The loyal fan and I left the house this morning around 6am. With no traffic, we made it up to LA Live in plenty of time. I had never been there before and it’s a pretty cool area with a lot of swanky restaurants, hotels, etc.
My friend Reese didn’t make it due to some work stuff which was a bummer but I still had my personal photog with me to make me feel special.
I hopped into corral #1 and we started the race right on time; the weather was perfect, not warm and not really cold either.
I didn’t know how hard to run this race since I had a hard run yesterday and a 17 miler and a 15 miler the days before.
I turned on my music and ran the first mile in 7:30. I felt good but also felt like I couldn’t keep up that pace either. The next few miles were all between 7:35-7:50 and I thought if I could keep everything under 8’s I’d be happy.
I normally like to eat about 200-250 calories before a race in the form of an energy bar, but this morning I only had a mini larabar sample (100 cals) which was dumb because I felt low on energy the whole race, not hungry but more like empty, I guess.
The course was 2 different out-and-back loops, and it was about mile 8-9 that I started picking it up. They were handing out GU gels at mile 8ish and I greedily sucked one down ASAP since I didn’t bring any of my own.
On the way back at mile 10.75 a guy started talking to me asking what my goal finish time was. He wanted to go under 1:45 and said that he’d been trying to stay with me for a pacer. So he and I started cruising together; I have no idea what our final paces were, but the last 2 miles we ran hard together.
We ran the last mile as hard as we both could, urging (yelling) each other to keep up, and my final time was 1:40:10, 8th in my division, 53rd woman and 367th overall. Considering I had some pretty dead middle miles, I was happy enough with it.
I grabbed a banana, a couple Snickers energy bars, water and Cytomax before grabbing Jay and heading over to Santa Monica to have brunch with a friend.
It was fun to see all the costumes and to run in costume although I had to hold onto my hat or run with my head down for a good chunk of the race. And the socks didn’t want to stay up either – I probably pulled them up about 15 times… in the first mile. But all good fun because I saw Adam and Eve:
I also saw Sandy, creator of BIC Bands who set a PR today!
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{ 39 comments… read them below or add one }
Cannot believe you ran a half in that costume. Props! I saw you on the turnaround after the bridge. Your head was down. Now I know why. I was hungry this morning too and all I could find was a mini PB chocolate chip Larabar from the expo yesterday. I was desperately looking around for a bagel. I didn’t even see where they were handing out gels.
Love your costume!
Congrats girl!! Thats pretty impressive in a halloween costume and hat!
1:40 is the goal of my next race in Dec but after a painful hip prob in St.Louis last wkd I dont know if its going to happen….
Nice race. Your outfit was classic. My son went as the UPS man today for trick or treat. I even made him a little box instead of a pumpkin for people to hand him the candy into.
What a cool costume idea!
SR you are fast! There is no way I could run that fast in a costume!
Aww I love your costume! You look super cute! Congrats on another half marathon!
hahaha, your running costume rules!
Congrats on an amazing race and y0ur costume was great! I absolutely love your blog…..some of your comments crack me up!
Props to you for running your butt of in that costume, I don’t think I could pull it off!
Congrats! And in that fab costume!
All this makes me want to run a half marathon so bad!
And be a candy corn!
I’m so impressed you ran in that costume. I hate having to mess around with actual running gear let alone a costume in a race!
Costume is freaking awesome. And, you’re free to yell at me to run faster if you see me at NYC Marathon!
Damn, now I want to run a race in a costume.
Awesome costume! I love the looks you are getting from passer-by’s at the start. It is just crazy to me that you can do these long runs right before a 1/2 marathon and still be 8th in your division! You are nuts. And amazing.
Nice finish speedy lady! Love, love, love the costume
I can’t believe you ran with the hat, too! You crazy. That must have been a sight you and that guy yelling at each other with the candy corn costume.
I totally know what you mean about feeling “empty” although I ate breakfast and I still felt empty.
I also ran 10 minutes slower than you (different race) and not in costume BUT it was 4 months 2 weeks and 2 days after my baby was born. Feeling a bit proud too.
now that is awesome!
honestly, i have no idea how u guys are able to run so well with costumes on! i’ve never done a costume race and i get annoyed when just my ponytail tie isn’t tight enough or i get stray hairs flying in my face…major props and u looked super cute!
i’d say after that last few training days u had on top of that, u kicked butt!
Awesome job! I would of thrown that hat after the first 10 minutes .. or ten steps lol!
Seriously you are the cutest runner out there! Way to go on the race! You rocked it! As predicted;)
Way to rock a half in full costume! That is amazing.
You look adorable in the sexy candy corn outfit and are super studly for running with the hat the entire way. And a corset and thigh-highs too. Looks like you had lots of fun. Great time!
Good luck at NYC. I read my Runners World this weekend, tons of NYC stuff, and was wishing I was joining everyone. I only do races I can drive to, as many as I can though and I’m lucky to live in CA where there are TONS of awesome races, but someday I want to run a race in each state.
Adam and Eve are cute too, but I wish Adam hadn’t put his fig leaf back there, its kind of disturbing to me because I’m scared of poopers during races.
That costume is awesome!! Congrats on the race!!
Awesome finish! I was a candy corn last week! I wish I had the socks! Happy Halloween!
bahaha Adam is funny looks like he’s wiping his butt with a leaf! bet that made you LOL…
cute costume btw and congrats on the run!
Awesome job on the race!! Did you go to brunch in costume?
I love finding people to run with. It makes racing easier. Unless it’s like a 5k where I just run til I’m going to puke.
Props 4 running a half in your costume!! Good Times…!!
Way 2 push out the last few miles!
Wow! You are crazy fast!!!! Love your costume, and the Adam and Eve costumes are pretty rockin’ as well
Happy Halloween!
I gave you a shout out on the bridge & tried in vain to catch up, but you are just too fast! Loved Adam & Eve, all the Elvis’s, Waldo’s, and super heroes + your candy corn costume. It was a great race & a PR for me(1:42:48)!
YOU are adorable! Congrats on a great time despite your low energy feeling.
Hahahaha the Adam and Eva costumes!!!! Too funny.
Its amazing to me that you can run that much in just one week! Im shocked but I soooo wanna do it though too, one day one day!!!!
I also liked “click” on facebook!!!!!
I can’t believe you threw down a 1:40 half in that costume….Jay is a lucky man!
I totally “liked” Click on FB and am now following on Twitter. Also, I’ll buy Starbucks Naturally Flavored Vanilla Coffee at Target…it’s super good. I drink it with a little Almond Milk and a packet of stevia. Love your blog!
Awesome time (so fast!), super cute costume, and considering the runs you did the days before?! Now that’s what I call skills woman! I barely made it to the finish, hahahah ;p
I couldn’t believe when I saw you! You were rocking it! And in that outfit?! Did you chaffe at all? You’re a die hard. I chickened out of my costume. Decided to focus on the run. And so glad that I did! It was a great last mile to get a great time.
And we must have just missed each other at the start, cause I have a pic in the EXACT same place. Pretty funny.
awesome time lady!!!!
did you happen to see deana kastor while you were out there? i think she’s bionic