The Lace Up for Breast Cancer Half Marathon Race Report..

Okay, well I will spill the beans about my shoe dilemma. Yes, I was a stupid woman and wore new shoes for my second half marathon. I don't know if it was totally the wrong idea because my other shoes were no prize either. I went out and purchased a new pair of Asics and I went up a half of a size just to see if that would help with my toe issue. Thank you everyone for your thoughts and opinions and just so you know, I did read all of your comments about ten times before deciding what to do:) They did match my outfit nicely..so I guess there is that:)

I went on line and purchased a very special "save the ta tas" shirt and socks!! Thanks Heather for pointing me in the right direction for my socks!! They are very cute! I got up at 4 AM due to my two hour drive to Rochester. When I pulled out of driveway the temperature guage in my van read twenty-three degrees. I thought, excellent, it is not thirty degrees but I will take it!

I stopped off at the side of the highway this morning to take a few pictures of the first beautiful views of sun light peeking over the horizon. It was 6:35 Am!! This means the days are definitely getting longer!! Woo hoo, there is hope that spring is on its way!!

The closer I got to Rochester the colder it got! At one point I looked down and the temperature read seventeen, and then a few more miles eleven. Yikes, it is getting cold! I figured I ran the Polar Dash and it was two degrees that day so eleven would be okay. About a half hour later it was zero!! Alright, you can stop going down temperature gauge! When I pulled into the parking lot it was seven below zero!! I do think it did warm up a few degrees by race time but don't know by how much:)

I was pretty excited to run the Lace Up because I knew I was going to meet my blogger friend Renee! Maybe some of you remember how I mentioned her in my blog in my first "Tribute to my favorite blogs." She is a stellar runner who consistently produces speedy finish times in every distance possible!! I spotted Renee as I was walking into the building and we were able to meet. Later we were able to talk more and she is so nice:) She was kind enough to put together a gift package of homemade cookies for me. Renee actually made over six hundred cookies for the Lace Up For Breast Cancer event!!

Here I am right after I picked up my racing bib and Lace Up hat.

This is a picture of Renee and me! She made me feel so short and I am five foot seven and a half inches:)

This is Mike, he is another Rochester runner who also has a blog. Mike was also very nice and I will explain more on how he helped me to get my butt across the finish line!!

This handsome man is Arvid, he is a St. Cloud River Runner who just turned over his presidency after being president for the running association for the past three years. I see tons of pictures of him in Renee's blog so I went and introduced myself! I love Arvid, he is so sweet. He told me that I had a runners body and that I was skinny!! Bless his heart...Arvid you had me at you have a runners body:) Arvid, maybe I could adopt you and you can be my big brother. I already adopted Jon for my little brother but I could use an older brother. Arvid also left me a comment wanting to know if I would be interested in the Lake Wobegon Marathon in May. I found this very funny and kind of sweet that he would think that I could finish a full! Arvid, I will think about it:)

This is the only picture that I took throughout the race. This was in the first mile and honestly, after mile one I was in no mood to take any more pictures. We lined up at the starting line and my plan was to follow Mike. He was helping a friend try to run a 2:00 half. I figured I could use him as my pacer. It just took me a few minutes to figure out that there was no way in hell he was running a nine minute mile. Mike just took off like a flash and I was thinking, "Oh crap!" I looked down at my garmin and it wasn't recording pace or miles! The only thing that it was displaying was time! Crap and double crap!! Now what the hell am I going to do? Living on a wing and a prayer! This race was so different compared to my first half marathon because of the number of runners. I think there were maybe 185 runners today and my first half marathon had over 1000 racers. Mile one was okay the course was snow covered and icy for part of the way and running trails were clear of snow but there were always icy patches to watch for. Mile two and three were doable. Mile four was when I noticed the first sign of annoyed toes. Mile five and six I honestly don't remember.....I was probably telling myself that I should of wore my old shoes. At one of the water stops about five guys yelled, "Woo, save the ta tas! Go save the ta ta's girl!!" That made me smile and I waved and said, "Thanks guys!!" Miles seven and eight my toes were burning and I was almost in tears. "Julie you are an idiot, yep you are! What and the hell were you thinking?" I am really having a hard time remembering many details because I was concentrating on dealing with my pain. The good news is that my hip was fine...no issues with that at least! Mile ten came and I remember wishing I had a Ryan to run with like I did in my first half marathon. Ryan was a nice guy who ran with me the last three or four miles and he helped me by just being there. People were passing me left and right and I was getting very frustrated. I knew that there was no way that I was going to PR...nope not today. I found the snow roads very challenging and they really frustrated me. I thought about Meg again and her saying that it would seem short....just so you know Meg, I did smile for a short time:) I was thinking about how there will be a day in the future that I will feel the same way!! Mile eleven sucked, mile twelve sucked more and I was done!! I made myself continue to run and never stopped the entire race, though I really would of loved to. Mile thirteen Mike came back and met me. He asked me how I was and I told him that I wasn't doing so good because my toes were hurting so bad and they felt numb. He told me that I was almost done and that I had about three laps of a track left. He talked to me as I ran and I listened. He was just what I needed because I was at my lowest point. I felt defeated, exhausted, my toes and feet were super angry at me! I just wanted to be done! I wanted to stop and walk....I kept running and listening to Mike. Another runner friend of Mike's was running with us too and they pulled just a few feet ahead of me. I kept going because I was going to finish this race and I was going to do it running! I finished crossing the finish line with a time that was four minutes longer than my last. I felt very disappointed to say the least. After I hit the finish line my legs started to buckle and Mike came to my rescue. He was kind enough to walk with me and help me back to the building. Thank you Mike, you were a life saver:) After the race there was hot soup, rolls, bananas, cheese and cookies! There was also water, coffee and hot chocalate to drink:) This half marathon had the best after race food to date:) The soup hit the spot and I was grateful to have something in my stomach:) News Flash: I just checked out the results...I took fourth place for my age group and if I would of been just thirty seconds faster I would of taken home a medal:)

Here I am after the race and after eating the hot soup....I felt so much better!!

This is the gift bag with homemade cookies from Renee:) Thank you again Renee!!

College boy came home this weekend and I didn't have time to speak to him about his room. This is what it looks like when he comes home....he just throws stuff where ever:) Oh well, I still love him:) That is all I have for now. Next I need to catch up on everyone's blogs:)

Also, go check out Adam at I am Boring!! He is hosting a great blogger give away:)

And, Christy at It Just Looks Like Slow Motion is also hosting a give away...go check her blog out:) Check out the Yurbuds web sight!