2 years of running is *some* preparation, I guess!

So yes, I survived the RnR Providence Half Marathon.  It was drizzling at the start and rained/poured on and off the whole damn way.  I had a great fear of blisters, but finished with only 1, and a few weeks later, none of my toenails have fallen off, so I guess it went alright.

My sister and I before heading out to the race.

My plan on race day to was to stick with my boyfriend, if I could.  He had never run a Half, but had been running and playing soccer pretty regularly all summer, so I thought he'd fare better on the course.  Turns out we were probably both going to finish around the same time no matter what we did.  there were times when I just wanted to charge ahead faster than him, but I'm pretty sure that would have left me walking a lot more towards the end and he would have caught up.  So I just stuck with him and we stopped for stretching when we needed it, walked all the water stops and plugged along best we could.  I enjoyed all the bands that dared to come out and play in the rain along the course.  I made sure they knew I enjoyed them by clapping and cheering for them, singing along and dancing my way past them.

I think this was in the first 4-6 miles.  Not really sure.

The course was well designed, most of it familiar from the half I ran in Providence in May.  Of course, there weren't all those puddles the first time around.  *sigh*  I guess we all have to learn to run in the rain.  Even pouring rain.  No thunder though, so it was safe.

My sister finished in 2:25ish, which is awesome.  Her first half, crap weather, and she goes sub 2:30.  Very proud!  Of course, she left us at mile 1 when we were warmed up enough to stop and stretch. LOL  We didn't see her again until a turn-around at Mile 11, and of course, at the end with a beer!

John and I finished in 2:43 (i think).  Nothing to write home about for me, but it's his PR for now!  His last "long" run was 9 miles - in June.  so I'm super proud of him too!

We finished! We're smiling! We're SOAKED.

We met up with my family afterwards, told them to go home and get out of the rain, and the three runners got our free beer and enjoyed the Sugar Ray concert in the continuing rain.  This was very helpful as it was time to stretch and deal with my calf muscle that kept cramping the last mile. OMG PAIN.  dancing around in the rain, eating and drinking was good for the body.  When we finally got to the car and rung out our clothes, it was safe to drive home without fear of massive cramping. 

I hope next year there is no rain.  Though, I'm not sure I'm interested in running long distance in the summer.  I just don't like it.  The rain was actually preferable.

The very BEST part of the race... getting ourselves back on track for marathon training.  October 16, here I come!!!!!!