LA County Holiday 1/2 Marathon Recap

Last Sunday, Lisa and I ran the LA County Holiday 1/2 Marathon out in Pomona.  We had the absolute best time that morning!


It was kind of strange leading up to the race though...I kept forgetting I was running a half!  Earlier that week, Kristy and I went tutu supply shopping (she was making a tutu for her Santa to the Sea 1/2 Mary, and I am making one for the Walt Disney World 1/2 in Jan).  As we were walking through the aisles picking our ribbon and tulle while talking about her upcoming race, she looks over and says "Aren't you running one this weekend too?"  "No, mine's in January."  Kristy then says, "No aren't you running the LA one or a holiday one this Sunday?"  Ohhhh yessss!!!!  THAT one!!!!  With my recent engagement, studying my bum off for finals (first semester of my MBA program is now done!  woohoo!), and work, I had forgotten all about this run.  It didn't help that by the time the race rolled around I hadn't run in 2 weeks.  TWO weeks!!  That's a long time.


I called Lisa up Saturday before the LA County 1/2 and said I was planning on running/walking, probably mostly walking.  She was on board with that plan!  So I laid out my red sparkle skirt and hit the hay.
I woke up around 5am on race day, got dressed and cruised out to Pomona.  I met up with Lisa and her hubby David, and Lisa was debuting her brand new green sparkle skirt and it looked awesome!

The gun was scheduled to go off in about 15 minutes so we rushed to the restroom so we wouldn't have to pee along the course.  Of course the bathrooms at the Pomona Fairplex only had three stalls in the ladies restroom we were in line for, so the line was horrendous.  While we waited in line David picked up some free Minute Maid goodies for us.  Yep, I'm smelling this unfamiliar concoction and looking like a little bunny rabbit.  I'm a goofball :-P

We ended up missing the gun time by 10-12 minutes.  But we didn't care!  This was going to be a fun run for us and we were going to finish together!

This is one of the proofs so it's a lesser quality

We ran for the first 2 miles and I have to say, it was a little boring.  The course ran through the fairplex parking lot and it looked like an asphalt desert.  Not much to see.  Around mile 2 we ran on the race track which was kind of cool.

I started to feel fatigued around mile 3 and we slowed to a brisk 14:30 pace walk.  Man was I feeling out of shape or what?!  As disappointing as this could have been, I wasn't upset that it ruined my race.  Lisa and I had the best time together just talking and laughing.  We talked a lot about my wedding too (she's my maid of honor :) )!

Towards the middle of the course we ran by a beautiful park and lake.  We ended up running around the lake and it was gorgeous!  The water was so still and mirrored the crystal clear day we were having.  The course was pretty hilly, and for not having run in a while, it was a challenge.  Here I am conquering one of the hills by the lake:

We ended up walking most of the course, but we were still nothing but smiles.  David met up with us at mile 10, and snapped a few pictures of us.

Mile 11 and almost there!  We ran on and off more frequently at this point.  When we hit mile 12 we decided to run straight through.  Just before the mile 13 marker, I thought I was going to throw up.  I had been feeling nauseous since mile 8, but brushed it off as nothing.  But before mile 13 I lost my cookies a little bit.  I walked a minute, then pushed through to the finish line!

We did it!!!  And we HAD A BLAST!!!!!  It was a beautiful day (and ended up getting up to 92!) and a great wake up call for me to get my bum back in gear!  We got our free beers which tasted delicious, then cruised home.

On another note, I will be hosted my first giveaway soon!  Jessica at Jessica's Gifts has generously donated a beautiful running necklace, so don't miss out!!

Happy Holidays!