Reno 5000 Downtown River Run Half Marathon

The babysitter was late, but I made it on time for the race. I knew I would, but mentally I wanted to be focused and not just have read Curious George Goes to the Hospital for the 12th time this week as we sat and waited. I wanted to be in the zone.

Back in August, I was running fast and well. I had the sub-2:00 goal in the bag. I ran the 10-miler in under 1:30, setting a clear pace example for the half. In fact, I signed up for two. I had to opt out of the first one because we were in Arizona for spring break. This one though, I wasn't quitting. If you'd have asked me back in August if I would have met my time goal, I would've given you an almost definitive yes. However, this was 8 months later, looooooots of long runs to keep myself race ready (that I was getting tired of, frankly) and winter was semi-brutal with training on icy roads and then ultimately having some IT discomfort rear its ugly head.

But alas, I would still run. I cooled off running for the entire month of April, running maybe a total of 10 miles the entire month. I was still speedy on those miles, but didn't want to push it and instead focused on an hour of indoor spinning 3x/week followed by abs and LOTS of rolling and stretching along with yoga 2x/week. My cardiovascular was up and I was feeling good about things, but still not confident with recent injuries, that I'd meet my time goal I set back in August.

My concerns for race day:
- intestinal issues
- IT or sciatic nerve discomfort/pain
- hot weather or worse, windy weather
- crowded
- elevation gain intensity

Most of those concerns were not an issue, thankfully. It was a wonderful, if not hot day for a run, petering around 75 degrees as the high (which was the warmest day we'd seen in 2017 so far) and the sun just felt super hot. But, NO WIND! It's been windy nonstop here in Reno lately, so that was a real concern and one that sounded miserable to manage for 13.1 miles!

The race wasn't crowded at the start, but the course was at times, giving narrow space to run. We ran along the Truckee River (hence the race name) and some of the terrain was paved trails and the other were wooden slat bridges (6 to be exact) and the road. We weaved through some neighborhoods I didn't know existed and while some parts were definitely beautiful, I somewhat craved wide open spaces so I didn't have to concern myself with giving up space to other runners.

There was a steady amount of incline running and not a lot of decline relief.

Those three issues were semi-bothersome, but oddly I didn't experience any intestinal issues or ANY pain anywhere! In fact, I honestly can say that my legs didn't even feel like they ran 13.1 and I could very well have hit the trails the following day (but didn't.)

A concern I didn't anticipate was to run out of race fuel! In all of my runs (including one that had me at sub-2:00 time for 12.66 miles), I've never had an issue with fuel and often don't even bring any with me on long runs! I started the race with full view of the 2:00 pacer in front of me. I saw him clear to mile 8. And then... he was lost around all the twists and turns and I never recovered to see him again because at mile 9, I hit a wall. My legs felt great and I was happy to keep running, but internally I was feeling like I needed more fuel-- more electrolytes, more gummies, bloks, goo... something. And it just wasn't there. The water stations were few and far between and the sun was getting hotter and I was beginning to sense a light dizziness come over me for the last 4 miles and my hands and feet feeling a bit tingly. I dropped my pace a bit and resolved to finish without making myself sick, knowing my 8-month old sub-2:00 goal was gone. (I sure wish I would've brought along more fuel or brought along my handheld bottle filled with Gatorade.)

I made sure to drink loads of water for a full 3 days prior to the half, ate two KIND bars, a banana and drank another 32 oz. the morning of. I thought my body was well fueled. It wasn't. This was probably a rookie mistake and in the future, I'll make sure to come well prepared. I was so concerned with being comfortable with the mileage that I focused all my training efforts on speed and distance and nothing on fueling. Total #rookieprobs

I crossed the finish line at 2:03:30, practically holding myself back from puking once I stopped running. I quickly jetted over to the drinks and chugged a Powerade. It was not only delicious, but I was instantly better. My hands and feet were no longer tingling and I felt like I could keep running.

This girl was well ahead of me (and our pacer) for the first 8 miles. I passed her at a water station and didn't see her again. He husband was pacing her since it was her first half (too). He told the pacer guy to "not let her fall behind him" just to be friendly but something was causing her to slow . I'm sure she was prepared for a sub-2:00 finish as well... #sameboat

In all, I'm pleased with my run considering the circumstances and have plans to run my next half in January (which is forever away and I won't start "training" so early). When I opted out of the San Francisco Rock n' Roll Half in March, they granted me a freebie to another RnR race. We're moving to Arizona next month and it's fitting that I save this one for January. With that said, once we move at the end of May, running won't be a verb I associate much with for awhile. Why? Because #arizonasummer. Helllllllllo spin bike in air conditioning.

Oh, and when I arrived home about 35 minutes after I crossed the finish line, I asked the 17yo babysitter if she needed a ride home. She told me she didn't because she just got a new car. So I watched her drive away in her brand new blue BMW. #eyeroll

When I finished the race, I totally hoarded three vitamin waters and a bunch of other snacks to bring home to the kiddies. I grabbed a shower,  picnic lunch and this blanket and we spent four hours at the park with Benjamin practicing his new swinging skill and playing with a new friend for hours. The sun was super hot and laying there felt great.