ENDURrun Stage 1: The Half Marathon

Stage 1 is complete (recap and results) and well... today was great in some aspects and the opposite in others.

It was a great day weather wise. It didn't get too hot, there was a nice breeze, but no obtrusive wind, the company of the other runners, volunteers, spectators, team members, guests, etc was fantastic.

Now the not so great side...
I slept like crap last night. One of my worst night's sleep ever! It took two hours to fall asleep and then I woke up at least 4 times between 1am and 5am. I slept through my first alarm and woke up with the backup. Not a great start to the day, but man was I glad I set a backup alarm!

It definitely wasn't the first time I've slept poorly the night before a race, but it put my whole morning out of whack. I was such a scatterbrain, so it was also good that I planned ahead and had all of my stuff organized the night before!

The race itself started out good for me, but went south rather quickly. Two weeks ago, I hurt my foot.. not quite sure what I did, but I've had it checked out a couple of times and there's nothing really "wrong" with it, so I think it might be bruised... but I have some pain in the ball of my left foot. It's not constant, and it's been resolving for the most part with it mostly being pain free, just with the occasional pain here and there, so I was hoping there would be no issue today. Unfortunately, that was not the case. 5K in, I felt it. It mostly went away after another 5 or so km, but I had apparently altered my gait and ended up with a sore hip for the second loop. Whoops. So needless to say, this was not my finest half marathon... but that's OK It's a long week, and provided the body cooperates, there will be much more running to be had (and enjoyed!) over the next 6 stages.

Now back to the positives...

• I witnessed many happy runners.
• I saw several great performances by ENDURrun rookies, two of which earned the gold jerseys (Rob and Vicky), and one who also set a new course record for Stage 1. Congrats Vicky!
• I got some treatment from KW Health Connection.
  I enjoyed some fabulous post-race food.
• I went for a swim in the Schmidt pool. 

and also... tomorrow is another day. After that? There are still several more to come... but I will take this one day at a time.

I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on the course tomorrow morning!