Fun Run

Today was my second half marathon of the season and no joke, it was super fun! It was the Geist Half Marathon and if you are in the area I totally recommend it! Since it was two weeks after the Indy Mini I was only running it for fun. I had heard quite a bit about it and was eager to give it a try. Originally I was going to run solo, but I was so lucky that my friend Christy wanted to run it too and she was totally down for a fun run as well.

Here are my stats for the day:
Time- 2:03:02
Pace-9:24
Overall-942/2579
Division-59/230
Gender-282/1298
No bad for a "fun run"

As with most races, our day started VERY early. Our goal was to be out the door by 6am and we were. We arrived at the parking lot to find we were the first two there. I'm sure those that know us are not surprised. We hopped on the shuttle and were dropped off about 1/2 mile down the street...seriously we could have walked. Our promptness gave us time to chat, use the facilities and pre-hydrate with the complementary Gatorade.

Then it was time to line up.

Here is where it got a little strange....First they had a local glee club sing a very SLOW song, then Spongebob Squarepants wished us a good run from a little boat on the reservoir, next Brooke Roe (a former American Idol contestant) sang the National Anthem, then Jared Fogel (the Subway guy) said something inspirational and to end the bizarre hodge-podge of an opening ceremony three fighter planes flew over us. So weird! I kinda felt like I was in the Twilight Zone, not sure who would pop up next!

Then we were off....

The first half of the race was nice and flat and by the water so there was lots of beautiful scenery to look at. Whenever anyone mentions the Geist Half there is always talk about the hills. "It's not a good race for time because of the hills" or "It's a great race except for the hills." Around mile 7 or 8 Christy and I made the mistake of commenting on how the hills were not that bad. Just a lot of low rolling hills, we were expecting much worse. Then we turned the corner. That is when the hills started and real fun began!

Overall the hills weren't too bad and as Christy pointed out it's often the downhills that are harder. We ended strong and it was great to have a race where I wasn't dying at the end. We are already planning on running it again next year. I have a feeling our "fun run" is going to be an annual event!

A cool thing about the Geist is their Month of May Club. You can sign up for it if you run two half marathons in the month of May. Since I'm totally down with braggin' rights and extra swag, I was in! You get an additional t-shirt, yummy post race grub in their tent by the water, better parking, free massages after the race and they combine your two race times for your total "marathon time." My combined time was 3:58:12-which is no where near what my actual marathon time would be, but it's fun to dream! They even give you a nice print-out of all your stats.

It was a great day with a great friend!

What's next? My next "fun run" is the Mudathlon in June (Hoosier Dirty Girls in da' house!!!) and then the Morse Mini in early September....a few weeks off and then training starts again...and I couldn't be happier!