Gulf Coast Half Marathon Mandeville 2016 Recap!

Be sure to read all about packet pickup and the day before the race!

My alarm went off at 5:00 AM race morning. I slept the best I think I've ever slept the night before a race! Donna said she slept great too! I'm not sure if it was because there were only the 2 of us rooming together so we each had our own bed or what. We also talked about how we weren't stressed out about this race at all. So I'm sure that helped too!

Donna and I got ready in record time and made it to the lobby by 5:30. We were so excited because our hotel offered breakfast starting at 5:30! Usually the free breakfasts don't start until after we have left for the race. So I was so excited to eat a bowl of oatmeal and have a cup of coffee!!!

We left the hotel around 5:45 and were on our way to the state park where the race begins and ends. We made it in plenty of time and with minimal traffic. We had enough time to use the real bathrooms in the park and not the porta potties! Score!!!

The temperature was in the 60's and it was humid. Last year I remember it being cold and us sitting in the car for awhile before the race to stay warm. Not this year.

After using the restroom we headed to our meeting spot to take a group picture. There were about 15 Sole2Soul Sisters there! We were all wearing orange shirts with the words "Fight the Good Fight" from 1 Timothy 6:12. This shirt was in honor of our fellow Sole2Soul Sister Leah who is fighting cancer. We were all so happy and blessed to be running in Leah's honor!

Before long it was time to line up in the chute! Everyone crowded in and I couldn't get exactly where I wanted to be. But I did find Gina, Kristi, and Beth so I stayed with them!

Mike, the race director, warned us the cannon would go off but I still jumped when it did! It was loud lol! Then we were off! 

In my training I had been staying around an 8:45-9 minute mile. So that was pretty much my plan for the race. 

I had to do a lot of weaving in and out of people the first mile since I couldn't get further up in the chute like I had wanted. But once I got out of the crowd I was able to keep a pretty steady pace. 

I was feeling great from the start! My legs were great and my breathing was great! I got into a great steady pace! I did more of running the way I felt rather than paying attention to my pace. I realized that I was running faster than my training but it felt good so I just kept running that way. 

This route is so pretty! You start out in the park and then you exit out of it, run down a highway, and then you enter neighborhoods with tons of beautiful houses! 

I was surrounded by people most of the race. But it wasn't too crowded. 

I decided to do water stops the way I had been training. That meant stopping around mile 3.5 and mile 7-8. Thankfully this race has TONS of water stops! 

Every mile marker was clearly marked with signs which I love! 

Around mile 4.5 I turned onto my favorite part of the course...running along Lake Pontchartrain! The water was beautiful and all the houses were gorgeous! 

At mile 6 we made a right turn into a neighborhood. I just kept cruising along and enjoyed looking at all the houses! 

We weaved in and out of neighborhoods until around mile 9. Shortly after reaching mile 9 we turned onto the bike trail (Tammany Trace). This part of the race always seems to take forever. You are so close to being done but still have about 4 miles! 

While on the trail there was a guy in front of me. I was running in his left blind spot. I was keeping a steady pace but couldn't go any faster to pass him. I finally told him I was sorry I was running right on him and he said that it was ok because I was keeping him motivated! I told him we were running the same pace and it was helping me too. We talked a little but mostly just ran near each other. We were both pretty focused. 

After what seemed like forever we finally took a right hand turn off the trail and back into the park. This was around mile 11.5. Not much more to go. The guy stopped for a water stop but I kept going. Not long after reaching mile 12 he caught up to me. I said, "There you are!" He replied, "I'm back! Only one mile to go!" 

He ended up running a little faster than me that last mile but he was still in my sights. Y'all! That last mile was TOUGH! I was so ready to be done! But I didn't want to slow down. 

FINALLY I see this sign! And I LOVED it! That's exactly how I was feeling lol! 

Once I saw the finish line and the time clock I started sprinting! I knew at that point that I was really close to a PR! 

I ran across the line and stopped my Garmin! But I didn't even look at it right away. The guy I had been running with at the end had stopped at the end of the chute and told me great job and fist bumped me. I saw him later and we talked a bit. He was super nice! I told him thank you because he helped push me!

I finally looked down at my Garmin! Woohoo!!! I had done it! I had PRed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My official time was 1:52:23!!!! That was an 8 second PR! Hey...it's only 8 seconds but I'll take it!!! 

