Crystal Coast Half Marathon

**Spoiler- I didn’t melt in all the rain during the Crystal Coast Half Marathon!**

I drove up to Morehead City to visit my best friend and her hubby this past weekend. Jesse and I planned to run a half marathon together (or at least start together) and we figured, WHY WAIT?!

{yes… that’s a little slumber party flashback. You mean you never put balloons under your shirt?!}

Right after I signed up, I checked the weekend weather….. 80% chance of RAIN. Lovely! So I reached out to you all on here and my Facebook page and had a great response as to what I should do to prepare for the downpour.

My favorite two pieces of advice came from Logan (‘”Suck it up and Run”) and Jon (“be prepared to chafe where you normally don’t”). Needless to say, I sucked it up and glided my whole body before I got to the start line.

The only portion I wasn’t prepared for was the course. I ALWAYS check the course map and elevations. That way I can play mental games with myself to know where any hills are, turn around, etc. I failed to do so for this race, probably because I was so excited to see Casey and Jesse.

Casey was kind enough to drive us to the start and we all sat in the car until the last possible moment. I love small races, so you can just pop out of the car right before the gun goes off!

We took off through downtown Morehead City and looped back around before heading to the big bridge around mile 4.5. WHAT?!? I didn’t realize we were going over that bridge. Sigh. At this point the rain was coming down hard and the temperature was slowly dropping. Once over the bridge it was an out and back course, which I tend to not like because I can see how many people are ahead of me. But this race, I had a better mental game along with quite a few cuss words to keep my head in the game.

Once heading back over the bridge around mile 11… it was freezing and the rain was pelting my skin. Apparently the temperature dropped 10 degrees during the race.

I was on pace to PR until about mile 7-8. I hit a mini-wall for about a mile and my pace plummeted a minute. I missed PR’ing by a few seconds! BUT this race was great for my mental game…. I know I won’t melt in rain, I ran on a course I didn’t research, and I had pushed myself when I wanted to give up.

So after any good race… there is good food!

Dunkin Donuts coffee and a bagel for the win!

The only had part of the weekend and a huge fail on  my part… no photo of Casey and I!!!

But I took a photo this morning before spin class…. love that their tech shirts aren’t white!

Have a great Monday!!