October 18, 2014
I registered for this race on May 31st, two days before the rate increase would take place. Registration was $50 and with taxes and fees my final cost was $54.31. The race takes place in West Lafayette, IN which is just over an hour away from where I live so I consider it a local race. That is also why I didn’t really hesitate to drive up the day before to get my packet instead of waiting until race morning. I just like having it all before hand!
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 17th: Packet pickup took place from 12:00PM-8:00PM at the Four Points by Sheraton. I had planned on getting up there around 1:00PM by my afternoon meeting ran long thus I didn’t get up there until around 3:00PM.
There wasn’t much of a crowd there and I didn’t have to wait in line at all. I was tempted to buy a shirt from one of the vendors but passed.
It was very windy on Friday but luckily the weather forecast was looking better for Saturday. Got back in the car and drove home.
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 18th: The race was scheduled to start at 8:00AM and I wasn’t 100% sure where the parking garage was in relationship to the start line so I left my house at 6:00AM. Originally I thought about spending the night with my best friend who lives about 20 minutes away but since I already had to pack and take stuff with me for the half marathon on Sunday, I didn’t want to pack twice as much stuff and stayed home instead.
For the most part I was out the door on time and after stopping once to use the bathroom on the drive up, I pulled into the parking garage right at 7:30AM. The forecast looked to be perfect for running.
So I got parked and texted my friend DM to let him know that I was on my way and to hopefully see him before the race. It was still a little dark as I walked toward the start line at Ross-Ade Stadium.
While wandering around looking for DM, I took some pre-race photos.
Finally found DM (we forgot to take a picture) and then he and his friend were going to move up in the corrals. I needed to use the bathroom one last time so we said our goodbyes. Oddly, I didn’t see any porta-potties but the gear check table told me the stadium bathrooms were open. SUCCESS! Real bathrooms. FAIL! There was no toilet paper and I didn’t look first. Good thing I only had to pee. As I was walking out of the bathrooms the National Anthem was being played. Once that was finished I walked over to get in one of the corrals.
Look – Mario & Luigi are half marathon participants!
Then it was time to run….
This is the first time I’ve run this half marathon (the third year for it overall) so I kept my phone out to snap some photos along the way. Since this course would be a little hilly, I would be doing a 5K later in the evening and then another half the next morning, I wasn’t about to try to bust my butt out there today.
Fall in the Midwest is really pretty!
I ran past this guy during the first mile. I gave him a High Five as I went by. It is so encouraging to see people that have overcome obstacles out on the course Just get out there and try….you never know.
These pictures were taken somewhere between miles 2 and 4.
Thanks for making a sign for me, youngster!
This is always another inspiring thing for me to see. I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to handle that for even just one mile. And when we got to a downhill, he was flying!
Hooray…an original sign on the course!
Eventually we headed back toward town and I saw these cute murals.
Then we were routed through the campus.
Probably between miles 10 & 11, I put my phone away and concentrated schlepping back in toward the finish line. All things considered, it wasn’t that bad of a finishing time for me considering all the pictures I took and that I really wasn’t focused on effort at all.
Got my medal and looked for places to take a medal photo and a finishers photo.
This was a pretty good race. Well supported out on the course and scenic with all the trees in their various colors. And although I’m more of an Indiana University girl, I would recommend this race.
No comments:
Post a Comment