I stayed at the finish line and watched Beth, Kristi, and Gina finish. Then I went and found them. 

The official race results were posted and I found out that I was 5th in my age group! Pretty sweet! 

After looking at the results we went to our cars to put up the glass they had given us at the finish line. I didn't want it to get broken. I also wanted to change into my flip flops lol! 

On the way back from the car I ran into Jennifer! She had a cold so it wasn't a great race for her but she did it! 

She told me that the race director, Mike, had just called my name over the speaker to come see him. He had told me earlier to not leave because he had something for me. So I found him and he blessed me so much y'all! He and his family had gone to Hawaii this summer. He told me he had had this since then and had meant to mail it but never got around to it. 3 weeks ago he was going to mail it and his wife told him to just give it to me at this race. Y'all! He bought me the Starbucks mug from Waikiki!!! I was soooooooo excited!!!! 

The after party was amazing like always! There was lots of yummy food! I had a bowl of jambalaya and a peanut butter smoothie sample! Yum! There was also a live band like always and they were amazing! 

Once everyone finished we talked for awhile with everyone and then we headed to the car. 

Donna and I got back to the hotel. We had a late check out so we were able to get showers! Yay! We dressed in our race shirts and then met Sherry, Mindy S., and Rachel at Zea's for lunch. By this time I was starving y'all! 

I was so hungry that I FORGOT to take a picture of my food!!! But I had an amazing cheeseburger, grits, and french fries! So good! 

After lunch we headed next door to Starbucks for some coffee for the drive home! I had earned that Venti Coffee Frappuccino Light! 

It was such a fun race weekend! I was so shocked and amazed at my PR! I seriously never thought I would beat my previous time! Hard work really pays off y'all! I am also going to say that I think the strength training helped this PR happen as well as my training! 

Thanks for reading!!! 

QOTD: What is your favorite indulgence after a race? 

Gulf Coast Half Marathon 2016 Packet Pickup!

We left around 10:30 AM to head to Louisiana for packet pickup! But first....it's tradition to stop at The Shed for some yummy BBQ for lunch! So that's what we did! And it did not disappoint!

We then made it to Varsity Sports in Mandeville for packet pickup. They usually have some great sales. And they did this time as well! I bought 2 new sports bras that were on sale and a super cute tank!

Packet pickup is always super easy. You get your bib and then your shirt. Usually they have several vendors there but this year there was only one there advertising another race. I did score a bite of king cake though! Yummy!

After packet pickup it was time for SNOBALLS! You can't come to Louisiana and not get a snoball! They make the BEST ones ever! 

I always get the wedding cake flavor! Soo good!!! 

After our snoball fun we headed to the hotel to check in, unpack some, and relax before dinner. Donna and I were rooming together and we also made some coffee! 

Before we knew it it was time to leave for dinner! We met all our other Sole2Soul Sisters at Mellow Mushroom for some pizza!!! 

My blogging friend Jennifer met us there too! It was great seeing her!!! And no...we didn't plan on dressing alike lol! 

Donna and I always order a side caesar salad and we split a small pizza and it's the perfect amount! We did the same this time! So yummy! 

After dinner we headed back to the hotel. But Donna and I made a pit stop first....we stopped at Sonic for some ice cream! I was really taking this fueling thing seriously lol! 

Some of our friends came to our room for a bit and we played a few hands of Phase 10! Then it was bedtime! 

But first I had to reveal my flat Road Runner Girl! We were all wearing these orange shirts in honor of our fellow Sole2Soul Sister Leah who is battling cancer. We were all so blessed to be able to run for her!

Stay tuned for my race recap...

QOTD: What is your favorite way to fuel before a big race?

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Big Beach Half Marathon Recap!

It's kind of crazy how I came to even run this inaugural race near the city where I live. Jenny's husband Eric saw an ad on Groupon for the Big Beach Marathon and Half Marathon. It was super cheap and since he was looking for a local marathon he decided to sign up for it.

Jenny and I did several training runs with him (or part of the runs since he ran more mileage than we did). Then Jenny decided since we needed to run 12 miles on the weekend of Eric's marathon for Glass Slipper Challenge and Rock 'n' Roll New Orleans training...why didn't we just run the half marathon and share in his day? Plus...it was STILL on sale on Groupon...for only $38!!! That's a cheap half marathon! I thought...why not? We went into it with the goal of running it as a training run and not racing it.

