Pre-Race & Meetup:
It was pretty cold outside, colder than the day before, and sadly I didn't bring the right layering. The day before I felt like I had too many layers on and the morning of CR I didn't have enough. I'm still figuring out the layering thing. I think that's why I prefer summer. Just one shirt to worry about. Anyway, it was St. Patrick's Day so there was a lot of green. I'm not really into costumes, but I figured I could get a lot of green. I got some green compression socks, a green shirt from Dick's Sporting Goods and found a cool, sparkly green headband and sleeves at the RnR expo. It came out nice I think.
There were 3 other Felters who came in to do the CR race, Lance, Betty and Tod. Tod also did a fantastic write up of the CR race on his blog and I recommend reading it. I had met Tod before at the Myrtle Beach half the month before. While Jennifer and I were waiting for them to arrive we got our faces painted! The local radio station did that and it was a fun treat. The vibe at CR was very different than RnR. It was a much smaller, local race. I kind of liked the casual-ness of it.

Both Jennifer and Tod are half fanatics and knew of some other half fanatics who were also running this race. We met up with a few of them and took a pre-race photo. They were all so nice and wished me luck on qualifying. I can tell you I was definitely nervous and sore from the day before so it helped big time to have some extra support and encouragement. I had kept saying things like, "if I finish," but they would all say, "when you finish!"
Once Lance, Betty and Tod showed up we did our usual pre-race RFRC photo. We chatted for a bit and then headed to the start. I was loving all the green, festive spirit. that people had on. I'm still not quite ready for costumes, but I think I can do color scheme outfits :)
This race only had 2,000 runners or so. It was so much smaller than RnR. Jennifer and I started in the back and as soon as we started we noticed the police sweeper behind us! Haha! That was different. We didn't like it so we picked up the pace a little. I hung with her for about a mile and a half and then had to slow down. I was tired (duh!). I saw an older women who was wearing a shirt that said half fanatics and chatted with her for a little while. She was 69 years old and also did the RnR the day before! She did RnR for her birthday and her whole family came and did it with her. She was doing CR by herself though. That's rockstar status in my eyes. She also informed me of the race time limit, 3 hours...eek! I hadn't realized there was a time limit. She was doing a 30 second run/walk interval. I hung with her for a little while, but that interval was awkward for me so I ended up doing my own thing. We passed each other back and forth for a while. In my head I admired her for being an older runner and clearly a beast for doing a half the day before too, but also wanted to beat her. How sad that a 69 year old woman was rocking it more than me?!! Running has definitely been humbling for me. You can't judge a runner by how they look. There have been so many times I see runners before a race and think, "oh, I've got to be better than them" and then they kick my ass! Everyone is really out there to race themselves. I can't be sad that I'm not as fast as others because I'm faster than I was last year and that's really all that matters in the grade scheme of things. I'm improving!
The course was a lot hillier than the RnR the day before and I hate hills. However, it was a beautiful course. There was not a lot of crowd support, almost none actually. Someone or a group of people did manage to post signs throughout the race, which was really nice considering the lack of crowd. It was great to be able to read them along the way. Part of the course looped back so I was able to see all the faster runners come through (and be jealous for a moment), but it was cool because I saw Tod while he was going down hill and I was going up. He totally caught me walking, dang it! We passed and gave each other a high five! I loved it. I tried looking for Lance and Betty, but couldn't spot them. There was so much green and was hard to pick out people in the crowds. I ended up running into Jennifer at a pass point too. I loved that part of the race. It always gives me a little boost when I see my friends along the course.
There was also a nice down hill (actually there were several, which probably contributed to the faster time) right after mile 12 and I ran faster on the down hills. As I got closer to the finish I saw Jennifer waiting for me. At first I thought she was done and came to cheer me on, but she figured when we passed earlier I wasn't that much farther behind so she would wait. It was awesome. I told her I thought I was going to PR so she pushed me to the finish. There was one last big hill right before the finish, but we did it! I sprinted to the finish once I saw it (after almost getting hit by a car because there was no one directing the traffic at that spot) and had a new PR, 2:51:53. I know that's still slow, but I guess you have to start somewhere. It's 20 minutes faster than my very first half the year before so at least I'm improving. That's also with inconsistent training, which the last couple weeks I've been doing much better so I'm sure in the future I will continue to see better times.
Post Race:
The post race food was my favorite up to that point. They had delicious, salty pretzels, pizza (I had 2 pieces) and very tasty soup! There was also hot soup after the Myrtle Beach half and I'm starting to think that hot soup is one of my favorite post race foods, that and pizza!
We went into a nearby hotel to use their restroom (way better than porta-potties) and walked back to the car to head back to Jennifer's house. I wasn't really cold during the run, but I sure got real cold when we were done. I couldn't wait to get back and get a warm shower.
Half-Fanatics and Post Weekend Wrap-up:
It's official, I am a Half Fanatic! I am number #3800 (I totally requested an even number too. I'm not sure if that was on purpose or they were being nice, but I'm so happy with it). After 2 half marathons, 2 states, 2 days, 2 medals, 26.2 miles, and lots of RFRC support, I can say mission accomplished!! I set out to complete a goal and I did it. I did 2 half marathons in 2 days and am at the Jupiter level in HF. I am happy. I don't know that I'll be jumping to do 2 halfs in 2 days again, but it was a fun experience. Now, I'm really trying to work on consistency and speed so I can be a mid-packer and not back-of-the-packer. I'm really starting to be over that! I guess that means it's time to start getting serious with this whole running thing :)
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