Harbor Springs Half Marathon

On Friday, hubby was able to work from home so that I could get an early start on the five hour drive.  The kids were a dear and woke up early to get our school day completed before I left.  I had work graded and workboxes packed for Monday before I ventured off on my little mini-retreat. 

At 4:30 pm, I met up with my mom, my little sister, and my little sister's friend.  On our way to pick up our race packets, they humored me by letting me stop at a yarn shop to pick up some fingering merino wool for a running hat that I've been wanted to make.  My head is just too big for 'normal' hats.

We choose to stay at the same beautiful hotel / resort when we ran the Charelvoix Half Marathon in June.  After that race, we had some awesome ice cream at the cutest mom and pop shop.  I could eat ice cream year around.  Therefore when we made a pact of not eating any ice cream until this race, it was a struggle for me.  I slipped up once, July 29th ... after a rough day at home.  After picking up our race packets, my sister made dinner for us in the suite.

Early the next morning, we woke up to a beautiful fall day.  The temperature was warmer than normal for the time of year.  It would be 54 degrees at the start of the race.  Perfect ... well, for me ... the others were not comfortable, too cold.

Mom

Little Sis

Little Sis's friend - her first half

One of the race photographer's took our picture before the race ... waiting for it to be posted.

I started off well.  At mile 7, I was on target for a PR.  I was pushing myself.  This course had many rolling hills compared to my last half marathon.  

The course was beautiful.  The trees were in full color.  Most of the course was along Lake Michigan.  One of the stretches of the course was through "The Tunnel of Trees".

With this being the 'first' annual race, there were a few bumps...

The aid stations were few and spaced very far apart.  This was a huge mental struggle for me.  I kept telling myself that I can make it until the next aid station, but that aid station didn't appear ... just another hill.

At mile nine, my overall pace was 10:58  just shy of my PR pace of (10:57).  Gunner was telling me that I'm falling behind.  I kept pushing myself ... telling myself how wonderful I'm doing especially with the hills  ... reminding myself that it's a downhill finish.

Then from mile 10-12 was a constant uphill battle.  By the end of mile 12, I had fallen behind Gunner by over 2 minutes.  There wasn't enough race left to make up that time.  I kicked it in as much as I could that last 1.1 miles.  I was disappointed but proud that I was out there running.  This was my third half marathon this year.  I began running last November ... so not even a full year of running yet.

Traffic was everywhere on this course.  Here, I'm dodging people getting out of their car!

Check out all the colors of the trees!

My running tank says, "There's no I in team, but there is in Ice Cream"  =)

Official finish time:

2:25:54

The Girls in our matching outfits.

 

 Congratulations to my mom and my little sister for both placing 3rd in their respected age groups!

For lunch, we had take out from Buffalo Wild Wings.  Mom and my little Sis watched the U of M vs. MSU game while my little Sis's friend and I watched a few episodes of The Big Bang Theory.

After Mass, Mom and I stopped for ice cream.

Enjoying carmel praline pecan ice cream.  Yum!

The resort had given each of us a coupon for $20 of slots at the local casino.  They talked me into going.  Once there, we signed up for their rewards card to receive the $20 slot credit.  We were also given a coin for the free pull machine.  My little Sis and her friend were given an extra coin because it was their birthday month.  Everyone put in their coins and pulled.  Nothing.  I was there to be a good sport.  I prayed to God that whatever I win with this free money that half would go to the church.  I prayed more for the strength to be disciplined not to use any of my own money.  I pulled the lever ... Five dollars!  So onto the slots we went.  My mom and my little sister split off.  We stayed and played the penny slots.  We figured that would be the longest way to be entertained.  Well, I won at every slot machine I sat down at.  In the end, my total winnings were $41.48 ... $20 for me and the rest goes to church.  I spent the rest of the evening watching the others play blackjack.  At one point, they were complaining to the dealer about the cards and needing to win some money back.  He said that the best way not to lose your money is not to gamble.  I had a hard time not bursting out in laughter!

My first ten miles were ran to celebrate a fellow blogger's birthday:

10 miles

1:50:17  (11:01 pace)

Happy Birthday Neil Z!