TRAILMOMMA: URBAN COW HALF MARATHON RACE REPORT

Yeah, that title is right ... I had a race this past Sunday. It's been in my running cue for a while but to be honest, I haven't run more than 5 miles in a long time.

Since work has started, I've only been able to run one day a week IF that ... but I received a free entry for the Urban Cow Half Marathon and I had to attend in order to promote the UpBeat Workouts Urban Cow Training iPhone App.

You couldn't beat the weather on Sunday. It was in the 70s and glorious. Leading up to Sunday however was a tough few days. My work had a team building event in Lake Tahoe. I spent Thursday and Friday in Tahoe doing team building stuff (and consuming a lot of wine) and then came home and tried to motivate to run the race on Sunday. Saturday was spent watching both girls and doing various odds and ends including weighing in for my final weigh in session at Breakout Fitness. I'll do a post on that later.

Sunday morning I had to wake up at 4:30 and leave the house for Land Park so that I could set up the UpBeat Workouts booth. It was going to be only me representing at the booth. I set up the booth the best I could in the dark and freezing cold.

Kraig from Clark's Corner found me and we agreed to run the race together. I think we both could use the motivation and support from each other. My goal was simply to finish and to hopefully finish in under two hours.

The gun went off and we started running. My Garmin beeped at the first mile marker but I did not see the actual marker. I just assumed that I had missed it when Kraig leaned over and told me that he thinks we were not supposed to run that loop around the park ... he thought someone made a mistake. Yup, he was right. As it turns out, the first wave of runners (my wave) followed a lead biker who apparently made a wrong turn and we ended up with about 13.69 miles on our legs when all was said and done.

Most of the runners around us were not angry but they were generally annoyed. I think everyone that I know pressed "stop" on their watches at their own 13.1 mile marker. Eventually the race directors evened out the times and apologized to the first wave runners. Our finish time was 1:55 which is about an 8:50 minute mile. I'll take it. Considering I haven't been running nor have I been racing ... that suited me just fine. My ankle was a bit tender during the race and my left knee is still a bit achy. I am just assuming it was too much too fast too soon.

After the race however was the brutal part. I had to stand for over two hours at my booth. That is where things got painful. My legs and joints were sore, I was freezing and hungry and really, all I wanted was a nice hot cup of coffee. Still, it was nice to socialize and I saw a few friends.

Monday was Columbus Day and Vans was home with the girls while I was at work ... the price he had to pay since I started a new job. He sent me the following photos: