Picking up from yesterday –
So, I kind of kept my head down and sort of got in a bit of a zone. I wanted to keep as close to 15-minute miles as I could this race. I know that’s not fast. But recently I’ve been working more on speed for short distances and I haven’t done a ton of distance training. So, I basically just wanted to keep a great walking pace up, comfortably getting all 13.1 miles in without hurting myself.
I held on to approx. 15-minute miles for almost the entire race. There’s a huge incline somewhere around mile 9 or 10. I slowed down a fair amount for that. That mile felt more like a mile and a half. But I just kept on pushing through.
I really loved the fun Halloween punned signs such as “your ghoul today is the finish line.” Cute, right?
I also loved this cheerleading squad that had painted faces. That’s some determination, man. Cheering in super full makeup for hours.
Once I reached mile 13 (with only .1 to go), I veered off the course and ran up to my apartment!
I thought, “Hey man, if you’re gonna dress in costume and live in a super convenient place, you might as well finish looking as sharp as possible.”
My roommate was like “uh, are you even allowed to do this?” Valid question. ‘Cause we’re actually probably not supposed to go off the course. But I figured if I exited and entered at the same place, not cutting off any mileage, that it was basically the same as if I were to stop to high five my family or get a drink or take a stretch break of something. I just went a little farther off course than I usually would.
So, I went into my apartment, took off the hat, put the pearl necklace back on, ripped off my pants.
(Don’t fret too much. I had shorts on under my dress – not comfortable running shorts, by the way, that for some strange terrible reason I decided to wear under my pants the entire race as if I couldn’t spare 5 extra seconds to put them on after I took my pants of in my own apartment. Oh no, no, no. They had to just be on me the whole time. (Stupid last minute morning decisions – this is why you should always practice in your running costume so you figure this stuff out!)
I then proceeded to put on mascara and throw on a bit of foundation. (That would be all the make-up I own in this world.) I took my pigtails down then headed back out for my last .1 stretch of photos ops.
Boy was that dress short! Sorry, Wendy Davis.
Anyway, successful race. Somewhat successful photo ops – even if I unfortunately did dress a bit like slutty Wendy Davis. (Here’s the explanation of all that.)