Recycled Run Recap

On April 30th, I ran a half marathon with my friend, Janel. It was her first one, and I was so excited to be able to share the experience with her!

Pre-Race

Early in the week before the race, the race director sent out an email with details on parking, weather, etc. At the time, the weather looked perfect! BUT as the week worn on, the rains started coming, and it seemed less and less likely that we'd have clear skies for the race.

Friday night we made a trip to Walmart after work to get matching outfits for the next morning. Janel had been wanting to get something new for the race, and I love seeing people out on race courses with matching outfits, so I suggested we be all matchy-matchy. We scored some shorts, short sleeve shirts, and sports bras - and I think they were all on SALE!

The rains were heavy in the morning, but our spirits weren't dampened. The rains led to a few accidents on the freeway, delaying Janel's drive to the race start. I, of course, left about 10 or so minutes later than I'd intended.

I arrived at the parking area first, which was about 1/2 mile from the start line. Half a mile of horse trails = MUDDY. I pretty much ran to the registration table to pick up our packets. Since it was raining, we decided that we really wanted long sleeve shirts - instead of our new short sleeved ones. We decided to make a last minute trip to Walmart.

Janel met me at the start (no parking available, but there was runner drop off / pick up), we picked out our shirts, and then hopped back in her car and headed to Walmart. We quickly found the PERFECT long sleeved shirts and were back on our way to the parking area.

And now, we were very late. I changed my shirt while Janel drove to the parking area, and then I had to change my shoes and finish getting all my race stuff together. We had to run that horse trail again (well, the first time for Janel) and we got to the start about 3 minutes AFTER the half marathon racers had taken off.

When we approached the start line, I asked the announcer:

Me: We're running the half. What do we do?
Him: Just step over this mat and GO!

And we were off. Finally.

The Race / Course

During the weeks prior to the race, we did a couple of training runs out on the course so we'd be familiar with it and prepared. The course was an out-and-back within an out-and-back, so we were able to train on the entire course beforehand, which was really nice on race day.

The first 4 miles were wet, of course, but still pretty great! The rain was light enough and the wind was at our backs - pushing us up the hills. It was primarily uphill until the first turnaround, with a pretty killer hill just before it. We knew it was coming, and we CRUSHED IT!

There was an aid station at the turnaround. We stopped for a tiny bit of water and were back on our way. INTO THE WIND! It biting and cold and terrible. This had happened during our training runs as well, but we'd forgotten. At least the headwind was on the downhill - better than on the uphill.

We thought it was going to be 2.5 miles of hell, but either the wind died down a bit, OR we got used to it. And, then we turned around to REPEAT that killer hill, stop at the aid station, and face that wind again!

The inclement weather didn't change anything for us. We were just out there running and having a great time! Running. Chatting. Having fun.

It was a pretty intuitive course, but it was still very well marked. There were lots of signs, which, at times, were a tiny bit confusing because you passed them more than once.

I was so excited to see this sign that I HAD to stop and have us take a picture.

There were also plenty of aid stations. We stopped at each one and shared a cup of water. Even in the rain, you've got to stay hydrated! The volunteers were AMAZING! So glad that they still came out despite the weather.

With the out-and-back within an out-and-back nature of the course, and since we started late, it was fun to see so many other runners multiple times on the course - and try to guess if they were ahead of us or behind us. :-D

The Finish

While we had a great time out on the course, the looming finish line was a very welcome sight! We'd started to have some aches and pains during the last few miles, so we were definitely ready to finish.

Janel's husband and kids were waiting for us as we crossed the finish line. It was exciting to have them come out in the weather to support Janel!

The race was called the Recycled Run because instead of creating new medals and race shirts, they recycled items from previous races. When we crossed the finish line, we received our medals - originally from the Six Tunnels to Hoover Dam St Patrick's Day Race.

And our shirts were from a Mardi Gras race.

The post-race food was really good! There were bananas and muffins and other pastries. And water, of course.

We're really happy with how the race turned out, and it's definitely one that will be remembered for a very long time (forever, I hope!). We had the best time running together - even though I could barely walk afterwards. LOL.

Can't wait to run another one together.

Clarinda

Have you ever ran a race in the rain?