(10) 4 packs is $109.90

We woke up around 5:30 to leave the hotel by 6:30. We were only 20 minutes away from the Race location so we planned on getting there at 7am-30 mins before the race and before the race officials closed the roads at 715. Ali had sent me an email to meet her at 7am at the starting line, so I figured we would have plenty of time. 

I was so wrong!! We sat in traffic for TWO HOURS!! I was so worried when I missed meeting Ali was 7. Then I was worried they had closed the parking lot and roads when it was after 715. Then I was worried they would start the race without me. Then I was only worried about finding a bathroom before I peed myself. I had prepared for the race by drinking a big blender cup of water, ice and pre workout ARO concentrate, which generally means I have to use the bathroom 45 mins later. Sigh. It is so painful to have to go to the bathroom while sitting in standstill traffic for 2 hours. 

We eventually made it to the parking lots and they started the race at 9am (it was originally supposed to start at 730) I have no idea how they are going to fix the traffic issues for next year. I feel badly for the few women that did get there by race time and had to wait around for 90 mins. I read some facebook comments about some ladies being really upset about it and i totally understand and I would have been too! BUT I’m glad they waited because there were ALOT of us still waiting in traffic and it was NOT poor planning or my running late which caused delays. It was very poor race planning and small country roads with thousands of people all trying to get to the same place at the same time. 

Anyway-after parking I went over to find Ali at the starting line. I took a couple more pictures and we chatted for a few minutes. Then the race started!! I ran with Ali and two other girls for about 5 minutes or so, but then lost Ali so I quickly ran to the right side so I wouldn’t get trampled by all the hard core runners. I had to make my own running walking pace since I forgot my garmin watch at home. Which was fine because I had my ipod with my free Runkeeper app to help track my pace and mileage.

The course was nothing like they had described on the website:

Sounds beautiful doesn’t it? When I previewed the elevation map I felt confident that I would be fine with the courses “softly rolling hills” since I’ve been training on pavement, trails, gravel and hills. The reason why traffic was so bad with parking and arriving was because this location was out in this small town with single country roads-which also made it pretty impossible for spectators to cheer or even watch the racers since the roads were narrow and only big enough for the racers. I didn’t see any vineyards, farmhouses with character or babbling brooks while running. (where did this person run-because it wasn’t where I was??!!). Half the course was in and out of “ritzy” developed neighborhoods and the other half of the course was up and down gravely roads. I would never have described this course as “rolling hills”. 

After reading comments on facebook ALOT of runners were really angry because they were not prepared for the course elevation and gravel roads and several people got hurt. Personally since this was my first half marathon I wasn’t going for a PR and these were the type of roads I have trained on here in Roanoke-I wasn’t bothered by them and didn’t get injured at all. (GO me!!) If I had only trained on flat paved roads and was expecting the Diva race to be like that-I would have been pissed off too. I was also surprised and disappointed they only had three bathroom stops during the race and 2 “entertainment stops” which was a person playing music over a loudspeaker. There were some people cheering us runners on throughout some of the neighborhoods so that was nice of them but I really wished there had of been more spot for spectators and family. I felt like I was doing race training by myself. This race was definitely not the hype they made it out to be!!

But personally-aside from the SERIOUS lack of bathrooms and spectators and getting started late-it was a good first (and last!) half marathon race for me!!

The first 5 or 6 miles started pretty easy for me. My race was around 14 something which was great for me! However, my ab area hurt almost the entire race though-like stomach cramps-which has never happened during any of my race training. I can only guess it was because I didn’t have any food on my stomach-being super nervous-and only having water with supplements in them for over 6 hours. After mile 8 I was so ready to be done with running. My lower back was hurting, I had a horrible sinus headache, I started to feel blisters, and my stomach hurt constantly-worse when I started to cough because of my cold. I kept drinking my water, blowing my nose, using my inhaler and my hylands legs cramps. I concentrated on my ipod music just to get me through. 

I was so proud of myself because I kept up with my pace and momentum up and down the gravel or paved “hills” –even running up some of them. I didn’t have to stop at all for any leg pain-honestly I was SHOCKED I didn’t have any shin splints or knee pain AT ALL this entire race-a first for me!! The course was pretty though-I loved seeing our VA Mountains and fields, and the neighborhood houses were very nice. The weather was PREFECT!! I had been so stressed about that for the past 2 months. Not a drop of rain, in the 60s, and slight wind almost the entire day which cooled my body down and I didn’t sweat as much. I couldn’t have ordered more perfect running weather so that was such a blessing!! 

