around what my goal was.

But since my Garmin data is lost and I didn’t get a response from the organizers, I guess I’ll never know for sure.

In the end, I’d definitely recommend the Sarasota Half Marathon to anyone wanting to run a smallish “local” race. 

The end.