Jess' Rock N Roll Recap (May's Race)

This race was different than my other half marathons. I was so excited to hang with Katie and have a girls' weekend, I wasn't really prepping mentally for the race. On Saturday night I was feeling mixed emotions. Part of me was excited to get it over with, this long training schedule has taken its toll. Another part of me was confidant in the training that I had done, I knew this would be a strong race. 

After the race, I had mixed feelings again. There were parts of the race that I loved and other parts that I was disappointed in.

Let's start with positives:

• I loved the course. It was tough (hillier than I thought) but took us through different parts of Portland that I love. 
• Katie and I once again were a great team. We opened it up for each other to run our own race, but turns out we are just good running partners and were comfortable sticking together for the whole 13 (the last .1 she sprinted it out, thatta girl Kate!).
• I felt well hydrated and think that I did a good job taking care of myself, not waiting too long to eat my sports beans, using their GU provided, and didn't experience the "dip" at mile 9 that I have in the past. 
• My running gear gave no problems. It's hard to know what will work sometimes. I had quite the experience finding shoes during this training time, and had purchased some new things to wear for race day. Everything felt great. 
• We ran strong, both of us commented that our lungs/breathing felt great the entire race. 
• We managed to squeak out a PR. Not by much, and slower than I had anticipated but still my fastest half marathon to date.  Final time: 2:16:06

Love our hardcore expressions, we were diggin' deep that last .1

 Things I wish I could change:

• I really did NOT like racing without my Garmin. I'm ready to replace my lost watch. It has been a good experience running "blind", focusing on my body's signals, enjoying just running...but during the race, after 15 weeks of training, I would have liked some insight to my pace, so that I could have pushed it and "raced" a little more efficiently. 
• Walkers. Don't get me wrong, I love that there were walkers participating in the race. My mom and I have thrown around the idea of walking a half or full marathon together. However, there was more than a handful of walkers in our corral, making the start of the race our slowest mile (which was not my race plan)as we worked to go around them. Most that we passed were smack dab in the middle of the course. It killed a little of my enthusiasm to be honest. 
• Our lungs were strong but Katie and I both noticed a point in the race when we were feeling a little weak. Such a good reminder that strength training should NOT be ignored during training, feeling strong at the finish, having an extra kick to power up hills, and something left in the tank at mile ten are great reasons to take strength training seriously. (Not to mention avoid injury during race day and your weeks of training)
• What bands? I had expected the Rock N Roll to be chalk-full of bands. Upbeat music was supposed to be helping me rock my way from mile to mile. With such a steep registration fee I assumed that was the experience we were paying for. Wrong. Many bands we passed were in between sets, talking to the runners, or playing slow music. I had not planned to run with my own music because I wanted to take in the hoopla, however there was a real lack of hoopla to be had!

I had a great time with Katie. I'm so grateful for our fams for letting us have this great weekend and supporting us the last 15 weeks.