My parents and 11 year old son met me on the course around marker 8.5 and 11.5 which was fun! They helped give me fresh water, Kleenex, stomach medicine, etc. When I saw them the second time, I was ready to just fall over and stop but they told me to keep going and that my husband and toddler were only half a mile up the road waiting for me. I kept telling my body to keep going because I was awesome, I had been training hard for this, and that I would never have to do this again!! J whatever works, right? 

It was such a relief to see my husband because I knew I was towards the end. I got closer and closer to the finish line. Can I just tell you I felt like killing the next person that said “keep going ALMOST there!” “Almost there” does not mean ½ mile or 1 mile further. “Almost there” means like a couple more steps in my opinion. Hehe. 

I went through the crown and feather boa station and thru the picture section and FINALLY to the finish line. It was SO COOL to hear them announce my name and city as I was about to cross! 🙂 then I got my awesomely huge heavy diva medal, a rose, and a little glass of sparking apple cider. The food section was super disappointing since they only had bottled water, green bananas, cookies and half bagels-but at that point I didn’t really care about food. 

I was so done with moving after I crossed the finish line. My stomach pain was so severe at that point I just wanted to lay down and never move again! I was so exhausted I didn’t care about stretching out or staying hydrated. I finally got up enough energy to use the bathrooms one last time before slowly making my way back to the parking lot which felt like a million miles away. So depressed I didn’t have my fitbit because I know I walked over 15 miles with going back and forth to the car before and after the actual race. Plus my runkeeper said I actually went further than 13.1 miles for the race.  

I met up with my parents and other son-changed my clothes in their van in preparation for the 4 hours back home-got my son and his belongings in our rental car and headed back up the road. (my parents had picked my oldest son up from school on Friday and brought him to the race since we left earlier on Friday for the expo) This time it took over one hour just to get out of the race event area. At least we had food, drinks and activities for the kids in the car so it wasn’t a big deal to us to be sitting in traffic again.

We stopped off in Harrisonburg VA which is 1.5 hours from Roanoke to have a special treat at Panera bread after we all rested (except for the driver-LOL) in the car for awhile. My coworked had given me the sweetest Good luck card and some money before the race, so going to Panera Bread was my special treat for surviving my race. I got a broccoli cheddar soup in a bread bowl which was AWESOME!! It was perfect for my upset tummy and I felt 100% better after eating it! We also got a huge cookie and bagels with cream cheese which we planned on eating throughout the weekend. I got the special pumpkin bagel and oh my it was good!! We eventually got home and relaxed and unpacked from our trip.

I am pretty sore as I’m writing this blog post because I haven’t taken any ibprofin (we ran out at my house) and I didn’t stretch properly after the race but frankly I’m glad I didn’t have an asthma or panic attack or kill my knees. I met my goal of finishing the race before getting swept off the course, not hurting myself or having to go to the medic tent-so good for me! I was hoping to get under 3:30 but I was pretty darn close! Placed 2428/2533 overall with time of 3:33:04. I can only rush so fast having to use a porta potty and get sweaty clothes on and off….

I am so very grateful that I had this opportunity and that I was able to be online at the right place and time to win a race entry through Ali Vincent’s facebook page. It was such a blessing to be able to participate in this race without spending a lot of money. I was blessed to have a strong healthy body during race training and during my race. I was blessed with perfect running weather. I was blessed with a supportive family and an EXTRA SUPPORTIVE AND UNDERSTANDING husband who has gotten me through these past 2 months and during my race weekend. I can now say I successfully did my race training and completed a half marathon and frankly I never feel the need to ever, ever, ever do it again!! JI think I will stick to my family walks and an occasional 5k or 10k race! 

   

Waking up early at the hotel. I’m still half asleep! 

Brushed my hair, made my drink-ready to go!! 

At the starting line!! 

Theres Ali in front of me.

Me and Ali Vincent!! 

Hubby and son off to the side of the starting line taking pictures. 

It was a little chilly for him. Waiting for his mommy to race. 

And we’re off!! 

Mile marker 4

My son and mom cheering me on! Dad was taking pictures and videos of me. 

Mile marker 10

Hooray!! Here comes my hubby and baby! I was so happy to see them! 

Lower back killing me!! I needed to stretch! 

Off running again!! 

Crown and boa station right before the finish line. 

