Divas Half Marathon: Race Report

Went into this race with absolutely no time or PR expectations. My goals were simple: have fun and FINISH with my two best running friends. No nerves. No stress. Headed over Saturday to the race expo to pick up my bib and was thoroughly overwhelmed with more pink than I have seen in my lifetime. Pink is just not my color. Never has been. Race expo was super small with a couple of fun booths: Lululemon, Runningskirts.com, and See Jane Run:

Not going to lie, the absolute hardest part of this 13.1:

Woke up at the butt crack of dawn, stumbled into the kitchen, drank my coffee, got sparkled up, and headed out to pick up my running partners in crime:

The end result = a PR for one BRF and an amazing illustration of hard work, perseverance, and running triumphs by both my BRFs. WE also got to be a small part in another friends FIRST race: awesomeness all around. After THREE YEARS and seven half marathons, I can finally say that I finished a race WITH my two best running friends. And it was by far my most memorable race to date. I can still see E’s smile as she ran down the finish shoot and the triumph of finishing on R’s face…both priceless.

And what happens when you ask strangers to take pictures, no attempt to move us out of the shade, sorry J:

I really wanted to LOVE this race. And I LOVED the route: absolutely gorgeous.

BUT…

* they ran out of water at the turnaround. Like, completely out of cups AND WATER. One dude handed me a pitcher of water and told me to drink from there. At other water stations, they were not prepared for the numbers of people and water cups were not pre-made. You were handed an empty cup and then had to wait in line for someone to fill your cup.

* mile markers were not super visible.

* large portions of the race were run on super small two lane trails and got super congested.

* the post race snacks and champagne lines were ridiculously long. Had we waited in them, we likely would have missed the last shuttle back to our car.

* the last shuttles were not schedule out far enough and did not leave people enough time to enjoy the post-race festivities.

* the shuttles were poorly organized. No lines, no signage, very little communication amongst drivers and multiple buses went to the same hotel versus the other locations in need.

* the race touts good-looking firemen at the finish handing you your rose and finisher’s medal; however, the reality was prepubescent boys in firemen-ish costume. Quite possibly the biggest disappointment.

* their Facebook fan pages posted that over 6,000 people registered and only 5500 packets were picked up, yet they still ran out of goods. I truly don’t understand this. Despite being an inaugural event, running out of water is just not acceptable, especially at a pivotal point such as the turnaround.

With the race done, I am looking forward to crossing the next big milestone off my bucket list: a triathlon. Of course, this means I need to find a pool and see if my junior high swim team experience still holds. And a bike without a flat tire. In honor of working towards this goal, I sucked it up, and gave spin a second chance. For the record, my booty still hurts but I killed the class. I have never, in my life, SWEAT so much. I will be back. I am determined to finish a triathlon in the near future. Without drowning.