Chris and I both got to run the Deadwood Half Marathon yesterday, thanks to my sister Kelly who watched the kids for us. She also watched our friend's daughter, Avryl, so both Tim and Amy could run too. All in all, they had 1500 people signed up for the half and over 400 for the full. So, it was a big race. I had gotten sick on Friday night and was sick all day Saturday too so I wasn't sure how this race would end up. But I woke up Sunday feeling ok, so I decided to go and do it and see what happened!
We left the house at 530am in a downpour of rain and it was a madhouse when we got to Deadwood at 6:00. We finally got into the fairgrounds and onto a bus so make our way the start line, 13.1 miles away. I sat next to a girl, Audrey, who lives in Bozeman so it was fun to chat with her on the way. She ended up running a 1:49 marathon so she rocked it out! When we got to the start line, we met up with Tim and Amy and started seeing other friends who were also running. The hour went by fast and after stripping our sweatshirts and pants off, we were left in the 39 degree temps for a couple of minutes. It wasn't too bad though as it wasn't raining at all and as soon as I started running, I was at the perfect temperature. The first 5 miles went pretty well and I ran those in 10:37, 9:49, 9:47, 9:49, and 10:22. I took my first gel at the 5 mile mark in hopes that it would keep me doing at this pace. Unfortunately, after that, I started feeling the effects of being sick the past 2 days and the hill on the course that really isn't much of a hill at all that didn't affect me last year, took me down a notch this year. I had to walk a lot of the 6 mile and it ended up being a 13:00 minute mile. :( After I started running again after my walk break, I ran a few 11:00 minute miles for miles 7, 8, and 9, and got back to running a couple 10:45 minute miles realizing I only had 4 miles left. The last mile was pretty tough for me and I had already realized that I wasn't going to run a 2:16 like last year, but I was hoping I could still be under 2:20. Coming into the finish line, I heard and saw Chris and the kids cheering me on and then I saw and heard Kelly too and then I knew I was done. My official time was 2:19:47 so I'll take it! I asked Kelly how Chris did and she said, 1:28 something so I was really excited for him as he was going for a sub 1:30 for the first time in a half marathon. He had a great race. My friend Amy ran it in just under 2:00 and Tim kicked butt too running a 1:42. Another friend, Jackie, ran hers in 2:10 which is exactly the 10 minute miles she wanted to run! And then our friend, Brian, who was injured and thought he would have to walk a lot of it, cranked out a 1:34!!! Way to go everyone! We went to lunch with Kelly, Tim, and Amy afterwards in Spearfish Canyon at Cheyenne Crossing and I had the best Indian Taco EVER there... it was a great way to end the festivities. It was a great race and really fun weekend!
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