THE FINISH LINE!!

Guys handing out medals.  

Girls handing out roses. 

Handing out apple cider. 

I SURVIVED!!!! 

He got a crown and boa too… LOL 

My very awesome supportive hubby! 

He hang around with our toddler and took pics for almost 4 hours for me. 

and then went the last mile of the race along side me. 

I EARNED THIS!!! It is so heavy! 

My polar ft7 watch results.

In the long line trying to get back onto the main road to go home. 

Random turkeys along side the road. He was showing off. 

We are so thrilled to be sitting in traffic… again… 

Poor baby was exausted!! 

PANERA BREAD STOP!! we love bagels!

SOOOOOOO GOOD!!

Our rental car! 

MY RUNKEEPER STATS from the race!

My diva shirt, bag and bib from race. 

Already put my items in a shadow box for display! 

My running medals and bib displays.  

    

-ARO pre workout concentrate

-Oral IV-mix with bottled water

-Nuun with bottled water, I prefer the berry flavor. Don’t really like the other ones.

-Luna bars

-Clif energy chews

-Handana, for my hand to keep the sweat off my eyes and face

-Victoria secret sport running pack, I have to carry so much stuff with me while I run!

-Ipod arm band

-Calf compression sleeves

-Asics shoes and running socks

-Rock tape, for taping my legs to help and prevent injuries (it stays on so much better than KT Tape)

-Best of Biggest loser workout mix (“Get ready for this” is the BEST song to get ready for a race)

-Chris Freytag workout mix

-Prevention magazine run top 40 hits

-Prevention magazine walk top 40 hits

-Shape power music walk top 40 hits

I have been training for my first half marathon for the past 9 weeks. I had won a free race entry through Ali Vincent’s facebook page and I was so very excited!! I had a half marathon on my bucket list to do hopefully this year or next year and I had wanted to do this particular race because it seemed like fun!

I started training the very next Monday that I won the race entry and followed the marathonrookie.com schedule which had me running 4 days a week. I knew it was alot to run 4 days a week but I needed to cram my training into 8 weeks instead of the typical 12 weeks or more. I did great following the first 4 weeks of training. Then my knee pain started! I hadn’t had knee pain since before I lost my weight 90 pounds ago. So not only was I dealing with sports asthma and shin splints-now I had severe knee pain. I was feeling very discouraged and couldn’t keep up with my race schedule. 

I asked for advice online but a lot of people told me to rest up and not do the race. I didn’t feel like that was an option because this was my only chance to get a free entry to a half marathon, plus run with ALI VINCENT, not to mention an $80 nonrefundable hotel reservation. (race tickets are expensive!) So I started cutting back my running to 2 or 3 days a week with nothing else in between to rest my knees. I started wearing a knee brace at home, sneakers all the time at work and home (versus my cute sandals and boots at work) and did a lot of research about taping my knees and legs. I started using KT tape then switched to Rock Tape. I started taking Hylands herbal leg cramps pills, tried to keep hydrated all the time and stretched a lot afterwards. These things helped a lot and after about two weeks, my knee pain started to get a lot better. 

On Saturdays I did my long race training at my local park. I trained on pavement, trails and hills so my legs could get stronger. 2 weeks ago, instead of doing my 12 mile practice I ended up going the full 13.1 miles to know that I could do it and time myself. That helped to alleviate a lot of personal stress because then I knew I was capable of going that long distance without dropping dead. J 

I had read that race training for a big race was much harder than running the actual race. Oh. My. Gosh. That is such an understatement! These past 2 months have been so hard on me emotionally and physically. All I could think and worry about was the upcoming race, preparing for it, staying healthy, not getting more injured, trying to recover from my injuries, what to wear, running with Ali for the first mile and being on tv…I have been so stressed out!! It was been like hell for me trying to prepare. Or like being pregnant. LOL I knew the end result would be awesome but having to prepare and get to that point was BRUTAL for me!! 

It didn’t help that over this 2 month period, I still worked full time, we moved into our first house across town, my oldest started middle school/public school after homeschooling for 3 years and my youngest started preschool for the first time. A lot of family changes! I would get up to race train about 5:45am during the weekdays, head off to work for 8 hours, put the kids to bed… I was so exhausted at the end of the day that I wouldn’t do much in the evenings. (forget about chores, scrapbooking and unpacking) 

On Saturdays (the one day I could sleep in!) I would head off to the park super early to run for 2 or 3 hours, which ment my husband would take care of the kids in the morning after working his night job because I would be at the park. Then I would be exhausted and nonproductive the rest of the Saturday trying to recover from my long run.  I mention this because race training not only affected me, but my family life, my work performance, my emotions/health and my productivity at home; which I didn’t even take into account or realize.  

