BIH Half Marathon

Date of the Race: 9.10.16
Race Website : http://www.bihfire.com/events/run-ride-soar/
Weather: Start 73 with a real feel of 86. Finish 78 with a real feel of 96.
Goodies: Tech shirt, and whoopee pie, and post race picnic

Hold on to something... this will be long. But if you don't feel like reading all of it, feel free to skip to my summary at the end.

We were up dark and early on Saturday and driving to Bird In Hand. I stayed at my parents because the drive to BIH was shorter from Oxford than from Harrisburg. I picked up a bad habit when I was training for the Marathon in the spring, and that was to have a breakfast sandwich before a race, rather than a bagel and coffee. The only place selling breakfast sandwiches at 5:30 am was McDonalds, so I order an Egg McMuffin, OJ and coffee. My coffee didn’t have any sugar, and I was at the start line when I realized this. So black unsweetened coffee it was!

 

Again, we enjoyed the hot air balloon launch as we parked the car and walked to the start line. It seems that we were all so amazed by the hot air balloons, that it distracted us from being anxious about the Half Marathon ahead of us. Everybody was looking up and taking pictures.

There was plenty of portable toilets, and I was not inside one when America The Beautiful was performed! Like all my past races!

I decided to put on my tank top and my hat, the tank top because my wiggly belly makes my sister uncomfortable, and the hat to try to keep the sun off my face. Both came off by mile 1.

Have you ever changed your bib while running? It's really hard! I was terrified of poking my boob with the safety pin! Luckily that didn't happen.  

The views in this race were amazing! I had to take pictures.

The Valley of No Wires

 

 

 

By mile 2 I was completely dripping in sweat, I didn't feel thirsty, but decided to take some water. The water stops were something that I looked forward to, because most were staffed by Amish Children, and they were completely adorable!

Source

By mile 8, I had had too much to drink, and my stomach felt full of water. So I skipped the rest of the water stops, and stopped only for water to dump on my head.

There were also lots of sprinklers through out the race and coolers full of ice.

Knowing that it would be hot and that I would be tired from the 5K, I still gave myself a very ambitions goal, and planned to finish the Half at 2:10. I hit 2.10 at mile 12.50. And by this point I just kept telling myself to just keep moving, that my medal was at the end.

The last mile was rough, the sun was blazing and I felt so heavy, so I put El Club De Los Imposibles on my phone, and put it on repeat for the last .80 of the race. And told myself that the song would play twice and I would be finishing when the second round of the song was over. And that I was not allowed to stop or slow down until the song was over TWICE!! And true to myself, I started singing really loud at the last .20 of the race. I want to feel sorry for the people who were around me, but I really didn't care. I crossed the finish line with the last note of the song!

It wasn't my best time, and I hadn't done as I had expected, but I was so proud of myself for finishing this. Tears did roll a little at the end.

Wiggly belly in all its sweaty glory!

There was a chicken BBQ picnic after the race. I was not hungry, which is not like me after a long race. I didn't want to sit down, so I watched our table while my sisters went for food and started stretching... of course I had to be all alone when I had a horrible cramp on my right leg! I could barely stand, so I dropped to the floor and tried to stretch it out. Then tried to cram some chips and pretzels in me. I had left my Nuun in the car, and that was a little bit of a walk away, so I settled for iced tea and water to rehydrate.

We ate, there was so much food!! BBQ chicken, potato salad, sausages, hot dogs, carrots, cake, donuts, chips. After a while I forced myself to eat some chicken. I was on my second serving when a lady who was sitting at our table started giving me the stink eye when she saw I packed my leftovers.... the picnic was open to everybody, runners, and spectators or anybody who happened to be around. So she made me really mad! So I turned to her and said "It's ok, I ran today!" and went over and got another serving of chicken and packed it in my bag. She was just irritating! it wasn't her food, and in all honesty, she didn't look like she had ran the half.

My sister drove home... I had always had to drive myself and Runderlmort home after a Half, so it was nice for once to be able to put my feel up and just relax.

My mom made chicken soup, which was amazing for recovery! I need to make a note to do my recovery at home, my mom pampered me the rest of the afternoon.

Summary:
My coffee didn't have sugar :~(
It was hot. But I'm not allowed to complain, Amish were running in regular clothes.
I wore my tank top and hat, both which came off by mile 1
The views were breathtaking
Amish kids are the most adorable Aid station attendants
I drank too much water
I sang my way to the finish line
My Medal was pure awesomeness !!
BBQ chicken at the end was heavenly!
My mom makes the best recovery food

Has anybody given you the stink eye for taking food at a race?
What did you do?
Ever run with Amish?
Has your mom pampered you after a race?
or Who was pampered you after a race?