Today, I ran in the 2013 Hippie Chick all womens' race. There are Half and Quarter Marathon options, I ran the Quarter. That's 6.55 miles for any non-runners out there. :)
It was a great day for a race. It started out on the cool side with a bit of cloud cover... a day made to order for a race. It was nice to not be too hot while running. The race course was also very well planned, over mostly flat country and on roads that offer at least some shade from time to time. Towards the end of the race, as the temperature was rising, one of the volunteers even had a hose out and was spraying runners as they ran by. I took advantage of that myself, and it felt good!
All the ladies were so supportive of everyone too, which was awesome. I got a high-five from someone I didn't even know! We were all cheering for each other and encouraging each other... which is yet another reason why I love this race.
Except for the three water stations where I walked (so I could drink the water instead of spilling it all down my front LOL), I ran the entire race. I didn't have any IT band pain either, so my Rumble Roller (a.k.a the Medieval Torture Device) plus all the stretching and cross training are doing their jobs. Towards the end I could tell they were getting a bit tight, so I did some butt kicks and that stretched them just enough to ease the tension I was feeling.
So, now for the important parts: Times and statistics! The race was timed with chips, these are the official numbers off the race website.
Finishing time (per my chip): 1:07:36
Finishing place overall (for the Quarter Marathon): 207th out of 1056 participants
Finishing place for my age bracket (for the Quarter Marathon): 41st out of 166
I really want to do the Half Marathon next year. Hopefully my good luck with training, cross training, and stretching/rolling will continue and I'll be able to get there without injuring myself again and setting my training behind.
