Race Report: Riverboat Series Half-Marathon & WalkERrun 4k

 This weekend involved a lot of running.

On Saturday I ran in the WalkERrun 4k. I was not planning to run a race other than my half-marathon this month, but this race was for a great cause. It was a fundraiser benefit the children of one of my friend's family. They have 4 kids, so they did a 4k. Even though you aren't supposed to run the day before a half, I figured I could run 2.5 miles at an easy pace and still be okay. I ended up running a little faster than I was supposed to, and I won 2nd place in my age division! It was a small race with mostly friends of the family, so there weren't many competitive runners. The distance was unique, the food was good, and the shirts were super cute. I am definitely doing this race again next year.
 
     That night, I spent the night with my parents. They were keeping Emersyn while I raced, so I stayed there so that I didn't have to wake Em up so early. On Sunday, we got up at 4:30AM. I woke up, woke Brooke up, and Macie was there to pick us up at 5. We met with Kelsey and all drove the 40 minutes to Winnsboro, LA.We got there at 6, got ready, and gathered for pre-race announcements at 6:15. The course was done in loops. There was a 1.2 mile loop that you had to run 11 times. Every time you finished a loop, you would grab a rubber band in order to keep up with how many you had completed.

     Personally, I enjoyed the loops. I never felt alone on the course, racers would cheer each other on as they passed, we high-fived strangers, and we got to see the spectators over and over again. The only problem I had was that there was one hill, and by mile 9, I was really struggling up that hill.
Kelsey, Alec, and I stayed together in a straight line during the race (we had to stay single-file because the course was very narrow). Kelsey and I would take turns leading and pacing the group. Kelsey is fast; when she paced us, our pace was 5-10 seconds faster than when I lead. I think we had a good balance, though; Kelsey would speed us up and push us, and then I would slow us down enough to catch our breath and rest.


     We were all struggling during the last 2 miles. My legs felt like jelly going up the hill, and at one point my arms felt tingly, but, thankfully, I was able to shake it off. At the last loop, we tried to speed up, but we were having a hard time up that hill. But as we saw the finish line, we all started sprinting, and I was leading. As we were about to cross the finish line,I saw someone passing me; I figured it was Kelsey, but it actually ended up being Alec! She had stayed behind, but pushed at the very end to finish first in our group! We finished just after 2 hours and 30 minutes.

Brooke came about 30 minutes behind us, and Macie came in another 30. We were all so happy to be done!

Team Tortoise before and after the race

You can see the medal a little better in this pic

Because of the loops, they had one big aid station. It was awesome; they had jelly beans, gummy bears, olives, boiled eggs, sandwiches, pickle juice, and many many other snacks.  I didn't use it during the race, because I had been training with gels and didn't want to change anything up during the race, but I did go and pig-out after the race.

The race was a series that did 7 races, in 7 states, in 7 days. Many people do multiple races in multiple states. That  made me feel less crazy, because these people were really crazy! 7 half marathons in a row? Wow!

The medal is awesome. They give you a "starter" medal and then a additional medal for every state you do, so we have the series medal with a Louisiana medalhanging under it. It is the coolest medal that I have ever seen.

Today I am sore and tired. I am giving myself the next 2 days to rest, then I have to get back to running.