NC Half Marathon Charlotte Motor Speedway
Finishers: 1,167
March 8, 2014
People always ask me what I eat and how I prepare for races. Once you read this you will understand I always tell people to google it themselves because I think my stomach may be part sow. Ever since high school when I would go from school, to Taco Bell and get a 7 layer burrito and cinnamon twists before lacrosse practice I have had a rare ability to be able to eat whatever and then go run. I really do think chances are I am part pig.
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| The Westminster Crew - Banks, Gregg, Alex and Cam (and Bloody Mary's) |
It was dark by the time we arrived in Charlotte and we met Jack over at the Speedway in Conroe, NC where the packet pickup was being held. I was okay by this point. The pickup was awesome! They had the 5K the night before so it was cool being able to get into the race mood seeing all of the runners. We picked up our things, snapped a few pictures on the track of our crew and then went to check in to the hotel before meeting a friend of Jack and Andrew's downtown for some Italian food. After the day I had, I actually wasn't hungry at all. I don't know if my nerves were already starting or if the day was just all catching up to me but I ordered ravioli at dinner and did my best to finish it. Not a good omen for the day before a race when you are already feeling sick. We didn't stay out too late and head back to the hotel where Jack and I put all of our gear together and then said night night to Andrew and head to sleep.
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| Sitting on the track at Packet Pickup |
March 9, 2014
Woke up still feeling horrible. I wasn't sure what was wrong but it was bad. The boys didn't seem to be too concerned as they had raced with me before and knew I was a bit dramatic in the morning. Jack was chomping away at his banana and Cliff bar and I could barely stand the idea of eating anything. We wanted to beat traffic so Andrew drove us over to the track fairly early. It was a cool morning and we didn't want to wait around outside, so I sat curled up in a ball in pain in the front seat of Andrew's car and just tried to calm down and prayed my stomach and body would pull itself together.
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| Start Line! |
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| I look deceivingly not sick - but Jack and I were ready to go! |
It was incredible. After the horrible morning I had, I all of a sudden had this wild renewed energy and I was crushing it. I could see Jack up ahead for quite some time but realized I needed to run my own race and tried not to focus too much on his position. Andrew was on the infield of the track and we saw him a few times during our first loop and a half before heading out. I was still feeling awesome and continued my tour of all of the speedway complex. We looped around the outside of the motor speedway, across a bridge over the main road and then headed towards the dirt track. Mile after mile kept ticking by and I felt like it was easy-peasy. Once we got away from the dirt track, we head towards the mile speedway which was I want to say Mile 7 and 8 of the course. Running on a drag race track was wild! The empty stands on either side of us and seeing the really fast runners coming back by on the left was really motivating. I saw Jack on his way back going opposite directions and we high-fived and then I was surprised to see how quickly I reached the turn around after seeing him.
Something else I noticed on my second mile back on the drag strip was that I was a significant distance in front of the 2 hour pace team. This is when I realized that breaking that two hour mark again may actually be possible!
We got off the drag track and I was still passing people - like it was nothing. After the drag track we started our venture back to the main track which meant climbing some of the hills we had previously run down. To this point, I hadn't necessarily been super challenged so I put a little more effort into powering up the hills than usual. Mile 10 was approaching and I was getting antsy and a little tired but kept looking ahead and seeing who I could catch up to. I remember this really tall skinny kid who look like he could be one of the Schlotz boy and I made sure to pass him - just because. The lap around the outside of the main track was rough and mostly a slow uphill but finally I made the turn into back into the track around Mile 11. With two more miles to go, it felt like we were in a maze just running back and forth on the infield trying to weave our way to 13.1. While bobbing and weaving the in track trail, I saw the 2 hour pacer come onto the track but I knew I still had good ground on him. FINALLY, they let us back on to the main track and all I had was a lap to go.
Something about running on tracks - and I'm not saying your neighborhood high school 400m track - I'm talking NASCAR. I've never been to a race but I've seen these places packed out on TV and I can only imagine in my head the energy when the place is full. I obviously knew where I was going and how much farther I had to go so I dug deep and pulled out one more burst of energy to get me around the final turn and down pit row? finishers alley?...or whatever they call it. I saw Andrew but he wasn't really looking for me so I basically screamed at him as I ran by. As always, I didn't wear a watch but I knew I came in under 2. I was pumped. Once I found Andrew, he was confused about my time and how he didn't expect me for at least another ten minutes. We soon discovered that not only had I broken the two hour mark but I had knocked more than FIVE MINUTES off my personal record. Crossed the finish line in 1:53:54. I was literally in shock and could not believe the race I had just run. Maybe it was my American Flag headband or my Dale Jr. t-shirt that gave me that extra power I needed - but lets me real - we all know it was the Bloody Mary and the Breakfast Tachos.
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| Team Jack and Ash - doing halfs up the coast! |
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| And Pack Mule Andrew - Carrying all of our gear |
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| Half Marathon #3 for this guy! |
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| How fake does that grand stand look in the back? |
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| The winners circle! |
Andrew took a bunch of pictures of Jack and I on the track and on the Finishers Podium. It was Jack's third half so it worked out perfect that he could just cover the 2 on my 23 sign and have a 3! After all of the excitement we head back to the hotel to shower up and head out to a rooftop brunch at the Peculiar Rabbit with their friend. I, of course, wore my medal the entire time. After brunch we said our goodbyes and then Andrew drove us back to Atlanta where I shared the whole saga with Gregg and his friends before they all head out of town.
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| Official Race Pic - 23 states down, 27 more to go! PERSONAL RECORD: 1:53:54 #DREAMBIG |
This too was an awesome race, with awesome company and an AWESOME PERSONAL RECORD!
Setting the bar high, Miss Ahner....maybe a bit too high.
23 states down, 27 more to go!
#DREAMBIG
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