A few of the lures of this race was that it was local (yay!), we got to run through Ft. Sam Houston (super cool), the finish was in the Alamodome, and HEB was a sponsor of the race and planned to hand out Mootipia chocolate milk at the finish line! I loved the size of this race. It's not too crowded so parking was a breeze race morning and you could get in and out of the port o' potties with no problem.
Before the race we ran into our friend, Q, who had signed up for the race on the spur of the moment and it was fun to hang with her beforehand and chitchat and hear about all her running adventures.
I can say that I honestly loved this run course. It was mostly flat with a some small inclines here and there. Running into Ft. Sam was super cool. There was a band playing and the soldiers were out cheering for the runners. Seeing them cheering us on was so motivational. I felt like telling them that they didn't need to cheer for me. They are the ones fighting for our country, I should be cheering for them. Thank you for your service!
We ran a little over 5 miles on the base and it was neat to see the inside of it. Around mile 6 or 7 I started to feel myself slow down a bit and struggled to keep up with the girl I had been pacing behind in my sights. Around mile 8 the 2 hr pace group passed me. I was determined to not let them get too far ahead of me. According to my watch I was close to being on target for a sub 2 hr race and I thought that they might be a little ahead of schedule so I tried not to panic too much.
As we left the base we had about 3 miles left to the finish and I saw that I was closing the gap with the 2 hr pace group. I kept up a steady pace and caught them with 2 miles left. The dome was in sight! I debated staying with them briefly before I realized that I was feeling good and decided to push myself. I have a little motto that I say to myself on each run when I hit the 2 miles left mark: "2 miles left. You can do anything for two miles. Well, except walk on your hands, but you're not doing that." I don't know where that came from, but it stuck, and now I say it everytime.
I got confused for a bit when I noticed some runners ahead of me taking a turnaround. I had actually studied the map of this run course and didn't remember there being another turnaround after Ft. Sam. As I approached it, I realized it was the 5k or 10k runners and I was so happy to realize I didn't have to take that turnaround. The only problem now was having to weave my way through the crowed streets. It was easy for me to fall in behind a slower runner and let my pace drop. I think I did a good job of not doing that and passing them as quickly as I could. I knew those 2 hr peeps were right behind me. Finally, the last turn to the dome came into view and I knew it was a little incline on the access road and just dropped my head and ran. I looked at my watch and saw 1:57 and knew that I would make the last few feet in under 2 hrs!!
I ran into the dome and crossed the finish line in 1:58:17 - only 6 seconds slower than my half the previous month. I consider this race my official "PR" race because it's on a course that is not known to be a downhill race and to me felt like a legit course. It was so nice to finally break that 2:01 mark! I definitely recommend this race and plan on doing it again next year!
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