Kansas City Half Marathon...

Well. You know that I didn't run my race according to the plan.

The idea was to run 12:30's throughout the half.

I ran 12:01's.

Oops.

I'm not sure if my legs were revolting in anger from not being able to run the Chicago Marathon in full...or perhaps it was gravity that made me faster as I was able to cruise on the downhills...but I managed to shave off a nice 3m 27s from my previous time for a new half marathon PR of 2:39:23. Not brilliant. Not bad. But very exciting for me since I passed the 2:40 barrier.

This marks the first broken PR of the year. So I can't complain too much.

So that's the short version. If that's all you wanna know, then stop reading, leave me a happy little comment and call it a day. Hungry for the down and dirty details? Then by all means...keep going...

The Kansas City Half Marathon is the smallest race I've run for that Caliber of a distance by a few thousand people. And I'll admit, it was kind of nice.


The expo itself was fun. Small, but well organized (with the exception that they ran out of gear check bags). I ran into an old sorority sister of mine who was working one of the Chiropractic booths. And then I had the privilege of meeting Running In Oz, who is a very cool blogger with the exception of one rather important detail. You see...he's a Tiger. Whereas I am a Jayhawk. By nature we're not supposed to get along. We're polar opposites...him, representing all things black, gold and evil...and me, bleeding crimson and blue, a champion of all things good and pure in life. (Okay, maybe that was a slight dramatization, but you get the point.) I figure, everyone makes mistakes in their past and I shouldn't hold his previous decisions against him...at least not too much. I feel like we could be the stars of one of those ESPN college rivalry commercials. (By the way...how does it feel to be ranked behind the Jayhawks in both polls? Eat our tailfeathers, darlin'.)

Yeah...yeah...yeah, Barb, enough of your Jayhawk pride...get to the race...

Okay, campers. Simmer down...

On Saturday morning, I pulled myself out of bed at 4:45 and got ready. Out the door by 5:30 and we were parked downtown and ready to go by 6:20ish. We hit the porta-potties (which was very wise on my part...gotta love being runner if ya know what I mean...) and wished my mom and dad good luck in their very first 5k and then lined up. It only took a few minutes before things got started.

It was chilly. Beautiful. Still dark outside. And with a bang, we were off. For having lived in the Kansas City area for nearly seven years and for having interned downtown at the Kansas City Star I sure as heck couldn't place myself within the city. The only times I knew where the hell I was running was through Westport and through the Plaza. Everywhere else felt like foreign soil.

Yes. It was hilly.

No. Kansas is not as flat as people think.

Yes. The race was in Kansas City, Missouri.

No. That does not mean I don't know my geography.

Check out the elevation map...that is anything but flat!

The half marathon course basically runs the first 5-6 miles of the race with the marathon course...then cuts over and rejoins the marathon course somewhere along mile 20-21, just in time for a nice slow gradual ass-kicking 3-mile long hill. Totally awesome, right?

That first nasty hill around mile 1.5 winds you up, around and beyond Liberty Memorial. It's one of 'em hills where you feel the need to put your car into overdrive to climb. It sucked. I managed to run 3/4's of the way up before walking...and in order to not look like a sissy, I took my long-sleeved shirt off while I walked (because in all fairness by this time I was oozing hotness--not that I don't ooze hotness on a regular basis, cause I do...but I was especially hot since I was running and the sun was finally coming over the horizon).

By mile 3 I was in my groove and feeling good...I didn't pay too much attention to my Garmin but was a bit surprised to see that I was averaging in the low 11's. It felt good, so I went with it. Fortunately while I was moving the tendonitis wasn't noticable. The tight hamstrings, however, had their own story to tell. They weren't in the happiest of moods to be working on hills and fought with me most of the morning.

Somewhere around mile five, some old buddies of mine passed me...I caught up to them and told Myndi (in her debut half marathon) that it wasn't polite to pass someone up and not comment on their "sweet ass." I hadn't seen Myndi, Kristin and Christy in a long while and so we ran together, faster than I'm used to, and chatted for a half mile or so before parting ways at a water station. They had asked if I was ready for my upcoming ultra and of course, I had an emphatic "yes!" I'm actually quite surprised how excited I am to run a 50k. I thought I'd be dreading it. We'll see if I am singing the same tune on Saturday.

I was pretty surprised by the number of spectators out there relative to the field. There were easily several hundred.

It was around mile 8 where I started doing some math. I knew I needed to slow down. If I kept up at that pace I'd pull in somewhere under 2:35. While that'd be great for a normal day, I needed to run the half mary as a prep for the ultra...and I forced myself to incorporate more walking. With the obnoxious 3-mile long, gradual hill approaching, I knew I needed to conserve my energy.

By the time I got to the hill it was so slow and gradual I didn't even realize it was an incline until my hamstrings started screaming at me. And this thing was loooooong. You'd be going up the hill, think you'd be at the crest, only to turn a corner and keep seeing an incline. It was a bit frustrating...but I found humor in the situation. Once we finally made it to the downhill point it was all smooth sailing from there on in.

When I turned the corner to the finish line I was surprised to see so many spectators cheering everyone on. My watch read 2:37 and some change. I had a little over a quarter mile to go and I just drew myself into the finish.

I smiled as I knew I secured a 2:39 marathon. I smiled knowing that I broke the 2:40 barrier. I smiled thinking about how much faster I would have and could have run had I been intentionally trying to PR. It was the most fabulous of happy accidents.

Afterward I felt great. A bit sore in the hamstrings and once I stopped running my tendonitis made its presence known once more. Hills can be such a pain, but the course left me feeling accomplished.

Hands down I can say that the Kansas City Half Marathon is one of the prettier (if not the prettiest) courses I've ever run. I can also say it was the most challenging to date for me with all of those hills. My favorite part about the race? The totally badass Spider-Man cups they had at each aid station. It definitely made me giggle.

The real reason we went into town was for a friend's wedding. The celebration was beautiful and it was great to see old friends. At one point the groom thought I was pregnant because I wasn't drinking...but really it was because I had to drive my dad's car back to Kansas City that night. No Baby Jays are expected here any time soon (much to my mother's dismay)...but I'll be sure to let you all know when it happens.

After the reception we made it out to Quinton's, one of our watering holes from the 'olden days.' Uhmm...we totally became those "old people" we used to make fun of in undergrad. You know, that cluster of friends who clearly didn't go to school there anymore, that you'd shoot weird looks at wondering why on earth they're invading your bar...yeah. that was us. Totally awesome. While we had a great time, it reminded me how happy I am being out of college.

It's always nice to go back and live a few hours in the past, as long as you're capable (and even relieved) to leave it behind.

So yeah. That was my weekend in a nutshell. It was wonderful, grand, and a really nice time. Stay classy, Kansas City.


As for now...we've got bigger fish to fry. Bring it.

Sat - Half Marathon
Sunday - Rest
Monday - 90 minute Yoga class
Tuesday - Swim Class
Wednesday - Run
Thursday - Run
Friday - Rest
Saturday - 50k