ZOOMA Great Lakes Half Marathon Race Recap

After the expo and Ladies Night Out, I didn’t go bed ‘til late, at least for this baby grandma.

So when my alarm went off at 5:45am I wanted to club a seal.

Instead I pretended I was out clubbing with Seal (don’t be jeal, Heidi) and got ready for the 6:30am shuttle to take us to the start of the race.

At the start I ran into this fox whom I’m pretty sure spent the night dreaming of Seal.

Sierra, by the way, PR’ed on this super hilly course which is almost as ridiculously crazy as my pre-race choice of outfits.  What, it was cold!

I also met the sweet Kim:

The race started right at 7:30 and since it was smaller (around 400 runners) I lined up near the front.

Met reader Margaret who was so excited and sweet while I was just plain freezing my schnootzle off.

And we’re off!

{Brae, the founder of ZOOMA, has a big heart for empowering women and when you meet her, you can see how much she loves doing this}

I knew the course was going to be hilly and scenic and heck yeah, it was. 

The first couple miles felt difficult and slow, but I got into the groove around mile 4 and found a comfortably hard pace. 

I didn’t look at my Garmin much during the race because I knew it’d be all wacko jacko pace with the uneven terrain; I tried to push it but be conservative enough for the hills.

Love all the fall colors and leaves; we don’t get that in CaliforniaTown.

The course was a lot of rolling hills in the beginning.  I passed a few people and kept trucking along.  I grabbed a gel at mile 9 and would drink a water or Cytomax at every aid station.

The volunteers were great – standing out in the windy cold and still cheering us on.  I love that with small town races, everyone is so friendly.

Mile 10 was downhill and I ran a 7:01.  I think I was excited because we ran right by the finish but then hooked a right towards Mount Kilimanjaro.  We hit the steepest, biggest hill at mile 11, I think it was like 9,000 feet elevation gain.  I considered walking but had just passed a dude and didn’t want him to pass me so I hobbled up it ever so slowly.

I eventually made it to the top, hit the turnaround and cruised back down to the finish.

Not me:

Me:

{Thanks Tricia for the pictures!}

I ended up coming in second in 1:36:19.  The winner had 5 minutes on me but was so sweet and encouraging to me and all the runners.  We talked for a couple minutes and she is running NYCM too.

{I must think we’re best buds now since I’m all over her}

I met a reader at the finish and I’m sorry, I totally forgot your name.  I’m such a loser.  Was it Bonnie? BOBBI!

Then it was on to the finish party with massages, food (boxed lunches from the resort for all the runners!), wine, outdoor fireplaces with lounge areas and live music.  And Sara Hall, of course.

I really enjoyed the vibe of this race – everyone was so friendly.  It was great to meet so many readers, but I also met a few older ladies who didn’t even know what blogging was and they were just as friendly.

{Sparkling wine, my favorite recovery drink of all}

By then it had warmed up a little and wasn’t too cold for this SoCal wiene.  The lake view wasn’t too shabby either…

The ZOOMA ambassadors – check out their bios and blogs here.

I’ll have a race review up in a couple days, but I had a really good time and think it would be a fun race to do with girlfriends.  It’s a non-threatening, inviting race atmosphere great for runners of any level.  Just prepare for some hills!

My splits from my garmin if you’re into that sorta thing.

1. 7:40 2. 7:07 3. 7:41 4. 7:13

5. 7:25 6. 7:32 7. 7:34 8. 7:14 9. 7:07

10. 7:01 11. 7:20 12. 7:41 13. 6:53

really even splits. ha.

Tagged as: chicago, pictures, races, ZOOMA