Shenandoah Half Marathon

As you may remember from this post and this post, I debated whether or not to run the Shenandoah half marathon, before ultimately deciding to go ahead with it.

I was only able to run five times in between the Glacier half and the Shenandoah half and I only walked a few times, so I was definitely undertrained, but this isn’t the first time that’s happened. I've gone into most of my half marathons with less training than I'd planned.

all the names of the participants- the light blue is the shape of Shenandoah NP

My plantar fasciitis is still an issue, and I also have a cold, courtesy of Ocean. The little dude brought home germs from nursery for the umpteenth time. Only a year and four months till he’s old enough to move to the next class, which shouldn't be such a cesspool of germs (not that I’m counting or anything…). So I didn’t go into this race feeling at the top of my game and expecting a PR.

River liked the triple hammock stand at the expo

Tuesday we had some glorious, if unusual, rainy fall-like weather that had me hoping for nice weather for the race, but the subsequent hot and humid weather on Thursday made me seriously afraid Saturday would be hot and humid as well. I really dislike running in heat and humidity.

Sunshine very carefully burned her marshmallow :)

However, when Friday came we were loading the RV in the rain.

So there was hope it wouldn’t be too hot and humid after all.

I <finally> checked the weather forecast and it called for rain most of Friday and Saturday morning, as well as temps in the 50s and low 60s. Perfect running weather.

When we arrived at the race campground and expo area, it was raining pretty hard, but it let up after awhile and most of the evening was dry, though still cloudy.

We parked down by the lake, and had the most gorgeous beachfront views.

There were only a few RVs at this race (there were quite a few at Glacier), but we were sure thankful for ours when the off and on rain became a downpour multiple times during the night. The poor tent campers….

I slept poorly, as seems to always be the case before a race, though I think it was worse this time since I actually did sleep through my alarms before last week’s 4 mile race, and the paranoia was running strong.

It was pouring rain when I gave up and got out of bed to get dressed 20 minutes before my alarm was supposed to go off, but it tapered by the time we left the RV to catch the shuttle bus to the starting line. Unfortunately, it started pouring again after we arrived at the start line and our rain jackets couldn’t keep up. We were pretty soaked and the race didn’t start for another half hour. Nothing like starting a race while wet and chilled.

lots of misty rain clouds were hanging low over the hills all around us

The elevation map had me worried, but in the end the hills weren’t too bad. They weren't nearly as steep as the hills in the Glacier half. A couple of the hills felt long, but they weren't as long or as steep as the first five miles of the Glacier half.

The rain misted off and on, but there were no downpours during the race. The temps were in the mid-50s, which felt great, even when the sun came out just after I hit 11 mile mark. It was still misting at that time, and it never got too hot.

I went into this race with no expectations for finish time. I knew I would be undertrained and the elevation map had me worried about the hills, so my only plan was to walk the uphills and run the downhills and see how it went. Overall, it went pretty well.

The scenery was beautiful: misty clouds, rolling hills, farm fields, horses, cows, old barns, dripping trees all around.  Though the smells coming off the horses and cows weren't quite as beautiful :)

I felt good at the start and ran the first four miles without too many problems, but started slowing down between mile markers 4 and 5. Between mile markers 6 and 7 was a brief downhill that sped up my pace a bit before I slowed down again on the next hill between mile markers 7 and 8. The down hill that followed can be seen in mile 9's pace, but once the course started going up hill again my speed once again slowed. I walked miles 8, 10, 11, and 12, which is evident in my times. 

hmm, that hat is from my first half marathon (the Disneyland half, pre-blog) that I ran 10 years ago, almost to the day

I planned on walking more, but I felt pretty good for the first half of the race, so I ran more then. My cold, lack of sleep, and a bit of a chill from being wet all combined to make me feel worse than I'd have liked in the second half, but it was not as bad as it could have been. So I walked a good portion of the second half, though I did finish fairly strong.

my sister and I have now run three of the half marathons put on by Vacation Races

The plantar fasciitis in my right foot is definitely a problem, and after the race I was hobbling worse than I have yet, so I finally decided to be more proactive. I dug out some KT tape and looked up how to tape my foot (it's making a difference already) and ordered a splint to wear at bedtime, which should help a lot. For some reason, I’ve recently turned into a stomach sleeper, which flexes my feet in exactly the direction they shouldn't be if I'm trying to get rid of the PF. I've been feeling like this was contributing to the issue, and after looking at the splints and braces available, I would say that's definitely the case.

love that reflection

Back to the race: this was my eighth half marathon, and I ran it in 2:51:05, just 4 seconds slower than the Great Smokies half in 2014. One of my slower times, but not my slowest. Despite having damp feet, I didn't get any blisters, though if the race had been longer I probably would have gotten some as my preemptive moleskin had loosened and started to shift a bit.

I ran 13.01 miles in 2:51:05. I ran the tangents, which cut a smidge off the total distance. My mile paces definitely match up with the terrain, as would be expected, and as I talked about above.
1st mile- 11:41
2nd mile- 10:49
3rd mile- 11:07
4th mile- 11:42
5th mile- 13:50
6th mile- 13:36
7th mile- 11:36
8th mile- 15:04
9th mile- 12:27
10th mile- 15:21
11th mile- 15:55
12th mile- 14:58
13th mile- 12:57

Weekly Mileage
Wednesday: 3.12 miles walked on the treadmill
Thursday: 1.46 miles hiked
Saturday: 13.01 miles run and walked in half marathon
     total miles: 17.59 miles

34th hike towards #52hikechallenge
415.02ish miles towards #365milechallenge (I still need to verify hike mileage from a couple weeks ago)

there was a hill behind where we parked that offered a great view of the hills and the lake