Wicked Half Marathon

Happy Wednesday!

We are finally half way through the week! Last night was date night number one for this week for Damiean and I. We try to set go out of our way to set aside at least one night per week that is dedicated to spending time with each other and either go out to dinner or cook dinner together at home. This one was spent out for a nice dinner and setting up some new decor I bought for the bedroom. Is anyone else loving the grey and white color scheme right now? I will be sure to show you some pictures soon. Date night number two for us this week will be the Coyotes game on Thursday with my sister and her boyfriend.

Today, I am sharing with you my race review of the Wicked Half Marathon.

My sister and I ran this race on Sunday, October 28th at the Rio Vista Park. This event is hosted by Startline Racing and they always do a great job putting together a wonderful race day.

We started our day at around 6:00 with a pb&j and some chocolate milk before jumping in the car and heading to packet pick up. One thing I do love about local races is the same day packet pick up. It went seamlessly and we were able to spend some time pinning on our race numbers and warming up our muscles for the race. There were just under 200 people participating in the entire race day (1 mile run, 4k and half marathon) so it was a pretty easy going race considering we have participated in the Run Disney races consisting of thousands of runners.

This was an out and back course so it was nice to not have to worry about bag checks or how you were going to make it back to your car once the race ended. Another perk of this course is that it was flat, there is little to no incline throughout the entire thing.

The first few miles of this race flew by! Which is definitely nice when you are trying to reach double digits as quickly as possible. It felt like we made it through 5 miles in the blink of an eye. Sydnee and I did notice that the race markers were a little bit off and the further we went the harder it was to measure where you were in regards to distance signs VS watch distance.

Unfortunately, no matter the training you put into a race, you can never tell how race day is going to go and I woke up with a headache that continued to get worse as the race went on. Since the morning was somewhat cool, breathing through my nose bothered my sinuses even more and running made my head throb. I pushed through intervals as best I could but eventually had to settle on a fast walking pace since it was the only way to stop my head from feeling like it was going to explode.

Thankfully, mile 8 was the turnaround point and I had never been so happy to be headed back toward the finish line. The rest of this race was just warm and I had sent my sister on ahead of me around mile 6. I will say it was mentally tough to make it through the rest of the race by myself but also push through the throbbing that made me want to stop totally. At mile 11, I called Damiean to let him know that I definitely needed some words of encouragement to get me through the rest of this race. Luckily, he delivered and I pushed on and kept going. I got a bit emotional around mile 12 and when I passed it by, there were some tears in my eyes as I whispered to myself that I can do this and have been through harder races.  Finally, FINALLY, the finish line was in site and I broke into a bit of a run just to make it there faster!

I was so thankful to cross that line, get my medal and finally be able to take off my shoes! My sister had finished a bit in front of me and was already relaxing and enjoying her Powerade and checking out her medal. It was a super cute coffin with a skeleton inside!

Another awesome surprise at the end of my race was that Damiean had come to show his support and congratulate me and Syd on our race.

Have I mentioned to you how awesome it is to have such a great support system?!

After we changed into our Oofos and made our way to the car, Sydnee and I decided to pick up some Panda Express orange chicken and head home. However, since we purchased some awesome Pumpkin Spice themed running shirts from Raw Threads, we also stopped to pick up a Pumpkin Spice Frappucino from Starbucks for pictures!

We were definitely celebrating like some Basic Witches!

A good rest was in store after and I finally did break down and take some pain relievers which did help with my headache.

This race was awesome and I would definitely recommend it if you are local to Arizona and looking for a Halloween themed race.

Our next two races are the Run, Run Rudolph Half Marathon and the Rock-N-Roll Half Marathon.

What is your favorite race so far?