Rock 'n' Roll Providence Half Marathon - 8/19/12 - 1:52:58 (8:37 min/mile)

I had to wait a few days to write this post. For some reason after this race in particular, I was really beating myself up over the outcome. Why? I am still not totally sure why because I did an amazing job, but something was eating at me. But I decided this morning when I woke up that it was time to move on and stop beating myself up over nothing.

So here goes...

Originally I hadn't planned on running this race in 2012, but with some gently prodding from friends and an entry discount due to the Leap Day in February - I signed up.

Then as time wore on more and more of my social media friends signed up as well. Woo! I love meeting Twitter/Facebook friends in person. :)

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The wife and I headed down to Providence late Saturday morning. Thankfully even with traffic the ride was under an hour, but of course it was raining. Yup, two weekend races in a row and we had to travel in the rain. Thanks New England. :P

We arrived in Providence and headed straight to the downtown area to grab lunch and hit up the Expo. I knew the others would be there around 1:30 and I didn't want to miss them.

We hit up Trinity Brewhouse for a beer and lunch. I had a DELICIOUS pulled pork sandwich and tested their Rhode Island IPA - yummy!

After lunch, we walked the long 0.2 mile trek to the Expo. ;)

 

I was really looking forward to hitting the Expo and actually stopping at the booths that I missed in Chicago, but unfortunately this Expo was MUCH smaller than Chicago and the booths I wanted to hit didn't attend. Boo!

Oh well, I was still excited to pick up the usual awesome schwag bad that Rock 'n' Roll usually has and to move up in corrals (because of my time in Chicago I was able to move from Corral 6 to 3).

Once we entered the Expo itself we actually walked right into Samantha, Janine and Amy ... right place at the right time! :)

This was my third Rock 'n' Roll Half, but the first time I actually took part in the photo booth. How could I not with this awesome crew? ;)

Don't you wish you were as cool as us? :)

I hit up the Snuggbuds booth to exchange the pair I had bought at the Chicago expo for a better fitting pair ... Thanks Chris and Jane for your AWESOME customer service. (Side note: the new pair is perfect!!!)

After the Expo, the wife and I ventured out to find our Hotel and explore the area near the hotel before dinner. We even found the Start and Finish Lines while wandering near the mall.

Sam did a great job picking a dinner spot since it was RIGHT next to our hotel. Sweet!

We met back up with Janine and her mom and Sam and her boyfriend for a delish dinner...

...before calling it an early night! After I did the normal routine of laying out my stuff, I enjoyed a few episodes of My Boys on the iPad before getting some sleep.

You would think the sleep would've been boring, but nope! We got woken up at 1:48am by someone possibly getting mugged outside of our room, which was along a nice alley. It sounded as if the person ran off so I think they were overall okay.

The alarm went off too soon at 5am. I got changed and headed down to the courtyard to meet the crew to walk to the Start Line.

Once we got to the Start area it was go time ...

... we were able to connect with both Colleen and Robin. Even though these two awesome ladies are usually in Corral 1, they were both dropping back to Corral 3 to help pace us slow people. :) Thanks ladies.

Sam, Colleen & I

Colleen was going to help me try to get another PR since the weather was perfect for it. But for some reason, my body was against it. :( My mind kept wanting my legs to move faster (especially once we hit Mile 12), but for some reason they just wouldn't do it.

The hills were more frequent and bigger than I expected. I just kept thinking where are these hills coming from Providence. Where?

Colleen did a great job pushing me through the run even though I was getting discouraged with myself. I had run so well in Chicago - with even warmer temps - but couldn't get my legs to move any faster.

I just kept pushing forward as best I could.

The first four miles seemed to be ENTIRELY made up of hills with Mile Four being legit straight up. Wow! I mean I go to Spinning to help with my hills, but I kept thinking "Spinning couldn't prep me for THESE bad boys."

Once we hit Mile 5 the road stayed flat for a couple miles that was refreshing and much needed.

Thanks Janine for snapping this awesome action shot!

The hill that hit around Mile 8-9 seemed like nothing compared to the hills at the beginning, but I still found myself slowing down.

My brain kept telling my legs to move faster, but they wouldn't - wicked frustrating.

I had never been so happy to see a Mile 13 marker. I was done. But the hills weren't, the city of Providence decided to have the last .1 miles of the course also be a hill ... how fitting right?

Well, that one I pushed since I knew I would be close to my time in Chicago ...

... but I failed. I crossed at 1:52:58 (8:37 min/mile pace). I was 1:16 short of a PR. I was pissed.

Now, when I first signed up for this race, I thought of it as just a training run for the Marathon (as long as I had hit the PR I wanted in Chicago, which I did), but I got myself wrapped up in the idea of the PR so I was pissed that I let myself down.

But everyone tried to remind me how far I'd come. I mean really I had to be proud since the Half I ran in January 2012 was a 2:05 time. Either way I cut over 10 minutes off my time. Not too shabby.

After yelling at myself in my head and out loud, I grabbed my medal and post-race snacks before stepping in for a pic...

Big thanks to Tori and Colleen for trying to cheer me up/calm me down after the Finish.

Tori even presented me with this cool Rock 'n' Roll charm bracelet with a Chicago, 13.1 and a Providence charm on it.

I can't wait to add 26.2 and Savannah to the bracelet come November!!

While I got my medal engraved,

Colleen got ahold of Robin so we could meet up with her before having to head home.

The three of us have combined to lose over 270 lbs through Weight Watchers!

Overall, it was a great 24 hours in Providence! I love meeting my Twitter/Facebook/Blogging friends in person and collecting new race medals. ;) But, I would've loved to have seen a different outcome with my race time.

I was actually so mad with how I finished the run that the next day I ran another 3.1 miles at the pace I had wanted the day before. Yeah, I need a life... :P