Run for the Ranch Race Recap

Good morning folks!

Here we go again!

This past Saturday, I ran the Run for the Ranch half marathon. It was in Springfield, Missouri. It's only about a 3.5 hour drive from home. It was an uneventful drive. We arrived early enough Friday night to get checked in, get all my running gear ready, do a little pre race yoga, and get some rest.

I woke up before the alarm went off on Saturday morning with a good case of the jitters. I got ready and kept trying to tell myself not to worry, this wasn't my first rodeo. We ate breakfast then headed for the race. I got us a little bit lost on the way there and almost went into panic, meltdown mode but we found our way and all was well again. We arrived in time for the Half Fanatics pre race photo

I met up with my friend Mel  She was running her first marathon. She was scheduled to run the St. Jude's Marathon earlier this month, but it was cancelled due to extreme weather.

The horn sounded promptly at 10am and we were off! Mel is much faster than me so I quickly lost her in the crowd. I had a goal time of 2:30. I was trying to run this as a training run rather than racing it. I was planning to just jam out and run. I settled into a fairly comfortable pace and tried to enjoy the scenery. This was a flat, 3.2-ish mile loop that I had to run 4 times, through the neighborhoods of Springfield.

It was about 35 degrees when we started but I warmed up quickly. I took my gloves off hoping to hand them off to my husband after the first loop. I didn't see him on the first time around. Somewhere around mile 4, a random runner passed me and said "you have a very good running form and you run like a machine" That was a much welcomed compliment at that time! I saw my husband on the second time around and told him that I was starting to hurt in my left hip. I handed him my gloves and told him I was halfway done. I was really glad to see him!

The looping course wasn't too bad the first couple of times around but it did start to get a little bit redundant. It was getting increasingly difficult to focus on my surroundings and ignore the pain in my hip. I stretched a little bit here and there. And I allowed myself to take walk intervals when needed. The last 2 loops were more mentally challenging than anything else. I just kept plugging along. I finished at exactly 2:30.

All in all, this was a good race! It was small but well organized. There were about 400 runner in the half and the full with about 26 states represented! The weather was amazing! I was worried about being overdressed. I did get a little warm toward the end. I probably would have been ok in shorts. There was only one water stop but the way the course was set up, you passed it going out and coming back. There was plenty of water and gatorade plus they had energy gels too. There were quite a few spectators out on the course. The volunteers were great! The medal was pretty cool. And the post race meal included pizza and homemade cookies that were yummo! The only thing I found odd was the course was open to traffic but there were several volunteers helping with traffic control do cars weren't too much of an issue. It did help to keep the overall cost down so we got more bang for our buck. I enjoyed the run overall. I would do it again and would highly recommend it.

 After a hot shower, I made up for lost calories with chips, salsa, guacamole and amazing Mexican food at Carlos Okellys. I could have gone into a coma after all that food! We opted to do a little shopping and let our food settle before we made the drive home.

 Yesterday was a rest day for me. It was cold and gloomy outside, so I was glad to stay in. I chose to do a little active recovery with my foam roller, favorite yoga DVD and compression socks. The hip feels better but I'm going to try to take it a little bit easier this week. I'm going to resume my cross training too.

 Until next time...... Have a great Monday!