I Conquered The Hospital Hill(s)!!!

The race is called Hospital Hill....so you pretty much know what to expect.  It doesn't matter if you run the 5K, the 10K or the Half Marathon, it's hilly, but if you do the half - what they mean by "The Hill" is a forever climb up Broadway in downtown, KC.  The hill goes on forever and it's at the very end of the race, which doesn't help.  The race slogan on all the shirts is "I conquered the hill".....everyone thinks they need to change that slogan to hills - maybe someday.

Jim was in Wyoming for a marathon and I was at home, but we did our best to still come up with at least one pre-race dance pic.  Jim's race wasn't until Sunday.  What do you think?  Pretty nifty huh???

Anyway, I did the 10K last summer, and thought I was literally going to die.  It was close to 80 degrees at race start with insane humidity.  By the time the race was over it was climbing into the 90s.  It was seriously awful.  Between the heat and the hills, I vowed that I would never, ever do the race again.  But somehow, I found myself signing up for the race again...but this time I would attempt to conquer the half.  I had honestly been dreading it.  With the extreme heat we'd already experienced in early Spring, I figured Hospital Hill would be brutal.  But by some stroke of luck the weather forecast had called for a cool front to move through just in time for the race.  I watched the forecast like a hawk all week....just waiting for it to change but it never did.  Come race morning it was 50 degrees at the start, and temps would only reach about 65 by the end of the race.  It was sunny and no wind.  It was nearly perfect!!

4 Memers of "Team Racine" before the Half

I got up at 4am on race morning and left my house about 4:45, to pick up my friend Michelle and meet up with a couple of other friends Kristi and Nikki to head down to the race.  The race started at 7am, but we wanted to be there by 6am.  We arrived probably a little early, as we were some of the first to arrive.  But it made for easy parking, bathrooms, etc.  This race is held near Crown Center in downtown, KC.  And the mall is very gracious to open their doors to the runners and friends and family.  It's a great place to hang out, stretch, etc before the race starts......or take some fun pics with a guy made of legos.

I have no idea

With my first 70.3 just 6 weeks away, this race was meant as nothing more than a training run.  I wasn't out to set a PR or kill myself, but I wanted to have a good solid run.  My PR is 2:23, so I decided my goal would be to run the race under 2:30.  My friends Kristi and Kortney decided that would be a comfortable pace for them too, so we all decided to start with the 2:30 pace group to keep us from going out too fast.  The race starts with a pretty decent uphill, which I remembered walking during the 10K the year before, but I felt like I breezed up it quite nicely this year. 

I felt really good throughout the entire race which was great.  I knew I could have pushed it a bit harder, but the pace felt hard, while still being somewhat comfortable.  I will say that the last hill got me...just a little and I had to stop to walk a couple of times for just a few seconds - the only time I walked during the race (besides through the aid stations).  But once you finally crest one last super steep but short hill, the last half mile of the race finish is completely downhill.  I took off here and left the pace group to finish in 2:28:56!  Just under my goal time.  I finished strong and I felt great.  I couldn't have been happier with my results.

I met up with my friends after the race and as it turned out everyone had a great race.  Apparently the great weather had really made all the difference.  The hills didn't seem nearly as challenging when it wasn't 100 degrees. 

When I woke up Sunday morning I was super surprised to find out that while my legs felt tired, I wasn't really sore at all. I think that was a first after a race.  It was good though because I had a 40 mile bike ride planned.  The bike didn't exactly go as planned (long story) but I still managed to get in my 40 miles.  I was tired, and those last 10 were super tough, but I got it done!  I know one thing for sure, I could have NEVER ran a half marathon and then rode 40 miles the next day a year ago...heck probably not even a few months ago.  I am definitely getting stronger.  Only 6 weeks til RACINE!

Finisher Medal

The HH unique finisher item - Flip flops??  Cool or corny??  I'm not sure :)