I'm so glad we were only running it as a training run because it was one of the busiest weekends for me. I had a Mardi Gras Ball on Friday night and promised my boys we would go to a Mardi Gras parade on Saturday night. So there wasn't a lot of down time before the race. Although I will say that I STILL ate my pizza the night before the race. I just ate it tailgate style before the parade lol!

It was an early wake up call since it would take us about 40 minutes to get there. We also wanted to get there in time to take advantage of the free parking versus the paid parking. I rode with Jenny and Eric. We got there about an hour and 15 minutes before the race started! It was the perfect amount of time to park and use the restroom.

The weather on the other hand was not ideal. It was 66 degrees and the humidity was 100%! Yuck!

We were able to take a few pre race pictures as well as say a group prayer before the race. Several of my Sole2Soul Sisters were also running this race so it was great to see them before, during, and after the race!

Jenny and I LOVE our new Lululemon skirts!!! So cute! And we also love being twinsies!!!

Sole2Soul Sisters were representing!!! Love my sisters!!!

Also before the race I ran into Joe! We had been hoping to see each other at this race! If you don't follow Joe you need to. He paced the 4:25 marathon group and this was also his 30th marathon!!! So inspiring for this runner who has only run 2 full marathons and has no desire to do any more lol! 

Before long it was close to race time. We followed the crowd. We weren't entirely sure where the start line was but we found the finish line. We assumed we were starting in the same place. But we were wrong. They announced that the full marathoners would start 5 minutes after the half marathoners started. The full marathoners would start right there at the finish line. But the half marathoners had to walk around the building to the red light where we would start. They said we would sing the National Anthem and then need to walk to our start line. We sang and then we began to walk. They only gave us 30 SECONDS to get there! We hadn't even reached the line and the race had begun! Thank goodness for chip timing. But I was NOT impressed with this unorganized start!

We started running and Jenny and I had to weave in and out of runners since we didn't have time to line up correctly according to pace. Very frustrating. We turned onto Highway 59 and pretty soon we took a right hand turn into a neighborhood area.

We took a few turns through the neighborhood and then we turned right back onto Highway 59. We were on that highway until we reached mile 2. It was here that we caught up with Gina and Beth (fellow Sole2Soul Sisters)! We ended up running the rest of the race with them which was so much fun!

We turned off the highway and entered Gulf State Park. It was gorgeous through there!

And surprisingly there were even a few spectators through the park. I loved these spectator's signs (even though the teacher in me cringed at the grammar...worse instead of worst)!

Around mile 4 there was apparently a photographer! But none of us saw him lol!

EDITED: I later learned that the photographer was a runner's wife that was getting pictures of her husband and decided to photograph the entire race! You can check out her page Patio Sports Photography for more pictures!!!

It was also here that Jenny got a huge surprise! Eric caught up to us!!! You can see him a little in the above picture. I don't think we knew he was there yet! He said hey and she was sooooo happy to see him! I took a quick picture of the two lovebirds and then he flew on past!

And since I already had my camera ready...why not take a mid run selfie???!!! I love that it turned out so good!!!

Before long we turned onto another trail in the park. This one was shady and gorgeous! It also had little rolling hills. They weren't bad though. I barely felt them!

Around mile 4.75 we were just talking and running and we saw something dark across the path right in front of us. It was a deer! It had to have been a 6 or 8 point buck! He was huge and so gorgeous! I tried to get my camera on but he was gone before I could. Such a neat experience!!! 

We stayed on this trail until around mile 6 and then we turned onto another road. We could see beach condos in the distance. 

Around this part of the race my left hamstring felt really tight. I started to get a tiny bit worried. I prayed and prayed that it would stop hurting and be ok. We stopped and grabbed some water at the next water stop and walked for a few seconds while we drank. When we started back up the hamstring was ok thank goodness. 

The next few miles we stayed in the Gulf State Park and on the trails. It really was a gorgeous race course!

We reached mile 10 and turned onto 182 or Beach Boulevard which runs parallel to the beach. We couldn't see the water but it was still pretty! We also knew at this point we would come in under 2 hours. Even though it was a training run I still wanted a sub 2 time!

