Palos Bank Southwest Half Marathon

The thermometer read a brisk 39 degrees when I woke up this morning. Despite reports that the day was to get up to 70 degrees, I found myself getting prepared for the race fighting goose bumps. I very much dislike being cold, so I pulled on a pair of tights, threw on a heavy long sleeved shirt and topped it with a short sleeved dri fit. I threw gloves and a hat in my bag of clothes I wanted to change in to and headed out.

Doing a race so close to home is so much fun. It felt like I knew every other person there and I think I was parked and at the meeting point within 20 minutes of leaving my house. I was hustling about, trying to say hi to everyone and get my things to gear check when I decided I was already warm. The sun was coming up and I ditched the long sleeved shirt. Unfortunately, I didn't bring a pair of shorts to change in to, but that ended up not being an issue.

We had a strong group heading out - BC, Peck, Shoemaker, Lauren and myself decided to try and keep pace together. We'd lose one person and pick up another and I think around mile 2 or 3, we picked up KK. At one point, I commented, "You know, if we slow down a little bit, I could talk a lot more!" That was answered promptly by BC with, "Hey, let's run faster!" WTF?

Yep, the pace was too much for me to hold much of a conversation with anyone and, at times, I could barely get out the one word answers. The sun came up and it got warmer and I was able to pass off my gloves to Gil, who was riding by on a bike (thanks, Gil!!). Once we hit the turnaround, I felt pretty good and it seemed the terrain started to go downhill.

My splits stayed fairly consistent, but the group broke up by mile 7. It sort of tuned into an "every man for himself" and then my pace was a bit scattered. I tried to push every time I got a slow split and started to wish this was just a 10 mile race and not a half marathon! Hamstring started talking to me around mile 9, so I pulled it in a little, but was trying to keep focused.

Great race, great weather and it was even better that I was able to share it with great friends. Go south side!