Just like a heatwave

This morning was my last long run before NJ. I ran the More half marathon. This event is women only and there's a full marathon for women over 40. I had no intentions of racing, just getting the miles in. When I got to the race, I found out they called off the marathon and made the half a fun run. While people were not happy, it was the right call. Even with that being said, most people still decided to run.

My plan was to run easy. It's a 2 loop course so I would pick it up the 2nd lap but still run with in my long run pace. Man, some of these women still went out guns blazing. I was a litte surprise by that. I was warm for April, low 70s at 8am. None of us have had a chance to acclimate to this. I know later in the summer we'll be begging for such weather. 

Before the race, I drank a whole bottle of electrolyte drink and took a salt pill. I took water/gatorade at the first few stations. Yes, it was warm but I felt fine. I just went out with the mindset if I needed to run slower due to the heat that was fine. Just a training run. There were several Front Runners out there volunteering and cheering and that was great to see. Thanks guys!

At mile 6 I took another salt pill. Mile 7 I took my clif shot. It was warming up. I was surprised by mile 8 the runners had really thinned out. I think a lot of people slowed down or just decided once around the park in this heat was enough. And I started to lap walkers. At first it was fine. Then it was insane. If this were a race, I would have been pissed. By mile 10 some of them were walking 4 across and the runs had to go wide. Not really want you want to do. 

On my 2nd lap I saw 3 people down on the ground. The heat was totally taking it's toll. Another woman was down at the finish. The heat, it's no joke! When I was walking back to the train, the clock above the park said 78. It was about 10:30 am.

When I finished, they were pulling walkers off the course as well, saying they were shutting it down at 11. While I ran how I wanted to and felt really good the whole time, it was getting hot. I did not want to be out there any longer than I was.

I crossed the line in 1:53:22, which is about 8:40 pace. A tad fast for a long run. Actually, a bit faster than I had intended on running. I'm not going to let myself get crazy about that. I didn't have my heart rate monitor on since I just wear a watch in races. I wish I did have it, but I was never breathing hard. I was never WORKING which leads me to believe, even in this heat, my pace was fine. Since finishing, I've just been pushing fluids to recover quickly. I took an ice bath and feel totally fine. I feel like I did a long run, not a hard run so that's a good sign.

Just one more week. It is expected to cool off before next weekend which is great.

I'm excited and trying to stay calm.

This is it people!