This part of the race got tough. We were running WITH the traffic which as a runner is a little scary feeling. I'm so used to running against the traffic so it was weird hearing cars coming up behind me even though I knew I was running in a blocked off lane. I still didn't feel very safe. There were several signs posted for the traffic to know we were there though. It's hard to see but at this intersection the sign says, "Racers Crossing."

And it was correct because this is where we crossed over onto the other side of the road. That made me feel a little safer. But I was tired. I could feel a twinge in my right knee. And all of a sudden my back on the left side started hurting! Ugh!

But being on this side of the road gave us hope that we were close. 

We kept looking for the restaurant, "The Hangout" where the race finish was. It seemed so far away! That's when we realized that we were going to hit 13.1 before we even turned to head towards the finish line! WHAT??? Yes people. We hit 13.1 and I so wanted to be done! But there wasn't a finish line in sight! Finally we saw our turn and then the finish line! 

Apparently I was looking straight at this photographer but I don't remember seeing a photographer lol! I'm glad I was smiling lol!

Thanks to a fellow Sole2Soul Sister, Kristi, for taking the pictures below of us crossing the finish line! The announcer announced each of our names and where we were from. Then he said, "I think they are friends y'all!" SO funny!!!

Curious...I immediately looked at my Garmin to see how long the course actually was. I expect 13.2 or so at a race due to not running the tangents exactly but the course was actually 13.38! That's a little long in my book! Hopefully they will work that out next year! 

The good news...even though the course was a little long...we still came in under 2 hours! Barely...but we made it! Our official time was 1:59:56! 

I so enjoyed running with these amazing ladies and hope we get to do it again soon!!!

And thanks to Kristi for giving us water at one of the water stops and taking finish line pictures of us!!!

I also enjoyed getting to meet one of my readers, Sarah!!! Thanks so much for coming to say hey Sarah!!! And we had to do the hang ten sign for the media director at The Hangout! 

As always...I LOVE running with my Jenny!!! Love this girl to pieces!!!

And since we finished on the beach I needed a finish beach selfie! 

I took a few selfies and I think this lady passing by felt sorry for me because she offered to take my picture lol! Of course I wasn't going to turn that offer down lol!

After all the picture taking we were ready for some food!!! We headed towards the after party. They had already packaged boxes for the runners. There were several options to choose from....chicken caesar wrap (which I chose), tuna wrap, roast beef sandwich, vegan sandwich, and vegetarian sandwich. You got your box, a bottle of water or tea, and a bag of chips.

Inside the box was your wrap or sandwich, fresh fruit, a wipe to clean your hands, fork, napkin, and a chocolate chip cookie!!! So yummy!!!

After eating, Jenny and I were freezing from being so sweaty. So we headed to the car to change into our non wet race shirts! That was the best idea ever! It really helped us warm up getting out of our wet tank tops! And on the way we stopped for a quick picture of course!!!

We then headed to the finish line to wait on Jenny's husband Eric to finish the marathon. He came in around 3:48!!!!! Wow! It wasn't the time he wanted but it WAS a PR for him! 

We then headed back to the after party so he could eat! He needed some food after running that long! We hung out for awhile listening to the live band! 

Luckily I found this picture of us from one of the race photographers! 

Not long after I got a tweet from Joe asking if I was still there. He came over a few minutes later. I finally got to meet his girlfriend Brooklyn! (And we both realized later that we didn't take a picture together...I must have been tired forgetting a picture lol!) She will be at Princess though so we will get one there! It was awesome meeting her in person! She's precious!

I also got to meet Eric! He was super sweet as well!

We were having a great time just hanging out when all of a sudden we spotted a huge pile of bubbles!!!! Well of COURSE we headed over there to play in them! I haven't laughed that hard in so long!!! It was so much fun!!!! 

It was the perfect way to end such a great race day!!!

We took one last pic in the huge chair before leaving!

On the way home Jenny and I stopped at Starbucks of course! That coffee was well earned and so yummy!!!

It was such a fun day! The race course was absolutely gorgeous! The race itself was tough due to the weather but it is one I would definitely do again! They did a great job for an inaugural race! Hopefully next year they will get the start line issue and the long course worked out.

Thanks for reading! I know this race recap was a little long! But I couldn't leave anything out!!! :-)

QOTD: Have you ever run a race where the course was a little too long?