Unfortunately for me, I found that race training and running in general is NOT enjoyable and is not a stress reliever for me. I wish it was and I kept hoping I would like it more or feel better about my progress; but I never did. LI love to take walks with my family at the park or the neighborhood, but running alone for more than 45 minutes sucks and feels like a waste of time for me. I would rather do my weight training or cardio dvds at home. Sorry for the brutal honesty! 

Besides my injuries that I kept getting, I found that with all the emotional and physical stress of my body- I have gained 10 pounds in the last 2 months!! SO discouraging for me because for the last 2 years I have worked so hard to get off and keep off almost 100 pounds. I haven’t gained any weight (lost or maintained) for the last 2 years so that has really upset me. Its not just the scale number, but the fact that my jeans are tight and my stomach is larger. 

So this journey leading up to my first half marathon has been very hard for me. And then last week I got a severe sore throat and cold so that has been fun to deal with! Which now leads me up to this past race weekend!!

After packing and renting a car; my husband, toddler and I left a little before noon from Roanoke to head up to the Diva expo outside Leesburg VA which was 3.5 hours away. The driving and weather was perfect and we got to the expo around 3:30. The parking lot at the expo/resort was already pretty full but we eventually found a parking spot. I’m so glad we got to the expo when we did, because they ended up having people park across the street and walk over to the resort. I was surprised how small the “expo” and race check in area was for what was supposedly a very large race event. They had less than a dozen vendors for shopping which was disappointing, but I was able to get my race bag/shirt/bib number very quickly. 

As we were leaving the expo, Ali Vincent came back from break to meet people at her table so I stood in line to meet her and take pictures. I was so nervous to meet her!! She seemed so genuine with talking and hugging people-a very sincere person. I really liked that! She gave me a hug and signed by bib number and we chatted briefly about meeting up in the morning to start the race together. (squeal!) She hugged my toddler and talked to him for a minute-it was so sweet. My husband was awesome and took lots of pictures for me and kept tabs on our toddler so I could focus on my race stuff. I ended up buying a pink sparkle running skirt to match Ali and a couple running supplement chews/beans at the expo. 

Afterwards we walked around the resort for a few minutes and played on the playground. We then drove about 10 minutes down the road to check into our hotel and figure out a location for dinner. I was so anxious about running and my cold and my breathing and knees; that I could barely eat anything and had stomach cramps most of the night. I hate eating at a restaurant and spending money on food that I can’t enjoy. L 

Our night at the hotel was uneventful and I was able to sleep fairly well half the night. Special thanks to my husband for helping me tape the front and backs of my knees and legs with Rock Tape before we went to bed-it works best if you tape before a physical activity/race so the adhesive has time to set on the skin. I was so bummed that I forgot my garmin interval watch and fitbit at home. I always make lists so I don’t forget things when I go on trips. I told you this whole race training totally wacked me out-I haven’t been myself for awhile now!

The sky and clouds were so bright and beautiful on the drive up to the expo.

Hubby driving our kia hybrid rental car. 

My 3 year old taking pictures from the backseat! He managed to get a pic of all 3 of us in it!

Another pic my toddler took of the scenery outside. 

Walking into the expo at the resort.

Me and my toddler. 

Ali Vincent (first female of Biggest Loser) table at expo-out on break at the time.

My bib pick up! #809!

At the expo.

Hubby and toddler helping me get my bib and bag. 

Zachery insisted on helping carry my diva draw string bag. 

Whoohoo!! Ali came back to her table right as we were getting to leave! 

Of course we stood in line to meet her…

Hubby was great and took lots of pictures for us. Ali was so sweet to talk and hug Zachery. 

Ali signing my bib and a pamplet. I also got a pink “live big with Ali Vincent” bracelet to remind me not to be snacking and make good food choices. 

Me and Ali! 

Outside the hallway at the expo. They had a couple comfy chairs and pillows. 

My little family minus my 11 year old who was with my parents. 

Zachery trying on a diva crown. 

Of course I had to take a pic of the bathroom at the resort expo because it was big and beautiful! 

At the park so my toddler could run around before getting back into the car to drive to the hotel.